Celia Weary

1966–1978

Stage designer: “Ubu Roi” and the Glyndebourne operas

Hockney’s first stage designs are for “Ubu Roi” at London’s Royal Court Theatre (1966), followed by Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” (1975) and “The Magic Flute” (1978) for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. It is the start of the opera work that will go on in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London.

24 juin 1977 – 2 octobre 1977

Exhibition: Documenta 6

1979

A founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

In 1979 Hockney is a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

1979

Hearing aids from 1979

Hockney’s hearing has been failing since the 1970s: he realised he was going deaf several years before he began using hearing aids in 1979. He also described synaesthetic associations between sound, colour and shape.

1980–1983

Designing for the Metropolitan Opera

In 1980 Hockney agrees to design sets and costumes for a French triple bill at the Metropolitan Opera — Satie’s “Parade”, Poulenc’s “Les Mamelles de Tirésias” and Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortilèges” — and in 1981 for a second one, of Stravinsky’s “Le sacre du printemps”, “Le rossignol” and “Oedipus Rex”. The reimagined set of “L’enfant et les sortilèges” from the 1983 exhibition “Hockney Paints the Stage” became a permanent installation at the Spalding House branch of the Honolulu Museum of Art.