
Friends
At the very start of the year, Hockney takes two weeks to drive cross-country, from New York to Los Angeles, with Gregory Evans; in March, the pair make a trip to Australia [NESTED]and New Zealand. In L.A., Hockney works with Gemini G.E.L. on a series of lithographs, Friends—highly precise portraits of Evans, the fashion model Joe MacDonald, and American film director Billy Wilder, among others.




Twenty Photographic Pictures
Hockney’s exercises in close observation have him once more ruminating on photography and its representational limits relative to painting. His output as a photographer, which he typically gathers in albums of his source imagery and daily life, attracts connoisseurs to his portfolio Twenty Photographic Pictures shown at Sonnabend Gallery in New York.
David Hockney by David Hockney
Upon its publication, David Hockney by David Hockney: My Early Years, 25 hours of the artist’s musings on life and art recorded over three days and redacted into book form by editor Nikos Stangos, exceeds sales [NESTED]expectations, requiring a second printing within the year. Hockney admits to close friends that he hadn’t realized his “autobiography” would bring such public scrutiny.
The book has been an enormous success here, and overpraised almost everywhere. It’s put me off going to parties—the last one I went to a lady told me she had three copies given for Christmas, I laughed but I can’t face talking about it to another person.




Exhibitions
Solo
- David Hockney, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (Feb 7–Mar 7).
- Works with the Eye, Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA (May 11–29).
- Drawings and Paintings 1960–1965, Waddington Galleries, London, UK (Nov 2–27); catalogue.
- Twenty Photographic Pictures, Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY, USA (opens Dec 1, 1976).
Group
- Drawing Now 1955–1975, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA (Jan 21–Mar 9), travels internationally; catalogue.
- Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, R. B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (May 20–Jul 4); catalogue.
Publications
Publications
- Arte Inglese Oggi 1960–1976, British Council, Comune di Milano, Milan.
- David Hockney Obra Grafica 1961–74, Galeria Eude, Barcelona.
- David Hockney Prints, Australian National Gallery, Canberra.
- Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, R.B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
- Pop Art in England: Beginnings of a new Figuration, Kunstverein, Hamburg.
- The Human Clay: An Exhibition Selected by R B Kitaj, by Ronald B. Kitaj, London.
- David Hockney by David Hockney, My Early Years, edited by Nikos Stangos, London: Thames & Hudson.