Peter Schlesinger (born April 2, 1948 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) is an American artist, author, and former artist's model, perhaps most well known for being the subject in numerous notable canvases by the British painter

David Hockney David Hockney (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 o ...

Biography

Peter Schlesinger was an 18-year-old student at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

when he met the then 28-year-old artist

, who was teaching a summer class at the university. They began a long affair; Schlesinger relocated with Hockney to London, where he subsequently undertook to study at the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. Whilst in a relationship with Hockney, he was often the artist's subject and muse; he appears in some of Hockney's best-known works, including ''

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) ''Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)'' is a large acrylic-on-canvas pop art painting by British artist David Hockney, completed in May 1972. It measures , and depicts two figures: one swimming underwater and one clothed male figure ...

'' (1972)—which, in 2018, sold for over $90 million, setting the monetary record for a painting by a living artist—, ''Peter Schlesinger with Polaroid Camera'', and

Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool ''Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool'' is a 1966 acrylic-on-canvas painting by the British pop art artist David Hockney. It depicts the rear view of a naked man climbing out of a swimming pool outside a contemporary house. It is held at the Walk ...

. Schlesinger went on to pursue his own career as a visual artist, creating sculptures, paintings, and photographs.

Books

His photography is the subject of two volumes for which he also wrote the text; ''A Chequered Past'' (2003,

Thames and Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

) and ''Peter Schlesinger: A Photographic Memory 1968–1989'' (2015,

Damiani Damiani is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Chip Damiani (1945–2014), American drummer *Damiano Damiani (1922–2013), Italian screenwriter and film director *Donatella Damiani, Italian actress *Ernesto Damiani, Ital ...

; co-authored with

Hilton Als Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an associate professor of writing at Columbia University and a staff writer and theater critic for ''The New Yor ...

Personal life

The 1974 film ''

A Bigger Splash ''A Bigger Splash'' is a large pop art painting by British artist David Hockney. Measuring by , it depicts a swimming pool beside a modern house, disturbed by a large splash of water created by an unseen figure who has apparently just jumped ...

'' (named after Hockney's famous painting) is about the breakup of Schlesinger's relationship with Hockney. Schlesinger's current partner is the Swedish photographer Eric Bowman, with whom he shares a home in

Bellport Bellport is a village in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 2,084 at the 2010 census. The Incorporated Village of Bellport is named after the Bell family ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

References

External links

* The artist's website �

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlesinger, Peter 1948 births Living people American sculptors American photographers American LGBT photographers People from Los Angeles Muses Gay artists