The Diploma (S.A.C. 12; Tokyo 12)

In his final year at the Royal College of Art, Hockney courted controversy by refusing to write the essay required for the final examination. Resisting the necessity for art students to have to explain themselves with texts, he argued instead that he should be assessed solely on his painting. When threatened with not being allowed to graduate, the artist etched his own diploma, wittily lambasting the academic establishment. Hockney's diploma features the strutting figure of Sir Robin Darwin, the Principal of the Royal College, closely followed by a half-moon character, a reference to Mr. Moon the registrar who has been cast in the guise of the evil Snatch from Gretchen and the Snurl. The Principal reverently holds up the figure of the Head of the General Studies Department, Michael Kullman, wickedly depicted as two faced, while the pitiful figures of five of Hockney's fellow students are seen, heads bowed, crushed beneath the weight of the framed diploma and the foot of the Principal. In recognition of his talent and already growing reputation the RCA changed its regulations and Hockney was granted a diploma.