David Hockney

David Hockney, (born July 9, 1937, Bradford, Yorkshire, England), English painter, draftsman, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer whose works were characterized by economy of technique, a preoccupation with light, and a frank mundane realism derived from Pop art and photography. He studied at the Bradford College of Art (1953–57) and the Royal College of Art, London (1959–62), where he received a gold medal in the graduate competition. He visited the United States in 1961 and returned in 1964–67 to teach at the universities of Iowa, Colorado, and California and thereafter commuted between England and the United States until settling permanently in Los Angeles in 1978. That city’s intense glaring light and sleek “California modern” aesthetic had a pronounced influence on his work.