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Paints the Stage
so.>.
Hockney Paints the Stage
by Martin Friedman
with contributions by
John Cox, John Dexter, David Hockney and Stephen Spender
Wall<er Art Center Abbeville Press
Minneapolis
Publishers
New York
Major funding for che exhibition Hockney Points the Stage was provided by Honeywell the National
Inc.
Endowment
came from
Additional support
for the Arts.
in Minneapolis was supported Dayton Hudson The McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota
Presentation of the exhibition in
part by the General Mills Foundation, the
Foundation,
State Arts Board.
Library of Congress Cauloging
Friedman, Martin
Hockney
in
Publication Data
L.
Paints the Stage.
Catalog of an exhibition organized by the Walker Art
Center
in
Minneapolis.
Bibliography: p 2 2 1
Includes index. I
,
Hockney, David
setting and scenery II.
—
—
Spender, Stephen,
Exhibitions.
Exhibitions.
1
909-
III.
I.
2.
Theaters
— Stage-
Hockney, David.
Walker Art Center.
IV. Title.
PN2096.HS7F75 1983
792' 025 0924
83-5865
ISBN 0-89659-396-7 ISBN 0-89659-397-5
All rights
(pbk.)
reserved under International and Pan-American
copyright conventions. Unless otherwise noted
in
the
Reproduction Credits, p 223, illustrations David Hockney. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any '
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the
publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Abbeville Press, Inc.,
505 Park Avenue,
bound
in
New York NY
Japan.
Dimensions are
in
precedes width
inches: height
precedes depth.
(cover) Punchtnetlo wilh Applouie (detail)
gouache on paper X 17
M
Courtesy Andre Emmerich Gallery
(frontispiece)
Lei Oil
10022. Printed and
Momelln dt Tiresm
1
980
on canvas
Courtesy Galerie Alice
Pauli
I
6
111
Contents
Painting into Theater
Martin Friedman
6
Text to Image
Stephen Spender
77
Hockney
John
9
The Rake's Progress
as told
99
Designing The Rake's Progress
Martin Friedman and David Hockney
7
1
07 I
I
1
3
23
at
Glyndebourne
Cox
and Martin Friedman
by David Hockney
The Magic Flute
as told
Designing The Magic Flute
Martin Friedman and David Hockney
Hockney
John Dexter and Martin Fried man
at the
The French
Met
Triple
by David Hockney
Bill
43
Parade
47
Les
1
5
L'Enfant et les Sortileges
as told
1
57
Designing Parade
Martin Friedman and David Hockney
1
1
Mamelles de
The 1
1
1
1
as told Tiresias
Stravinsky Triple
by David Hockney
as told by
David Hockney
by David Hockney
Bill
79
Le Sacre du Printemps
as told by
David Hockney
83
Le Rossignol
as told by
David Hockney
89
Oedipus Rex
as told
93
Designing Strownsky
Martin Friedman and David Hockney
208 210 212
Curtain Call
2
Opera Chart Acknowledgments
1
220
Hockney Biography Selected Bibliography
222
Lenders to the Exhibition
223 224
Credits Index
by David Hockney
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Painting into Theater Martin Friedman
England
in
the mid- 960s was experiencing unprecedented euphoria as British 1
reserve gave
way to Dionysian
revel.
addition to such
In
earthshaking
contributions to popular culture as the Beatles and Carnaby Street fashion,
London was the scene of a high-voltage, in
the visual
arts.
gleefully anti-establishment revolution
From such once-venerable strongholds
Royal College of Art, the Slade School and
of academicism as the
an army of shaggy young painters and sculptors suddenly emerged to become instant celebrities of the art world and lively new galleries vied to present their exuberant St. Martin's,
creations to an international audience.
Of
this talented
crop, certainly the
most media-genic was the young
Yorkshireman, David Hockney, barely graduated from the Royal College. engaging enfant terrible, he brilliant
made
job of self-presentation.
his
An
entry into the bubbling art scene with a
Though he had begun
art school as a rather
conventionally-attired student, by the time he graduated, his dark hair had
metamorphosed
into a blond
gold lame jacket. qualities the
The
young
corona and
his
flamboyant wardrobe included a
theatrics of the 60s encouraged style and invention,
artist
from the
industrial
town
of Bradford had
in
large
supply.
