A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen

Artist David Hockney and critic Martin Gayford discuss the history and nature of visual images, drawing examples from different eras and cultures.

Thames & Hudson published A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen (2016), which Hockney co-authored with his friend Martin Gayford. While his previous Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters (2001) was devoted to the works of Caravaggio, Velasquez, and Da Vinci and hypothesized about their use of optics, A History of Pictures is a philosophical treatise on visual culture in general. In conversation with the brilliant critic that is Gayford, Hockney plays the role of a simpleton or sometimes a provocateur: to Gayford’s question about what makes art he answers, “I don’t know,” and claims that art has not progressed since the wall paintings in Lascaux made about 17,000 years ago.