group4gettingoutofapool

[group4gettingoutofapool]

Bibliography

Knight, C. (2006) ART REVIEW; Getting to the heart of Hockney: HOME EDITION, The Los Angeles times [online], 12th June 2006

Available at:

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/art-review-getting-heart-hockney/docview/422060466/se-2?accountid=12118

[Accessed: 18th November 2023]

Matthew Sperling, Apollo Magazine (2017) The pull of Hockney’s pool paintings

[online]

Available at:  https://www.apollo-magazine.com/david-hockney-pool-paintings/ [accessed 21/11/2023]

Melia, Paul (2007) David Hockney, Manchester University Press, Manchester

MyArtBroker, David Hockney's Splash: The Californian Pool Paintings [online]

Available at: https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-david-hockney/articles/david-hockney-splash-the-california-pool-paintings [accessed 19/11/2023]

National Gallery of Australia, (2018) The Subversive Iconography of David Hockney, A Young Artists Dangerous Journey Towards Self Expression, Available at: https://medium.com/national-gallery-of-australia/the-subversive-iconography-of-david-hockney-81eb21c9545d

[Accessed: 9Th November 2023] 

Roger Jones, British Journal of General Practice (2017), Exhibition: David Hockney and the BJGP [Online]

Available at: https://bjgp.org/content/67/660/316.full [accessed 17/11/2023]

Siegel, J. (1978). [Review of David Hockney by David Hockney, by N. Stangos & D. Hockney]. Art Journal, 38, 66–72.

Wilkinson, Isabel (2012). "Peter Schlesinger, David Hockney's Muse, Shows New Works in L.A." The Daily Beast.

Available at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/peter-schlesinger-david-hockneys-muse-shows-new-works-in-la [Accessed 17/11/2023]

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Nele: David Hockney's Peter getting out of Nicks's Pool 

We're going to be looking at ‘Peter getting out of Nicks's Pool ‘by David Hockney. Louis will be giving us a formal look at this piece, Rosie will be going into the subject readings and Eva will be sharing insight on his techniques and colour.

To give a bit of background on this; Hockney did an entire collection of works involving swimming pools over the 60s. This entire series is based on his initial reaction when flying over LA in 1964. He was met with glimmers of colour amongst the monotony of the city. They appeared to him as a socio-economic symbol of the American Dream. He said, “and I realised that a swimming pool in England would have been a luxury, whereas here they are not.” in this moment of voyeurism he discovered a lifelong fascination with this man-made object. 

This particular painting is part of a series of Hockney's emotions of life in California. In 1967, Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool, won the John Moores Painting Prize. Hockney copied the figure of Peter from a Polaroid photograph that he had taken, showing him leaning naked against the bonnet of a car. You get that feeling with this half-done figure that it is not a model painting. Hockney brings forth consistently his interest in rendering water and reflections on glass, not only representing the idyllic, homoerotic world of the West Coast but also Hockney's sense of irony approaches the kind of parody we associate with ‘pop art’.

As a collective team, we found this piece alluring as it is drastically different from his early works which were quite loose and sporadic in regards to his brush strokes and the colours were much darker and muted in comparison to this rose-tinted, graphic impression, in which reflects his emotive experience of being a gay man in the UK. Peter's figure is half finished leaving the water to take a new graphic theme that shows the fluidity of the moments and sexuality Hockney reflects through a realistic vision of the obsession of 60 California abstractions with transparency and light (Siegel, J. 1978). Considering the time of the painting Hockney took risks exploring his sexuality in a way that is as naked as the subject with its open homosexuality in a country where same-sex relations were criminalised. He described his intentions in so frequently depicting gay subject matter as a form of activism through art and with this new pallet and technique he has successfully reinvented his practice as well as his messages.

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Rosie: David Hockney: Sexuality Reading

David Hockney was a painter who was considered to be very innovative and brave when it came to his subject matter, one of the main themes he explores is sexuality and this is present in his work even in subtle touches from the beginning. He was someone who believed as an artist, you should be attracted to or care about the subject you're painting. His main subjects in his early career were men and his parents. This painting was made around the same time same-sex relations began to become partially decriminalised, but it was still a very taboo subject with it being the 50s/60s so again it shows his braveness in being himself and expressing himself through art. It would’ve been a shock for people to see this type of painting. When he started out during art school, expressing himself through his work wasn’t an easy thing to come by as being gay was illegal and he had to hide who he was. His way of getting around it was to create self-portraits of himself, a gay man, therefore in a sense, creating work that expresses sexuality. He found moving to California a lot more freeing as it was one of the more liberal states and was more accepting there, he was able to create works like this and similar and not have to hide himself anymore.  

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14/11/2023 Thoughts of the Day

-Team agreement on individual presentation timeline:

Nele: Intro & Hockney Background

Louis: Formal Analysis

Rosie: Subject of Sexuality

Eva: Techniques and Colour

Nele: Outro

-All contributed to blog posts

-Collaborated individual research findings - equal effort.

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Eva: Peter getting out of Nick's Pool: Techniques and Colour

Hockney wanted to reflect his feeling of the freedom he felt within California. The colour pallete of bright light and subjects of reflection, showing the sexual openness of LA. This contrasts his previous works at the Royal College of Art, which contained darker tones and expressive brush strokes, possibly reflecting the repression and sadness of Yorkshire. 

Hockney used liquid colour pulps and paper to experiment in form discovery. He initially experimented with origami and paper manipulation. From Paper Pools ‘Directly applying colored pulp and liquid dyes freehand’ (Thames and Hudson,1980)  

In this piece we see Hockney's experimentation with paint creating the illusion of a photograph whilst deliberately leaving a border of unprimed canvas, as Hockney based the painting off a photograph, Peter’s legs aren't visible as this is where the photo stopped.  

The medium is Acrylic on canvas, as he is one of the first artists to make extensive use of acrylic, being fast drying it suited his technique of painting large areas of flat colour and then embellishing detail, such as the waves. 

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Louis: Formal Analysis of Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool (1966)

A large scale artwork which allows the viewer to explore the work from a distance. The canvas is defined by pictorial space.

The background involves contemporary architecture which is commonly associated with LA during this time. This Hockney managed to present in a bright, idealised paradise.

The setting to me is that of a romantic atmosphere, that Hockney was free to explore through this work especially in the prime setting of a swimming pool with the male nude figure who to me is positioned in the centre of the work getting out of the pool. The figure similar to that of a Greek god.

The home represented through the painting is very flat compared to the rest of the painting but the main important focal points are 3-dimensional, for example the swimming pool and male nude figure.

The foreground of the work is taken up by pool water which has been painted by the artist in a illustrative manner, with the bold spirals creating movement and reflection.

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Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool by David Hockney (1966)

Winner of Liverpool Exhibition 6 (now known as the John Moores Painting Prize) in 1967.

Group 4's Blog on Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool by David Hockney (1966).

On the 31st of October our group headed to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool to select an artwork for our presentation. We analysed multiple works in the gallery, including The Seven Legends; Self Portrait by Albert Richards (1939), Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool by David Hockney and Woman Ironing by Edgar Degas, (1892 - 1895). We were all drawn to David Hockney's Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool as there is an interesting subject matter being portrayed by the artist which is in line with the social movement at the time.

Our initial thoughts as a group was to form a group chat to gather ideas, discuss our progress going forward and to also make sure we each focused on a specific area of research for the artwork.