David Hockney - Original 1960s etchings

David Hockney

Original 1960s etchings from Grimm’s Fairy Tales & Poems of Cavafy goldmark

Later in the decade he produced the two black and white suites, Grimm's Fairy Tales and The Poems of C P Cavafy, offered here.

goldmark january 2012

Economic necessity was a major contributory factor in David Hockney picking up an etching needle. In 1961, whilst a student at the Royal College of Art, he found himself penniless and unable to buy paint.

Fortuitously for Hockney the College's graphic department gave out free materials opening up to him a medium in which he has excelled. His first work, entitled Myself and My Heroes, depicted Hockney alongside two of his heroes, Walt Whitman and Mahatma Gandhi. The College recognised his talent awarding him a Gold Medal and the Guiness Award for Etching.

David Hockney David Hockney had always loved Grimm's Fairy Tales and had read all 220 of them and in 1969 he decided to make his own illustrations. He especially enjoyed the elements of magic in the tales, and his images focus on his imaginative response to the descriptions in the text rather than attempting to concentrate on the most important events in the narrative. They are therefore more than simply illustrations: they stand on their own as images, independent of the stories.

For instance, Hockney chose Old Rinkrank because it starts with the words ‘A King built a glass mountain’, and he was fascinated by the problem of drawing a glass mountain. He made various attempts, even smashing a sheet of glass and drawing the ragged pieces piled up in a big heap, before finding the solution: he depicted a tree and a house with a glass mountain in front which distorts their reflection. For other images, he turned to earlier artists for inspiration: Uccello for the Prince on horseback in Rapunzel, Bosch for the Enchantress with the Baby Rapunzel and Magritte's surrealist games for the Room Full of Straw in Rumpelstilzchen.

Hockney's images are exuberant, inventive and memorable, and he now considers them to be one of his major successes.

Hockney first discovered the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy while a student at the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s and when Paul CornwallJones of Editions Alecto asked him to make a series of etchings relating to Cavafy in 1966, he agreed without hesitation.

The prints are not literal illustrations of the poems but visualizations of their nostalgia for fleeting but memorable sexual encounters. The feeling of authenticity generated by the images is due to Hockney's own personal experiences. They were instantly acclaimed. Edward LucieSmith spoke of their 'staggering virtuosity' and described them as 'not only the best work I have seen by the artist but probably the finest prints produced in England since the war'. The Arts Council made a film about the creation of the engravings entitled Love's Presentation.

Peter Webb, author of Portrait of David Hockney (Chatto, 1988) and David Hockney, Grimm's Fairy Tales (South Bank Centre National Touring Exhibition, 1993)

1.

He Tore Himself in Two etching & aquatint, 44.5 x 32.5 cm signed ÂŁ2450, unsigned ÂŁ600

visit davidhockneyprints.com

Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

signed & unsigned etchings 1969

2.

Catherina Dorothea Viehmann etching & aquatint, 28 x 25.5 cm signed ÂŁ1750, unsigned ÂŁ450

to order phone 01572 821424

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

3.

Pleading for the Child etching & aquatint, 26.5 x 25.5 cm signed £1950, unsigned £450

4.

Riding Around on a Cooking Spoon etching & aquatint, 16.5 x 25 cm signed £1750, unsigned £400

5.

The Pot Boiling etching & aquatint, 17.5 x 20 cm signed £1750, unsigned £500

6.

The Enchantress with the Baby Rapunzel etching & aquatint, 27 x 23 cm signed £2000, unsigned £450

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

7.

The Sexton Disguised as a Ghost Stood Still as Stone etching & aquatint, 44.5 x 32 cm signed £1950, unsigned £500

8.

Corpses on Fire etching & aquatint, 26 x 25 cm signed £1500, unsigned £350

9.

The Sexton Disguised as a Ghost etching & aquatint, 23 x 26.5 cm signed £1950, unsigned £450

