David Hockney
An Artist for Life
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:5th Nov '26
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback - Signed Edition£25.00(9781035932801-S)

An exploration of David Hockney's story through a series of locations that transformed the way he saw the world - from the swimming pools of California and the landscapes of Yorkshire to the light of southern France and the changing seasons of Normandy.
'Paul Morley is my kind of critic.' - Grace Jones
From the swimming pools of Los Angeles to the hills of Yorkshire, from the bright light of California to the changing skies of Normandy, David Hockney spent a lifetime seeing the world differently. One of the most celebrated and influential artists of our age, Hockney continually reinvented both his art and himself. His paintings are among the most recognisable images in modern culture, yet the story of the places that shaped his imagination has never been told quite like this before.
In David Hockney: An Artist for Life, acclaimed writer Paul Morley takes us on a journey through the landscapes, cities and communities that inspired Hockney's remarkable career. Bradford, London, California, Yorkshire, France: each location reveals a different side of a restless, curious and endlessly innovative artist. More than a biography, this is a vivid exploration of creativity, freedom, identity and belonging. As Morley traces Hockney's rise from working-class Bradford to international fame, he shows how friendship, love, curiosity and place fuelled one of the most extraordinary artistic lives of the modern era.
Insightful, entertaining and rich in cultural history, David Hockney: An Artist for Life offers a fresh and captivating portrait of an artist who has never stopped looking, questioning and creating.
[Morley] challenges the notion of Hockney as modern art's flashy entertainer and finds greater depth in the man and his work * The Herald *
Praise for Paul Morley
'Morley’s expansive present-tense prose flows […] I hold him to be one of the great pop writers.'
* The Guardian *‘Morley has not only plenty of insights into Bowie’s life and work but also the kind of details that only a diligent biographer unearths’ * The Times *
Morley’s triumph is to know there is no such thing as the definitive story: new generations of fans will continue to make it up as they go along.’ * Deborah Levy, New Statesman *
ISBN: 9781035932801
Dimensions: 238mm x 158mm x 38mm
Weight: 582g
368 pages