David Hockney is born July 9 in Bradford, Yorkshire.
1953-57
Studies at the Bradford School of Art, showing clear talent as a draftsman.
1957
Exhibits and sells Portrait of My Father at the Yorkshire Artists Exhibition at the Leeds Gallery, Yorkshire.
1959
Studies at the Royal Academy of Art in London under Roger de Gray, Ceri Richards, Ruskin Spear and Carel Wright. Fellow students include R. B. Kitaj, Derek Bashier, Allen Jones, Peter Phillips and Patrick Caulfield.
Early 1960s
Achieves international recognition for his drawings, prints and paintings.
1960-61
Participates in the Young Contemporaries exhibition at RBA Galleries. He wins the Junior Selection Prize in the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery. He produces a series of paintings exploring the theme of homosexual love and begins producing etchings for A Rake’s Progress. Hockney meets William S. Lieberman, print curator at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, who buys two prints.
1962
Exhibits at the Young Contemporaries again. Becomes friends with Ossie Clark and graduates from the Royal College.
1963
His first solo exhibition is held at John Kasmin’s gallery. In addition to travelling to Egypt for a commission for the Sunday Times he travels to New York where he meets Andy Warhol, Edward Hopper and Henry Geldzahler, the curator of twentieth-century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He moves to California.
1964
Produces his first swimming pool painting. Teaches at the University of Iowa during the summer. His first exhibition in the United States is held at the Alan Gallery, New York.
1965
Teaches at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Produces a series of six lithographs for Ken Tyler.
1966
Travels to Beirut, Lebanon. Teaches at the University of California in Los Angeles in the summer where he meets Peter Schelinger who becomes his lover and favorite model.
1970
His first retrospective is held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London.
1973
Produces a series of works inspired by Picasso following the artist’s death. He moves to Paris where he experiments with new painting techniques.
1974
After working in acrylics for the past decade, Hockney switches to oils. Jack Hazan’s documentary about him is released. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris organizes a retrospective of his work.
1976
Hockney’s autobiography is published. He begins to work extensively with photography.
1977
Moves to Los Angeles. A touring retrospective of his work opens at the Yale Center for British Art.
1979
His father dies.
1981
Buys the house in the Hollywood Hills where he has lived for a number of years.
Early 1980s
Begins experimenting with Polaroid composites which he calls “joiners,” completing 150 works.
1984
After a break of almost four years Hockney begins painting again.
1987
Collaborates with Philip Haas on the film A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China.
1988
Threatens to cancel a retrospective exhibition at the Tate Britain over proposed anti-homosexual legislation in the United Kingdom.
1989
Begins the Pretty Plant paintings for his friends suffering from AIDS.
1993
The second volume of his autobiography is published.
1995
A major touring exhibition of his work opens at the Kunsthalle Hamburg.
1999
His mother dies. After viewing an exhibition of works by Ingres, Hockney begins researching the techniques of the Old Masters.
2001
Publishes a book on the techniques of the Old Masters.
2002
Begins working in watercolor, producing a series of large single-and double-portraits of friends.
2003
Receives the Lorenzo de Medici Lifetime Career Award at the Florence Biennale.
2004
Pictures, a retrospective book organized by Hockney is published.
2007
Produces his largest work, Bigger Trees Near Warter, which comprises fifty canvases and measures fifteen by forty feet.
2008
Gives Bigger Trees Near Warter to the Tate Britain.
2009
Exhibition is held at PaceWildenstein, marking his first major exhibition in New York in more than a decade.
2011
A blockbuster exhibition is held at the Royal Academy.
2012
Queen Elizabeth II awards him the Order of Merit.
2013
An exhibition of his work is held at the Herbst Exhibition Galleries in the de Young Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
