What makes David Hockney an American Master?
Susan Lacy, the creator and executive producer of the AMERICAN MASTERS series, has always included adopted Americans, as well as native-born Americans in the series. The list of these great masters who adopted America includes Charlie Chaplin, William Wyler, Robert Capa, Balanchine, Alfred Hitchcock, and Samuel Goldwyn. And now David Hockney joins this illustrious group. British-born, Hockney may well be the world’s most famous living artist, but as a young man he chose to adopt America because of his love of Southern California, with its sun-struck hedonism and emerging sexual freedoms. So persuasive was his embrace of Los Angeles that within a few years his paintings of lawn sprinklers, swimming pools and palm trees became part of everybody’s mental picture of the California landscape. His palette took on a Southern California luminosity that is evident not only in his paintings, but especially in his dazzling opera set designs. He is a giant among artists. Q: What was the genesis of