His paintings of this period, bold
melange of
in scale,
color and theme,
figurative and abstract forms, ranging
from
were
a felicitous
surreal landscapes and
interiors to factual ink and brush portraits. His fantasy
world was inhabited
by magicians, hypnotists, actors, nudes, elephants, snakes and monster-like personages.
Anonymous
this early phase,
interiors,
in
seemingly
in
in
feature and stance,
were characters
in
many Hockney
enigmatic
little
figures,
even
in
dramas. The box-like
which such scenes were played by male and female nudes, a state of catatonia,
were quotations from the sardonic imagery whose work Hockney still admires.
of his fellow Englishman, Francis Bacon, The Carden
drawing for L'Enfant
Abstract expressionist and Pop sensibilities collided head-on et /es Sortileges
gouache on foam core and paper
1
in
Hockney 's
980
early canvases and, materializing through a
network of heavy de Kooningesque
brushstrokes, blobs, daubs and spatters of spontaneously applied color
became
schematized clouds, doorways, rainbows, furniture, numerals and lettering.
No
effort
was made to be
dissolved into landscapes.
specific: interiors became panoramas, figures The common denominator of those paintings was
their border-line reality. Such images developed intuitively; they
seem to have floated onto the canvas from a dream. Indeed, the grimacing phantoms in Hockney's paintings and drawings of the
be regarded
conventionally-brought-up English
center of
1950s and early 1960s might
late
an ongoing series of demonic self-portraits
as
menacing paradoxical
slightly
Many
morality play here.
and
paintings, prints
delighted
lad
There
situations.
which a
in
placing himself at the
in
is
touch of the
a
of the bizarre characters inhabiting Hockney's
and poems throughout the
illustrations for folktales
1960s were at once sardonic and ingenuous objectifications of such foibles as
pomposity and
malice, greed,
A
decade
licentiousness.
primitivistic
this
later,
imagery would give way to an
refined expression of crystalline contours.
new
this
direction,
Hockney
in
Then
ultra-
after assiduously pursuing
the late 1970s would again reverse himself,
shattering his laboriously-achieved perfection to return with abandon to
more
intuitive painting.
Such
between
vacillation
poles has always characterized Hockney's
stylistic
new areas beyond work moved tentatively into
Equally typical has been his eagerness to explore
art.
drawing and printmaking.
painting,
In
1966, his
the world of three dimensions
when he designed
Ubu
Court Theatre
Alfred Jarry's
Roi at the Royal
costumes for
sets and
in
London. But
it
was
his
vivid
conceptions for the Glyndebourne Festival and the Metropolitan Opera
that
made stage design so integral to his artistic vision. While grew out of earlier painting themes, it eventually became
design
new
motifs and
stylistic
painting has taken energetic
in
theater projects, Hockney's
directions.
once so prominently
himself not only
new
new
did Hockney's involvement with theater begin, and how, particularly,
did an artist
his
theater
source of
approaches that found their way back to the studio.
Indeed, as a consequence of his immersion
How
his
a
in
identified with Pop-related
the midst of an alien art form
vantage, exerting strong influence on
its
imagery find
— grand opera—
but,
from
presentation? His devotion
to the stage was no sudden conversion, but reflected a long-time interest
music and theater that had begun during
As he
his
Bradford
Grammar
in
School days.
points out, no English schoolboy can escape an early introduction to
the theater Every term you study a Shakespeare play thoroughly, which means you study fifteen plays in the years I
can't
boy,
Man oil
in
a Museun) {or You're
in the
Wrong Movie)
1
962
remember
which
I
you are
Collection
the classical allusions listed studying, so
The
British Council
That was a
I
know a number
quite well, though
were a wicked
little
was, the punishment given out by the teachers was to write out in
on canvas
69 X 60
in school.
vast chunks by heart. At school, if you
I
know a lot
lot
of them
all
the back of the Shakespeare book you were
—
/'//
tell
worse than writing out
you
—
becc7use
lines saying, "I
/
had
to
do that
often.
must not break any
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windows today," of doing that
On
fifty
times, because any inventive schoolboy will think of ways
easily, like
academic
using five pens at once.
were always
life.
