A major exhibition opening in London this week places David Hockney’s early work in its historical context: a period when homosexuality was illegal in Britain, and the artist defiantly depicted what one curator calls “a peaceful, gay paradise.” The show, at the Tate Britain, brings together more than 100 works from the 1960s and early 1970s, a time when Hockney was establishing his signature style of flat, bright colours and playful figuration.
The exhibition’s title, “David Hockney: The Queer Years,” signals its focus. It includes paintings, drawings, and prints that explicitly celebrate same-sex desire, often through coded references or, in some cases, direct imagery. Among the highlights is “We Two Boys Together Clinging” (1961), a small canvas inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem, which shows two male figures entwined in a landscape of abstract forms. Another key work is “The Room, Manchester” (1967), a domestic interior that places two men in a setting of quiet intimacy.
Curator Simon Martin said the exhibition aims to show how Hockney “created a visual language of happiness and belonging at a time when the state viewed his existence as criminal.” The Sexual Offences Act 1967 partially decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales, but only for men over 21 and in private. Many of Hockney’s early works predate that reform, and the show underscores the risk he took in making his identity visible.
Critics have long noted the utopian quality of Hockney’s early work. The swimming pools of Los Angeles, the sun-drenched landscapes, the smiling figures: all seemed to project a world without repression. The exhibition argues that this optimism was not naive but strategic. “He was painting the world he wanted to live in,” Martin said. “It was a form of resistance.”
The show also includes Hockney’s illustrations for a limited-edition book of poems by Constantine Cavafy, a Greek poet who wrote openly about homosexual desire in the early 20th century. These drawings, made in 1966, depict lovers in classical settings, their bodies rendered in clean line drawings that avoid sentimentality.
Hockney, now 87, remains one of Britain’s most celebrated living artists. His later work, including large-scale portraits and landscapes, has often been seen as less overtly political. But the early career, the exhibition suggests, laid the groundwork for a broader cultural shift. “He normalised a vision of gay life that was joyous, ordinary, and defiant,” Martin said.
The exhibition runs from November 24 to March 3, 2024. It has already attracted attention for its frankness and its willingness to engage with the political dimensions of Hockney’s art. In a statement, the artist said: “I was never trying to make a statement. I was just painting what I saw and what I felt. But I suppose that was a statement in itself.”
