This video is an outtake from David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, an award-winning documentary by filmmaker Bruno Wollheim.
Watch the full film here: vimeo.com/onde...
In his West Hollywood studio surrounded by paintings of Woldgate Woods, David places himself in a long line of image-makers going back to earliest pre-history. David amplifies this thought in his and martin Gayford’s book A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen (Thames & Hudson 2016).
“Any picture is an account of looking at something. Pictures are very, very old. They may be older than language. The first person to draw a little animal was watched by someone else, and when that other person saw that creature again, he would have seen it a bit more clearly. That’s true of the bull painted in a cave in southwestern France 17,000 years ago, The image was that artist’s testimony, made on a surface, of seeing this creature, not the thing itself. That’s all a picture can be.”
Perhaps most of all this passage affirms Hockney’s belief that making art, or pictures, is about communicating.
Filmed over three years with unprecedented access, A Bigger Picture captures Britain’s most beloved painter at work. David Hockney’s return from California to paint the East Yorkshire landscape of his childhood - outside, in all weathers, through the seasons - culminates in the largest picture ever made outdoors. It’s an inspiring story of a painter in creative dialogue with nature and photography, and a revealing portrait of Britain’s most popular and celebrated artist.
“This wonderful film … will be of lasting importance for future generations who want to understand Hockney’s art.” Saturday Review, BBC Radio 4
“Bruno Wollheim’s portrait of this forthright magus is an unqualified, life-enhancing joy from start to finish.” - The Sunday Times
“This film may well be the best anyone will ever make about Hockney’s process.” - The Times, London.
“As gently hypnotic and fulfilling as one of Hockney’s own works.” - Time Out
“This impressive documentary is almost cinematic in its scope… both majestic and intimate” - The Observer
Watch the full documentary here: vimeo.com/2248...
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