Yorkshire may seem worlds away from the sun-drenched poolsides of California where David Hockney found inspiration for the aquamarine-hued Y works that first brought him international fame in the '60s and '70s. But these peaceful, rolling Yorkshire Wolds landscapes have lived in the Bradford-born artist's imagination since boyhood, sparking years of exciting and intense creativity. His work has made the Yorkshire Wolds famous, as the subject of striking watercolours, richly coloured paintings and vivid iPad drawings.
Born in 1937, Hockney spent his teenage summers working as a farm hand in the fields around Huggate. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Art in 1962 and travelling to the USA, Hockney soon became famous for his pool paintings of California, becoming associated with the Pop Art movement of the time. He returned regularly to Yorkshire in the 1990s to visit his mother, but by the late '90s stayed for longer periods of time to capture the landscapes of his boyhood. Between 2004 and 2013, Hockney settled back in the seaside town of Bridlington and this gave him easy access to the Wolds' landscapes he found so fascinating.
During those years, Hockney was often seen out on the Wolds, working en plein air creating drawings, watercolours and oils. More recently, his painterly iPad works capture the essence of this beautiful and yet rarely visited corner of Yorkshire. Of the iconic dry valleys, Hockney said: "East Yorkshire, to the uninitiated, just looks like a lot of little hills. But it does have these marvellous valleys that are caused by glaciers, not rivers. So, it's unusual."
Today, the Wolds is known as 'Hockney Country' and there are online trails that guide you to the locations that inspired him. For a helpful itinerary, see visiteastyorkshire.co.uk.
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av BBC Countryfile Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av BBC Countryfile Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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We Are an Island Nation - So Let's Protect Our Seas - Living in the UK makes us islanders and personally I'm proud of that definition - not in any political or jingoistic sense, but simply because I love the sea and in this country we are totally surrounded by it.
Living in the UK makes us islanders and personally I'm proud of that definition - not in any political or jingoistic sense, but simply because I love the sea and in this country we are totally surrounded by it. We live inside thousands of miles of coastline, in a nation whose borders were created by nature and made us what we are.
Discover Jurassic Coast - With its towering cliffs, sweeping beaches and pretty seaside towns, the shoreline of Dorset and east Devon is spectacular.
With its towering cliffs, sweeping beaches and pretty seaside towns, the shoreline of Dorset and east Devon is spectacular. Jo Caird fossicks for fossils and dramatic rock formations. It's an auspicious start to my journey along the Jurassic Coast. This 95-mile stretch of shore mostly in Dorset, but nudging just into east Devon - is blessed with awe-inspiring geological formations and fossil deposits that have garnered it recognition as England's only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site. Snaking east from Orcombe Point near Exmouth to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage, it's studded with monumental rock arches, seemingly endless shingle beaches and fossil beds from which treasures were prised that altered our understanding of prehistory.
Viking shores
We picture Vikings marauding coastal settlements, looting and raiding. But what was life really like in the Viking Age? Historian Eleanor Barraclough reveals what the ancient artefacts found on Britain's shores tell us about our formidable forebears
Sea horses
On Cornwall's coastal clifftops, Melanie O'Shea meets the hardy grazing ponies that are helping to restore the land, so nature can flourish once more
A wing and a prayer
From their desks at Boulmer, 1,000 RAF personnel watch the skies for airborne threats to the country. Yet beyond the concrete of the base, vulnerable birdlife flourishes - thanks to the hard work of a small team
Cast in bone
Cuttlefish bones washed up on our shores have been used to make jewellery since ancient times. Jo Caird meets a craftswoman who's keeping the art alive on the Kent coast
EDIBLE SEAWEEDS
An ancient food harvested by humans for millennia, seaweeds bring an intense and rich flavour of the sea to a wide range of dishes, as well as essential mind-and-body-boosting nutrients
Spines and sulky faces
Watch where you put your feet at the beach - a weever fish could be lurking
Sea stars
The playful performances of Britain's bottlenose dolphins attract avid fans - but they deserve personal space
Harris's wildly beautiful beach
Cornwall may pull in the crowds, but one Hebridean strand stuns visitors