He
had no formal musical training and claims no special expertise. Rather,
his
a less
level,
theater and music
part of his
exposure was limited to whatever orchestras or musical productions might have
come through town. During
three theaters
in
were were another six
youth, he wistfully recalls, there
his
Bradford and, eight miles away
Leeds,
in
or seven. As a
child,
went
I
it
was simply a
took it.
I
me
The
variety show.
it
was a marvelous
know, to a ten-year-old boy
opera
I
Opera Company doing La Boheme.
spectacle. I'm sure
better than you'd normally hear in the theater
the regular orchestra they
anywhere
when
I
the late
else. In
the theater,
and
moved
it
was
I
1
full
it
there,
It
was
didn't
940s, every
sounded better than
certainly
week
there
was something
different at
see first-class productions.
I
age of twenty, during the concert season
to the
school and art school
in
Bradford,
I
went
have a Gramophone at home. You could in
you
which would have been called a quintet
went two or three times a week, usually
there were seven of us
loved
and the music was
lavish,
the house
and
all
my
to every concert
listen to the
in
hear the Halle
to
Orchestra or the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. During
grammar
/
tacky, really, but
every night. That was pre-television, of course. Only
London did
to
From the age of ten Bradford,
had
every
Most of the time, ever saw was when my father
looked unbelievably
it
me
father took
see whatever was on.
to
first
there to see the Carl Rosa
thought
My
the theater a great deal.
to
Saturday to the Bradford Alhambra
BBC
I
years at could.
We
at times, but
wasn't easy to get to listen to music
it
there.
Though Hockney had made the College to London's art world,
distinctive artistic sensibility that critics.
He
could draw superbly,
transition effortlessly
his flair for
from the Royal
self-promotion was equalled by a
was quickly recognized by fellow his vision
was
artists
fresh and provocative, he
an avid experimenter, and his output was prodigious as he explored
themes and media. His subjects ranged widely, from nursery
and
was
many
tales to intimate
explorations of sexuality. In
1
966 Hockney was
invited by Ian
Cuthbertson of London's Royal Court
Theatre to design sets and costumes for Alfred
Jarry's
Ubu
Roi.
Given
his
penchant for depicting down-and-out denizens of marginal worlds, he was an inspired choice for this icon of dislocated reality. Jarry's absurdist play, with its
mock
histrionics
and potshots at institutions and mores, was well served
by Hockney 's quasi-cartoon Ro/'s "blissed-out" Seated
Woman
to another Reflecting on
Drmking Tea,
Being Served by a Standing Companion
1
963
Family Collection
his
The
result
designs for
from studio to stage posed no /
Abrams
style.
was
a series of
drawings of Ubu
dramatis personae bumbling from one demented situation
Ubu
Roi,
Hockney
says the transition
difRculties.
had played with those ideas before and thought of all my pictures as drama. was painting at that time was a kind of theatrical exaggeration.
Even the way
I
II
With
its
rudimentary sets and costumes that turned the actors into walking
assemblage sculptures, Hockney's Ubu Roi was a droll variation on the then current orte povera
His drawings
style.
were
translated by the Royal Court's
scene painters into painted backdrops, each approximately 8 by 21 to
his
amazement, every nuance
enlarged.
Working on Ubu
Roi
— even
was novel and challenging
new props and
production took shape, he added
he decided that
Jarry's stage directions,
define each scene
— Ubu's
composer's name
spelling each
and
— was
Hockney As the
for
set elements. Following
drawn
large, crudely
lettering
would
Banquet Room, Ubu's Closet, The Polish Army.
would appear years
Similar lettering
feet,
erasures and corrections
in
later in the
form of giant alphabet blocks
the Metropolitan Opera's production of
Parade.
