FLORENCE, ITALY.- Celebrated British artist David Hockney will present a public lecture on Renaissance artists and optical instruments at the 4th Florence International Biennale of Contemporary Art on Tuesday, December 9, at 5pm. At the conclusion of the lecture, Pasquale Celona, President of the Florence Biennale, will award Hockney the Premio Lorenzo il Magnifico for Lifetime Career Achievement.

Born in England in 1937, David Hockney is among the world’s best known artists. Trained as a painter, Hockney was already world renowned when he suddenly turned to photography in 1981. He has since produced work in almost every medium - painting, drawing, stage design, photography and printmaking - and he has stretched the previous boundaries in all of them. Hockney’s years of research into optics and perspective culminated in 2001 with the publication of his internationally best-selling book, Secret Knowledge. Innumerable international symposia have since been dedicated to the consideration of his provocative new observations of the great masters’ knowledge and use of optical projections in the production of some of the world’s greatest masterpieces. 

This year’s edition of the Florence Biennale is significantly expanded with the participation of more than 800 artists from 70 countries. Directed by John T Spike, the 4th Florence Biennale has secured the exposition’s status as the world’s most comprehensive venue of international contemporary art. The exhibition enjoys the high patronage of President Ciampi and official recognition as a member in the United Nations’ program “Dialogue among Civilizations”. The International Jury includes such noted critics as Dore Ashton and Barbara Rose. The Florence Biennale takes place in the the historic Fortezza da Basso in Florence, December 6-14.