Catherine Cusset: Life of David Hockney, Other Press, New York, 9781590519837, paperback original, available

 

David Hockney is one of my favorite contemporary artists whose endless creativity and exploration of all artistic expressions be it acrylic, watercolor, oil, Polaroid’s, camera obscura, iPod drawings etc. never fail to amaze me.  When a friend from publishing brought me the proof of Catherine Cusset’s “Life of David Hockney”, a novel but very close to his actual biography, I thought to myself whether it was at all desirable to write such a book.  Should one not stick to the biography of living artists? The author herself even questions this but wrote it as homage to Hockney; she imagined feelings, dialogues and thoughts.  To make a long story short, I was very taken with this wonderful little book,   Catherine Cussets pulls it off with grace and vivid prose.  Her research was meticulous and she even met David Hockney after her French original was published to present him with this book.  He doesn’t seem to have minded this novel at all. It is a fascinating overview of David’s artistic and personal life.  He was openly gay early on and like many suffered loss, illness and heartbreak,  losing very close friends to the Aids outbreak.  His life has been split between California, London and Yorkshire where his family lived for many years inspiring him to create some of his greatest work.  If you are interested in David Hockney or are a close follower of his work like I am, I highly recommend this novel.