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

10. The Glass Mountain etching, 44 x 32.5 cm signed £1950, unsigned £500

to order phone 01572 821424

11. Old Rinkrank Threatens the Princess etching & aquatint, 23 x 27 cm signed £1750, unsigned £350

12. The Glass Mountain Shattered etching & aquatint, 23 x 27 cm signed £1500, unsigned £350

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

13. The Princess After Many Years in the Glass Mountain etching & aquatint, 45 x 32 cm signed £1950, unsigned £450

14. Gold etching & aquatint, 34 x 26 cm signed ÂŁ1600, unsigned ÂŁ350

to order phone 01572 821424

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

15. A Room Full of Straw etching & aquatint, 25 x 22 cm signed £1750, unsigned £450

16. Straw on the Left, Gold on the Right etching & aquatint, 16 x 24 cm signed £1500, unsigned £375

17. The Enchantress in her Garden etching & aquatint, 23 x 13 cm signed £1750, unsigned £400

18. The Cook etching & aquatint, 18.5 x 20 cm signed £1950, unsigned £400

Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

unsigned etchings 1969

19. The Princess in her Tower etching & aquatint, 44.5 x 32 cm unsigned ÂŁ600

visit davidhockneyprints.com

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

20. The Princess Searching etching, aquatint & drypoint, 26.5 x 17 cm unsigned ÂŁ500

21. The Older Rapunzel etching & aquatint, 22 x 24.5 cm unsigned £550

22. The Boy Hidden in a Fish etching & aquatint, 23 x 26.5 cm unsigned £950

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

23. The Rose and the Rose Stalk etching, 27.5 x 12 cm unsigned £1200

24. The Church Tower and the Clock etching & aquatint, 28 x 12 cm unsigned £400

25. Rapunzel Growing in the Garden etching & aquatint, 44 x 32.5 cm unsigned ÂŁ850

to order phone 01572 821424

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

26. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair etching & aquatint, 25.5 x 24 cm unsigned ÂŁ850

27. The Tower had One Window etching & aquatint, 33.5 x 15 cm unsigned ÂŁ850

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

28. The Bell Tower etching & aquatint, 26.5 x 16.5 cm unsigned £850

29. Digging up Glass etching & aquatint, 13 x 11 cm unsigned £400

30. The Haunted Castle etching & aquatint, 34 x 20.5 cm unsigned ÂŁ750

visit davidhockneyprints.com

G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES

31. The Lathe and Fire etching, aquatint & drypoint, 15 x 16.5 cm unsigned £350

32. The Carpenter's Bench, a Knife and Fire etching, aquatint & drypoint, 15 x 17 cm unsigned £350

33. Inside the Castle etching & aquatint, 25.5 x 26 cm unsigned ÂŁ500

to order phone 01572 821424

Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C. P. Cavafy

signed & unsigned etchings 1966

34. According to Prescriptions of Ancient Magicians etching, 34.5 x 22 cm signed ÂŁ3000, unsigned ÂŁ750

visit davidhockneyprints.com

PO EMS O F C AVAFY

35. He Enquired after the Quality etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm signed £2500, unsigned £500

36. To Remain etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm signed £1600, unsigned £450

37. The Beginning etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £750

39. The Shop Window of a Tobacco Store etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £500

38. Portrait of Cavafy in Alexandria etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £850

40. In Despair etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £600

PO EMS O F C AVAFY

41. One Night etching & aquatint, 34.5 x 22 cm signed £3000, unsigned £750

to order phone 01572 821424

Six Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm PLATES The etchings were drawn onto copper plates and etched by David Hockney in London between May and November 1969. Proofs were pulled by Maurice Payne and the editions printed by Piet Clement in Amsterdam in 1970.

SIGNED PRINTS These prints are from numbered and proof editions and are signed by Hockney.

UNSIGNED PRINTS There were 400 unsigned sets, together with an additional 15 artist’s proofs. The unsigned prints will be accompanied by a copy of the justification page which was numbered and signed by the artist.

CANCELLATION On completion of these editions, the plates were defaced by diagonal scores and two cancellation proofs pulled. No further impressions can be taken.

Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C. P. Cavafy PLATES The etchings illustrating the poems were drawn directly onto copper plates and etched by David Hockney in London in 1966. The editions were printed

by Maurice Payne and Danyon Black at the Alecto Studios in London in 1966/67.

UNSIGNED PRINTS The prints were produced in an unsigned edition of 500, with 50 artist’s proofs. The unsigned prints will be accompanied by a copy of the justification page which was numbered and signed by the artist.

SIGNED PRINTS A signed and numbered portfolio edition of 100 was produced together with 15 artist’s proofs.

CANCELLATION On completion of these editions, the plates were defaced and presented to the Museum of Modern Art, New York. after the pulling of cancellation proofs. No further impressions can be taken.

All prices include frame, vat and uk delivery

front cover:

back cover:

42. Cold Water About to Hit the Prince

43. A Black Cat Leaping

etching & aquatint, 38.5 x 27 cm unsigned £750

etching & aquatint, 23.5 x 27 cm unsigned £950

STOP PRESS Just arrived is this scarce Hockney lithograph, published in 1979 in an edition of 75 on Japon paper.

Ann Putting on Lipstick lithograph, 1979, ed 75, signed 119 x 47 cm, ÂŁ8000

By far the best known British artist of his generation visit davidhockneyprints.com

GOLDMARK GALLERY UPPINGHAM RUTLAND 01572 821 424 OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY 9.30 - 5.30, SUNDAY AFTERNOONS AND BANK HOLIDAYS