Though Hockney's designs
for
Ubu
Roi attracted favorable critical response,
mainly from the visual arts establishment, to the needs of to take on
his
approach did not adapt readily
most theater companies. There were no immediate
invitations
new commissions and not for eight years did he have another chance
to function
in
1974, the
this tantalizing sphere. In
Glyndebourne
Festival
Opera, outside London, commissioned him to design sets and costumes Stravinsky's
for
contemporary
The
Rake's
Progress.
Hogarth. Enthusiastic public and led to a
The
critical
reaction to his
second Glyndebourne commission:
The Magic
Flute,
Mozart's
In
about the stage.
He
in Paris,
had
just
of William
operatic venture
1978, he turned his talents to
in
Both operas
had spotted the theatrical
start,
new work
Constant, required south of France. recalls,
a set for
the Ballet de Marseilles.
The
ballet,
with libretto by Yves Novarre and music by Marius
painted backdrop depicting a
a
"I
Hockney had another opportunity to think
completed The Rake's Progress designs when
Roland Petit asked him to design
Hockney
style
Hockney's idiosyncratic imagery.
1974, while living
Septentnon, a
first
highly
brilliant,
a
fanciful re-creation of ancient Egypt.
were directed by John Cox who, from the possibilities in
was
result
on the crosshatched engraving
variation
was not thinking
nor was he involved
in
in
swimming pool
when
space
I
in
the
did the drawing,"
any production decisions. His design,
an enlargement of a crayon sketch, contained four major areas: a house, a
courtyard with topiary,
a
swimming pool and
against which appears a Leger-like sculpture
in
a
blue Mediterranean sky
the form of a polychrome
sunburst.
Not
until
1979 did Hockney again undertake another large-scale theatrical
commission. The transplanted Englishman John Dexter, production supervisor painter to join him theater, that
would
ballet. Parade,
in
at the
Metropolitan Opera
in
who
New
in
1974 became
York, invited the
creating an evening of 20th-century French musical
consist of three
works spawned during World War
I:
the
by Erik Satie, Les A1ome//es de Tiresias by Francis Poulenc, and
Maurice Ravel's L'Enfant
known, was widely
et les Sortileges. Parade, as
the evening soon
praised, with reaction exceeding anything the
became Met had
Cave drawing for Ubu Roi crayon, pencil
6
-
1
966
on paper
8'/4
Royal Palace
drawing for Ubu Roi
1966
crayon, pencil, metallic crayon, gouache on folded.
cut-out cardboard
Ur Cunain
drawing for Ubu Roi
1
966
crayon, pencil on paper
15-20 CoHecticn The Museum of Modern Art, Gift of John
Kasmin
New York
Ordinary Picture acrylic
1
964
on canvas
Collection
Hinhhorn Mu
1
and Sculpture Garden
Smithsonian Institution
Detail of drawing for t/w Design for Roland Petit's Ballet, Septentrion
I97S
crayon on paper 14
'
17
Collection Jean Lcger
anticipated. This factor, plus the inspiration of
working together, prompted
the Dexter/Hockney team to take on another triple
bill
a year later
devoted
to works by a single composer, Igor Stravinsky Again, a ballet led the
program
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Stravinsky's celebrated evocation of a fertility rite, Le Sacre du
was followed by the
Printemps. This
Le Rossignol, based on Hans
lyrical
Christian Andersen's tale, The Nightingale, and the concluding piece
was the
opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex, with a libretto by Jean Cocteau.
The constant compromise required in designing for the theater has many artists from taking on such demanding projects over which
dissuaded
they ultimately have has
little
been unable to
control.
Though conscious of these
demonstrating a willingness to adapt to The theater
you work from
all,
\ts
an area where you're forced
is
pitfalls,
Hockney
the seductive, glittering realm of the stage,
resist
literary sources,
and
in
demands.
special
be and do certain things.
to
First
of
opera you have to be true to the
music. The theater world tends to think that a strong artist won't cooperate
enough
own
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
that he's not used to such an approach
way, and other people simply have to
fit
in
and tends
with
this. It's
to
do things
true
when
his
you're
painting a picture you don't really have to defer to anybody, whereas in the theater, you do.
someone
against what
Hockney
If
On
the other hand, although
else's ideas in the theater, I
understand the need to
listen to
think should be there.
occasionally begrudges the time the theater takes
once caught up
painting,
I
I'm not going to do something that goes
in
a production he
is
from
his
virtually addicted to
its
realization and involves himself in every detail, with suggestions for staging as well as design.
requirements,
While responsive to an opera's
when
It
comes to
readily relinquish authority.
