Hockney studied at Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art. He first gained attention and national fame even before he graduated from the Royal College in 1962. During his time at the RCA Hockney won a gold medal and the Guinness award for Etching in 1961. He was awarded a prize in the junior section of the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition in 1961 and in the Graphics Section of the Paris Biennale in 1963. Exhibited as a pop artist with a one-man show at the Kasmin Gallery in 1963. He was given a retrospective exhibition of Paintings, Prints and Drawings 1960-70 at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1970. Hockney has been perpetually in the limelight and has gained a reputation for his success in drawings, witty etchings, double portraits and inventive photo collages. A major retrospective covering all aspects of his work was held at Tate Britain in 2017.
David Hockney, OM CH RA (b. 1937), Mark Lancaster Alseep, 1971
Ink on paper
14 x 17 in (35.6 x 43.2 cm)
Initialled, dated and inscribed ‘Mark Lancaster / San Francisco 1971 DH’
Hockney and the artist Mark Lancaster were close friends. Both were from Yorkshire but spent a great deal of their adult life and careers working in the U.S.
The present work was created after Hockney and Peter Schlesinger ended their relationship in the summer of 1971 and forms part of a series of drawings made of Mark by the artist during their trip to California and then Japan in November 1971.