… painting can’t die … the photograph isn’t good enough

David Hockney is one of the most popular and widely recognized British artists of our time.  For over sixty years he has created colorful and innovative art.  Though he started out painting Abstract Expressionist work, he moved toward figurative pieces early in his career.

 “To me painting is picture making. I am not that interested in painting that doesn’t depict the visible world. I mean, it might be perfectly good art it just doesn’t interest me that much.”

David Hockney, Audio Arts 1978

So why is Hockney even trying to compare painting with photography?  Before photography, painting played the role of documentation.  Historical events, portraits, architecture, and culture were all recorded by paintings. With the advent of a technology that substantiated every feature of subjects with mechanical precision, painting seemed quaint and less realistic.  Photographic images were objective versus subjective.  They represented reality in stark detail.  Many people predicted the demise of painting as unnecessary.  Hockney is a defender of painting as necessary, even in the role of portraits, at which photography excels.

Among Hockney’s influences are ancient Egyptian and Western Renaissance painting.  You can see the Egyptian approach to composition in the carefully spaced arrangement of people and objects across a flat surface.  He was also inspired by the old masters of Western art.  The elegant forms, balanced compositions and fresh colors of many of Hockney’s paintings show the influence of Fra Angelico, among other Renaissance painters.  The sense of composure and quiet movement in paintings, such as American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman), indicate the influence of 15th century art.*

In the sixties he began taking photographs as source images for his paintings. Although inspired by photographs, Hockney doesn’t try to reproduce an exact replica of the photograph in his paintings. He uses photography as a useful aid to remembering information, but does not think that photographs in themselves are enough. It is the artist’s personal vision that adds extra depth and resonance to the picture and makes it come to life. They can use color in unusual ways to create contrast and interest. Texture may be added to make the image more dramatic. The paint itself has substance and makes the painting more real.

More recently he adopted the Apple iPad as a medium.  Three of his self-portraits done on the iPad are shown above.

This is a pretty bold statement that will certainly irk many photographers.  My personal opinion is that a photograph can largely capture the essence of a person, but it is very hard to do.  Nuances of expression are dependent on the exact pose of the subject.  Photographers may have to take many shots to capture the expression they want.  Most of us have had pictures taken of us during some event like a dinner, cruise or wedding.  Afterwards we are asked to choose the ones we want.  Unless there are a lot to choose from, like in a wedding, we may find all of them lacking the certain look we would like to see.

For a formal portrait, where the subject is asked to hold a particular pose, there may not be a lot of difference in the image between the painting and the photograph.  In the painting, the effects of the paint texture and application can add additional emotional content.  The painter can integrate different nuances of expression into the image. 

A photographer must wait for the right time and right light, take many pix and then select the best one - totally dependent on the model’s pose.  A painter adds his own emotional response into the painting as it is made.  The model’s pose is a starting point.  You only have to consider the Mona Lisa to see that it would be practically impossible to create it with a photograph.

Perspective

“I believe that the problem of how to depict something is … an interesting one and it’s a permanent one; there’s no solution to it. There are a thousand and one ways you can go about it. There’s no set rule.” - David Hockney*

For his portrait of Fred and Marcia Weisman, Hockney photographed them in their garden. Hockney commented: “the portrait wasn’t just in the faces; it was in the whole setting.”  The Weisman’s garden and sculpture collection were as important to the portrait as they were. He felt that it was not necessary to paint the couple from life.  Photographing the couple in their garden as a record to work from made more sense.  He also drew sketches to plan the composition.  The painting is very, large 8 feet by 8 feet.  The detail of Ms. Weisman shows the strong emotional content of the painting. *

Hockney, on the one hand, is looking for flatness as in American Collectors, though in others he does not.  That is to say that there is little modeling or use of shadow to indicate the third dimension.  Making a painting look three dimensional is called trompe l'oeil, meaning to trick the eye.  The two main tricks are shading and perspective.  American Collectors does have some shading in the faces and the shadows from the rock, people, and trees.  This shading is not very convincing.  It is more like areas of darker paint rather than the gradual shading one would expect in a real object. 

Perspective is specifically left out as you can see from the parallel lines on the patio tiles.  In perspective these lines would be converging in the distance.  I have to believe that Hockney included these lines to specifically flatten the picture plane.  The building is face on, leaving no clue as to its possible three-dimensionality.  The large areas of monotone color are more geometric than real walls would be.  In other words, flat, flat, flat.

Hockney’s Portraits

While Hockney made use of flatness in some of his work, he was much more expressive with others.  The self-portraits (shown above) were made using an iPad makes use of expressive lines to portray the image.  He used unnatural colors in the images reminiscent of van Gogh.  The green eyes and hair in the cigarette image are reinforced by the complementary bright red of the shirt and background

In this painting of his mother we see an entirely different side of Hockney.  The lines are very gestural and produce a strong emotional impact.   The bright blue eyes and background are complements of the oranges in her face making the face the dominant image with an almost hypnotic effect.  The modeling of the face and wrinkles, along with the sunken eyes and cheeks, gives the impression a very old person.  Her expression conveys sadness with a hint of a smile, making her very human and authentic.  The mark making and use of color again starts to resemble van Gogh.

Conclusion

Hockney argues persuasively that painting does express greater expressive content than the photograph, albeit the subjective interpretation of the painter.   Photos document the visual expressions of the subject, but they do not include an emotional context for the photo.  The painter knows the subject more intimately.   He has talked to them and perhaps lived with them.  He can sense the subtext of the person’s expressions.   He knows the person’s living conditions and their struggles. The result is a fuller depiction of the person.

*Adapted from the Tate website

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hockney-a-bigger-splash-t03254/understanding-david-hockneys-bigger-splash