He
is
directorial and musical
actual execution of his design, he
does not
obsessed with details and carrying an Idea
through to completion. For example, though a costume sketch might consist of a few rudimentary lines and color washes, he knows how the finished
costume should If
I
look.
want some special
work.
I
made
this or that
detail,
I
find the best person technically
wouldn't turn the job over to just anyone
True to
his
way
word,
who
Everything could be destroyed
at
who can do
the
says the costume could be if
I
did that!
Glyndebourne he oversaw the fabrication of
a
mythological menagerie, featuring the fire-spitting dragon that greets the noble Prince Tamino in The Magic Flute's opening forest scene. Though these
wondrous creatures were fabricated by the theater's technical shops, and some sewing on them was done by the local ladies, Hockney reserved for himself the enjoyable tasks of painting and otherwise embellishing the surfaces
of these beasts.
A more
recent instance of attention to a costume's
the resolution of the cat situation
decided the amorous pair of
felines,
in
finish
was
Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges.
He
one white, the other
black,
had to be
absolutely correct in all details of features and fur, and to insure this, he sought out one Rostislav Doboujinsky, a Parisian wizard of such marvels.
€^
^^
^0- IP^-*- "5 '^^^"
A
m
p"
-
Pntl — -'i^
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Thanks to
this wise,
if
Such concern with
all
with fellow creative
much
A
lights.
facets of a production and a capacity for collaborating
spirits
have been crucial to Hockney's success as a
designer. Equally important has
imagery,
and fur of the purring, yowling
costly, decision, the eyes
beasts glisten convincingly under the Net's
of which
first
been an
appeared
to draw upon
ability
recognizable vocabulary of symbols characterizes
Hockney
These
his art.
assume various meanings
leitmotifs, chimerically
his rich
distinctive
as their
change. Both borrowed and invented forms, they derive from
from art
and from
history,
Some
his
store of
paintings during the early 1960s.
in his
contexts
his travels,
immediate surroundings.
made between the
distinction should be
favors and specific design motifs that are
matter covers many categories;
it
subject matter
components of
Hockney
these. His subject
includes figures, objects and landscapes, as
well as intricate combinations thereof. His motifs are the building blocks of his art.
For example, he has a specific way of representing rippling water
few wavy
lines;
he represents
rain in a
few
in
a
diagonals; his puffy clouds and
bulky tree shapes are instantly identifiable.
These motifs have many sources. Some echo solid architectural forms such pyramids and stairways, others are based on ephemera such as sunlight on water or the arc of a rainbow. They are his personal hieroglyphs. This visual as
syntax accumulated as basic forms underwent permutations easily traceable
from one work to another. Themes that made resonate through
Hockney
in
some
in
the 1960s
did not deliberately set out to create an iconography.
forms
distinctive
their debuts
production.
his
in his
work have
their origins
mystical search for inner meanings.
an illustrator, not a symbol-maker.
He
whatever distortions they may undergo
in
in
He
Many
casual sketches and not
regards himself mainly as
deals with recognizable forms
the painting process. His perception
of his work, however, does not preclude the possibility that his use of factual
description can on occasion have symbolic portent.
When Hockney first were vehicles for his subjective feelings about
started making illustrations, they literary
and poetic
ideas. Accordingly, subject matter, filtered
experience, was drastically transformed.
cared
less
about describing
of the subject.
to
his
work
generation In the
as illustration
mid-SOs,
and
de in
from
{{) California
Tiresias. (4)
Hollywood
An Colleaor,
Hills
their entirety elsewhere.)
