Hockney's Alphabet by Stephen Spender,David Hockney

Hockney attended the Bradford College of Art from 1953 to 1957. Then, because he was a conscientious objector to military service, h David Hockney was born in Bradford, England, on July 9, 1937. He loved books and was interested in art from an early age, admiring Picasso, Matisse and Fragonard. His parents encouraged their son’s artistic exploration, and gave him the freedom to doodle and daydream. Hockney attended the Bradford College of Art from 1953 to 1957

David Hockney, who is one of the two or three most influential British artists of the later half of the 20th century, made a drawing to illustrate each letter of the alphabet. Famous writers from the . and the United States contributed definitions for the letters, like a children's ABC book, but with a more serious purpose-to raise money to fight AIDS. Three hundred deluxe copies (which is the issue featured here) came bound with vellum spines and include the signatures of Hockney and Spender, along with most of the participating writers.

Signed by Hockney and 23 other contributors: Douglas Adams, Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, William Boyd, Margaret Drabble, Patrick Leigh Fermor, William Golding, Seamus Heaney, Kazuo Ishiguro, Erica Jong, Doris Lessing, Norman Mailer, Ian McEwan, Arthur Miller, Iris Murdoch, Nigel Nicolson, John Julius Norwich, Joyce Carol Oates, . Pritchett, Craig Raine, Susan Sontag, Stephen Spender, and John Updike. This book was published to raise money for people living with AIDS.

The book pairs Hockney’s artworks, each representing a letter of the alphabet, with a piece of writing by notable authors from the UK and the United States. The project was conceived to raise money for the AIDS Crisis Trust, and includes works by such authors as Iris Murdoch, Gore Vidal, Margaret Drabble, William Boyd and Erica Jong. The list contains five Nobel Laureates in Doris Lessing, . Eliot, Seamus Heaney, William Golding, and Kazuo Ishiguro

David Hockney, OM, CH, RA (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.

I have never liked the look of E, Gore Vidal declares, so very like a comb, unsnarling hyacinthine locks, taming Medusan curls - E - a cry! Anthony Burgess writes a long elegy for X, the unnecessary letter that is also our mightiest cypher, the great unknown. Dorris Lessing takes P on a culinary adventure in pumpkin. ‘Why’ is the only question which bothers people enough to have an entire letter of the alphabet named after it, quips Douglas Adams as he launches into an eulogy for the unanswerable

html?hl ru&id Ftg2AQAAIAAJ. Spender's good idea of publishing a book as an AIDS fundraiser resulted in 26 letters drawn by Hockney and 26 short pieces by a who's who of contemporary writers. He has written World Within World, an autobiography, as well as numerous works of poetry, drama, criticism, and reportage, and taught at University College and a number of American colleges.

Hockney's Alphabet (with Stephen Spender) (1991) Random House, London, ISBN 0-679-41066-X. David Hockney: Some Very New Paintings (Intro by William Hardie) (1993), William Hardie Gallery, Glasgow, ISBN 1-872878-03-2. Off the Wall: A Collection of David Hockney's Posters 1987–94 (with Brian Baggott) (1994), Pavilion Books, ISBN 1-85793-421-0. Hockney's Pictures (2006), Thames and Hudson, London, ISBN 0-500-28671-X. David Hockney: Poster Art (1995), Chronicle Books, ISBN 0-8118-0915-3.