David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring in Normandy, 2020 by Hockney, David

An uplifting celebration of spring and the power of art against lockdown: Hockney's new iPad drawings, in an intimate sketchbook formatA New York Magazine 2021 holiday gift guide pick At the beginning of 2020, just as global COVID-19 restrictions were coming into force, David Hockney was at his new house, studio and garden in Normandy. From there, he witnessed the arrival of spring, and recorded the blossoming of the surrounding landscape on his iPad, a method of drawing he has been using for over a decade. Drawing outdoors was an antidote to the anxiety of the moment for Hockney; "we need art, and I do think it can relieve stress," he says. This uplifting publication--produced to accompany a major exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts--includes 116 of these new iPad drawings and shows to full effect Hockney's singular skill in capturing the exuberance of nature. The book begins with an interview with the show's curator, Edith Devaney, in which Hockney discusses his heralding of the