ARTES

From a small, picturesque farmhouse in the rich fields and meadows of Normandy, David Hockney followed the changing seasons across 2020 and into the new year. He used his iPad to spontaneously depict impressions of the landscape surrounding him, catching the first spring blossoms, the smell of summer, the saturated colors of autumn, and the stark shapes of dark branches in winter time. The 220 (plus four bonus) iPad paintings in this book are printed with six colors to match the richness of the artist’s vision. A short introduction by Hockney reveals how this planned project became a lifeline during the COVID lockdown, from which he spread his message of hope: “Remember they can’t cancel the spring.”

At the age of six, Hokusai was said to have painted his first picture, and a year after his death aged 89, his designs for illustrated books were posthumously published. Tracing a long, prolific career, this edition spans each of the artist’s creative phases: from the actor portraits with which Hokusai started out to the 1,300 designs carried out in his final years under the name Manji.Reproducing 746 woodblock prints, paintings, sketches, and book illustrations, many of them in granular detail, this volume is comfortably the most complete publication on perhaps Japan’s most famous artist. Hokusai’s wide appeal as the recognizable figure of Japan’s Edo period endures to this day: in March 2023, a version of his iconic woodblock print Under the Wave off Kanagawa (or The Great Wave), from his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, was auctioned for 2.76 million US dollars.

In November 1936, publisher Henry R. Luce launched Life as a photo-led weekly news magazine with a clear purpose: “To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events.” Before readers’ attention was consumed by television, Life served as their window to the world, and by the late 1940s, it was being viewed by 1 in 3 Americans. Jean Harlow was the first movie star to appear on a Life cover in 1937, and from then until 1972 over 200 covers featured Hollywood-related subjects, illustrating the strength of the bond between Life and the film industry.