Year 1 – Delius & Hockney

David Hockney was born in Bradford in 1947. From a young age he showed great interest in drawing. He has also had a lifelong fascination with the opera after being taken as young child.

Hockney won a scholarship to study at Bradford grammar school and whilst there he realised that he wanted to become an artist.

He studied at the Royal College of Art and began painting in oils.  He soon realised that art was about seeing and thinking rather than imitation. It was at the Royal College in London that he started to become noticed as an artist.

Hockney lived in California for many years, but now has houses both in Yorkshire and California. He has a gallery named after him in Saltaire, Bradford where you can see his work.

He has created wonderful portraits of family and friends, including his two dogs Stanley and Boodgie!

Hockney is also well known for his colourful landscape paintings, a lot of which are set in Yorkshire. Many of these paintings are huge and are made up of a series of canvases being put together. Hockney likes to paint his landscapes outdoors, and chooses colours that he sees and feels rather than realistic ones.

He has become a very famous British artist, working in many different mediums such as drawing, printmaking, stage design and more recently digital art using an iPad.

This artwork is an interpretation of one of Hockney’s landscapes flowing out from the paint palette.

Frederick Delius was born in 1862 and went to Bradford Grammar School.

His family ran a wool business but Delius was interested in music and so left home to study in Leipzig. He loved the music of Wagner and Chopin and was influenced by them.

Delius spent time living in Paris where he was friends with many artists such as the painters Gauguin and Munch.

He also spent time in Florida living on a plantation of orange groves. Here he became inspired by the sounds of nature, which then formed an important part of his composing.

Between the two World Wars he became known as a leading British composer.

Sadly, later in life, he became blind and unable to walk unaided. He did though continue to compose with the help of a good friend, and many of these music pieces are his most important.

He wrote musical scores to be played by orchestras such as ‘On Hearing The First Cuckoo of Spring’.  Listen out for the number of different instruments imitating the sounds of the cuckoo, including the oboe, strings and clarinet.

The sculpture ‘Quatrefoil’, celebrating Delius, can be seen in Bradford behind the Victoria Hotel. It is made of metal and glass in the shape of a large leaf.

The class artwork uses musical notes and symbols with natural colours to create a flowing picture that is in tune with Delius.