David Hockney, savoirs secrets, les techniques perdues des maîtres anciens, Thames & Hudson (book)

This post is also available in: Français (French)

David Hockney, Secret Knowledge, Lost Techniques of the Old Masters, Thames & Hudson (book). Paperback, with soft cover, like new, in French. 510 illustrations, 328 pages. Translated from English by Pierre Saint-Jean. 2021.

David Hockney, born in 1937 in the United Kingdom, is a British portrait and landscape painter, draftsman, printmaker, decorator, photographer and art theorist.

For a painter, the extraordinary thing is to stop painting! Thus, David Hockney has laid down his brushes in order to bring to light the secrets of the old masters. During his investigation, his findings attracted media attention and sparked debate among scholars, art historians and museum curators around the world. Today, Secret Knowledge with David Hockney tells the story of his research and what it revealed. He explains how he established scientific and visual evidence, each bringing new revelations. Through The Painter, the reader can examine major paintings in art history and learn how artists such as Caravaggio, Velázquez, Van Eyck, Holbein, Vinci and Ingres used mirrors and lenses to create their famous masterpieces. These hundreds of paintings and drawings, some of which are among the best known in Western art, are commented on in the captivating and enthusiastic tone of David Hockney. His own photographs and drawings illustrate the different techniques used by painters of the past and present the results obtained. Old or recent texts provide additional evidence and Hockney’s correspondence with a group of specialists retraces the stages of this fascinating research. Secret Knowledge isn’t just about the lost techniques of old masters. The book is also interested in the present and the future, in the way in which we see, process and manufacture images today, in the era of computer retouching. In constant research, challenging received ideas and practices, Hockney opens our eyes to the way we perceive and represent the world. With Savoirs secrets, a major artist invites us to share his insightful and enlightened look at the history of art.