"Reading the Sun" Trailer: Photography as Painting - David Hockney's "Hidden Knowledge" (1)

David Hockney is a British artist. Even if you're not familiar with his name, you've probably seen the work below. Among the living contemporary artists, his influence in the Western art world is unsurpassed. The market admits it: Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972) was sold at Christie 's on an unremarkable Thursday night in 2018 for $80 million, making it a still-living The most expensive work by an artist.

This time we are going to talk about another Hockney, a Hockney who is not as well-known as his "Pool", which can be said to be his mirror image, and he goes by the side of everyone who is familiar with him. The only difference may be that this "mirror" Hockney can not only help us better understand the Hockney under the spotlight, but also give us a lot of interesting and significant revelations that have been ignored by us all the time. .

By chance, I saw one of his films, titled A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China , 50 minutes in length, devoted to Chinese scroll paintings. This work sounds a bit groundless. Why did a world-class British artist suddenly go to study Chinese art, and even made a film, and did nothing else, just take everyone to "tour" the Chinese picture?

The film immediately reminded me of his "art history" book, Hidden Knowledge, which I read a few years ago, discussing the influence of the use of lenses on Western painting since the fifteenth century, and the relationship between photography and painting. This book set off an uproar in the Western art and cultural circles, with praise and doubts, but no matter which one, most of them came from the jealousy of peers. Because this book is so revolutionary, although he is a world-famous artist, he has never been an art history expert after all, but using this mere book has almost fundamentally shaken the Western art history world in telling art, especially It is the "tradition" of art since the Renaissance.

The book and the film may seem unrelated, but in fact they both reflect Hockney's constant focus on art throughout his life: the relationship between painting and photography, and the continued existence of contemporary painting. , and where will it go .

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that from now on, you can visit the website of "Reading Day" ( www.readependenceday.com )! Friends who have been following us for a long time will find that the website is still built on the Substack platform, so everyone can be as before Easily read the latest content by subscribing to the newsletter, and you can communicate with us directly by replying to the email. We will also post on the new website after reorganizing the first season and "Dictionary of Commons" in the near future. Thank you for your continued support and companionship!

See you on April 15th! Happy Readependence Day!

Soon Song Chun Ji

Ambrosia & friends