David Hockney

(1937- today)

He rose from the 1961 Young Contemporaries exhibition, while still a student at the Royal Academy of Art, to becoming one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. Not bad for a cheeky boy from Bradford.

His work has featured in over 400 solo and

500 group exhibitions around the world

His personality beguiled the public as much as his art. Pictured waving a cheque in front of his painting, wearing a polka dotted silk tie, oversized spectacles and dyed blonde hair. Britain's 1st celebrity artist.

We Two Boys Together Clinging dates from Hockney's second year at the Royal College of Art in 1961 and was inspired by a Walt Whitman poem.