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
in
recalls,
if you
his
version
Pop Art
had nothing whatsoever it
for his
to
do with
was meant as a "put-down." illustrative.
deliberately
Yet
I
Rembrandt's Bible
example. Hogarth was, of course, a great I
own
it.
great things are
about Bruegel, Goya and Daumier? (2) Iowa, (3) Les
art
used the word
many
his
or story he
the notion of a young artist referring
despite the growing attraction of
many people thought often
through
poem
every detail than about producing
opprobrium about
a certain
perfectly well that
illustrations, for
Details
it
the 1960s, he
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; had
illustration,
knew
In
In illustrating a
illustrator
What
annoyed many people by
Mamelles
House. (These works are reproduced
insisting that
"To
me
a
lot
art subject
of great art is
the
human
is
illustration.
clay, I
There are those
And landscape
lines
of Auden.
but a background to a
torso,
/
them.
Cezanne's apples
All
Doum/er."
When
came
thought the this
Fry.
for
Hockney
in
I
For one small
Goya
Letter to Lord Byron,
/
or a liked
apples are wonderful, but Auden was really taking
whom
illustrative side
spirit,
would give away
I
across those lines
Of course, Cezanne's
a dig at Roger
In
I
form" was everything, and who
"significant
of art was nothing at applied
his
all.
descriptive
fine
to etchings,
line
lithographs and aquatints while continuing to turn out large, splashy, figurative paintings.
In
contrast to the strong color and bravura technique of the
paintings, his graphic v^orks
were more introspective
of closely-observed as well as invented shapes.
full
numerous motifs that would appear
banks, proliferating with fashion
in his
theme and approach,
In
They were Hockney 's image in
more dramatic
paintings and theater sets.
Hockney's determination to make art out of
work somewhere between Pop
Art,
whose
places
illustration
subject matter
everyday world, and the long-established descriptive tradition painting.
At the Royal College he had experienced the
Pop, subscribing to
its
rejection of pure abstraction
from the immediate world. Another
in
his
comes from the British
in
exhilarating effects of
drawn
favor of subjects
was the
early formative influence
spiky,
aggressive figuration of Jean Dubuffet. the great French maitre of anti-culture. In fact,
the leading character
during the early
1
Hockney's
in
dramas on paper and canvas
little
960s was a large-headed, totemistic being, decidedly
reminiscent of Dubuffet 's irascible art-brut dwarf
who gleefully spat
in
the eye
of convention.
The
juxtaposition of unrelated forms has always fascinated Hockney.
respect, his
work
is
Lichtenstein and Dine, through
world assume
new
startling
ambiguous realm where
whose
distinctive styles objects
identities.
reality
is
Like them,
it is
a
In this
world of the mind,
of constantly shifting meanings. Each artist has charted
through personal symbols. Anthropomorphism
is
from the
real
Hockney envisaged an
constantly subverted.
and irrationality are indistinguishable:
In this
American "popsters," Oldenburg,
close to that of the
its
world, logic
a surreal place
mysterious terrain
the core of Oldenburg's
elaborate iconography, replete with provocative variations on electric plugs,
typewriter erasers and clothespins which, the
human body. Dine
surrogates for
his
in
his view,
are metaphors for
describes his well-known hearts, robes and gates as
emotions; these are undergoing convulsive variations
in his
increasingly expressionistic paintings, drawings and prints. Less humanistic is
Lichtenstein's iconography, a stylized
paintings a
wide variety of subjects
compendium
of style
In
itself.
arrangements â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are reduced to posteresque a
still-life
la
comic-strip characters, classical friezes
of "commercial art" color bordered by black Gnat Pymrud oti
at
Caa
on canvas
Pnvate collection
18
wjth
Bnktn Hcod from Thebes
1
963
How does Hockney's symbolism
areas
lines.
relate to the object-oriented
Americans? While he shares their interest
his
Picasso,
in
work
using everyday forms
paintings, these are rarely p>ortrayed as single images but as
of the in
elements
his in
A Crand Painitd
84
â&#x20AC;˘
Procession ofDtgnnanci
tn
i/w Semt-EgypDon Styif
144
Collecuon Edwin
20
|ai
1961
complex
interiors and landscapes. Thus, psychologically and aesthetically, his
symbology
more
is
diffuse than the Americans'.
