David Hockney, 81, to showcase first exhibition in 20 years with work spanning seven decades

David Hockney has shown us over many decades how he sees the world in a different way. Now Britain’s greatest living artist will reveal how he sees himself.

The National Portrait Gallery is to stage an exhibition of his drawings, spanning self-portraits from his school days to his new work.

It will be the first major show devoted to the art master as a draughtsman in more than 20 years, exploring the ‘many different stylistic turns’ the 81-year-old has taken, from the 1950s to the present day.

Pencil drawings created during his spell in Paris in the 1970s will be featured, alongside works from a two-month period in the 1980s when he created a self-portrait every day. David Hockney is pictured in a portrait, left, and in February last year, right

Sketchbooks from Hockney’s art school days in Bradford will go on display, alongside new and previously unseen works.

Among the 150 works will be portraits created in pencil, pastel, ink, watercolour and with his trusty Polaroid camera.

The exhibition will also showcase the Yorkshireman’s recent embracing of technology, featuring drawings made using his iPhone and iPad.

Sketchbooks from Hockney’s art school days in Bradford will go on display, alongside new and previously unseen works. Among the 150 works will be portraits created in pencil, pastel, ink, watercolour and with his trusty Polaroid camera

And as well as self-portraits, it will focus on depictions of his close circle, including his mother Laura, muse Celia Birtwell, former partner Gregory Evans and master printer Maurice Payne.

Pencil drawings created during his spell in Paris in the 1970s will be featured, alongside works from a two-month period in the 1980s when he created a self-portrait every day.

Drawings created between 1961 and 1963 will feature from his semi-autobiographical A Rake’s Progress series inspired by his first trip to America.

The David Hockney: Drawing From Life exhibition will open next February, with the works coming from public and private collections across the world, as well as the artist himself.

Gallery director Dr Nicholas Cullinan said: ‘The exhibition will demonstrate his constant and continuing ingenuity with portrait drawings which reference both tradition and technology, from Ingres to the iPad.’

The Turner Prize has ended its sponsorship with Stagecoach South East after only a day following criticism of the bus firm’s chairman Sir Brian Souter for bankrolling the campaign to stop the Scottish government scrapping the law which banned teachers and pupils discussing homosexuality in schools.

The David Hockney: Drawing From Life exhibition will open next February, with the works coming from public and private collections across the world, as well as the artist himself