In debt to one of the most brilliant artists of his generation, David Hockney

In the week when a major retrospective of his work opens at Tate Britain, Rose Martin looks at two new books on the work of a man who is entering his eighties as a ceaseless, technical innovator.

David Hockney self-portrait

THERE are art lovers and there are art collectors and therein lies a big difference.

Art collectors, usually have the wherewithal to acquire and own the object of their desire; art lovers, on the other hand tend to be a little impecunious and instead, visit galleries, view online and purchase art books as a means of admiring that thing of beauty.