Though Hockney's search for subject matter seems endless, certain favorite themes undergo frequent recycling, turning up afresh in paintings, prints
and
Among these reliables: human figures, sometimes rendered with anatomical accuracy, other times appearing as robot-like beings; animals, including lizards, leopards and fantastic beasts reminiscent of medieval stage set designs.
heraldry; landscape forms, including
many
kinds of trees,
bulky oaks, as well as clouds and rainbows;
from wispy palms to
and water; domestic objects,
fire
including flower-patterned upholstered chairs, coffee tables, lamps, drapes, vases of flowers, doors and windows, and "fine art objects" such as paintings and sculptures. A typical Hockney subject, water, will undergo many variations.
He is interested known swimming
in
its
transparent and reflective properties.
pool paintings,
objects seen through
it
allow water to remain
still in
from showerheads, his
it
light reflects
on
them
it
well-
surface and people and
its
are magnified and distorted. his paintings. In
his
In
Nor
is
he content to
appears as
rain,
it
sprays
spurts from sprinklers on green California lawns, and
theater design for The Magic
Flute, manifests itself
on
a
grand scale
in
as a
waterfall.
A
cursory review of Hockney's painting up to the mid-1970s reveals at have affected his stage design. The first and
least four general subjects that
most prophetic, the theater theme, complete with actor and appeared infusion
in his
drawings and paintings of the early
drawn
profile.
in
reference to "modern art" styles, freely paintings. Finally, the color, light
measurably affected
his painting,
pageants
one another in paint,
in
Hockney's
the large
Dignitaries Painted
1
96
1
this picture,
interested a
in
he
says,
paintings.
few sketchy
lines.
representation of
its
figures,
Egyptian
tomb
carnival-like /
swimming
as
a
For example, one of
way
of
his early
At the top
is
melange of
just
becoming
a rudimentary curtain indicated
in profile,
The middle
a
in
when he was
style" refers to the
rendered
painting technique.
combines theater and Egyptian
sumptuously attired
at a time
The "semi-Egyptian
ancient Egyptian wall painting.
of California have
themes
phantasmagoria called A Grand Procession of
was made
theatrical effects.
lifestyle
These subject areas have
the Semi-Egyptian Style,
in
Fauve and cubist techniques
and sybaritic
motifs. Featuring three standing figures,
modes,
curtain, first
Another important
Hockney makes frequent
Third,
utilizing
particularly in such
pools, house interiors and landscapes.
invading
960s.
Egyptian-inspired subject matter, such as pyramids, great stone
is
sculptures and figures
in his
1
figure's
Hockney
a
flat,
in
diagrammatic
manner reminiscent of
head
is
a direct takeoff
on
discusses the genesis of this
work.
bought a large canvas, before
couldn't afford to paint on it
the Royal College of Art.
I
t
went
Then
thought,
I
to
America, from an art student who
grabbed the largest space
my
God,
this
canvas
is
so big,
I
I
could find at
must paint a
WTfW-
^
Sti/f L/fr
oti
wtth Figure
and Curwm
on canvas
78 X 84
Pmote
collection
Two Men oil
in
Shower
on canvas
60
'
60
Pnvate collection
22
1963
1
963
.^
^ÂŤ. ^e.
^ -^
m
*j'j^ \m J^
>
big scene. The idea for
came from
it
called Waiting for the Barbarians.
the
1904 poem by Constantine Cavafy
one of his greatest poems. There are
It's
those ironic lines about people dressing up to impress others.
I
painted the
cutouts— inside each huge costume you can see the of a small person trying to look bigger and more important. figures to look like
Such reduction of characters to simple Brechtian stereotypes general, the bishop, the businessman
period.
The cartooned performers
who
pate the cheerful eccentrics
Hockney 's theater
In
in
in
A Grand
inhabit the
1
—
here, the
many Hockney works of this
Procession of Dignitaries antici-
966 Ubu Roi drawings.
what action there
paintings,
Though he used
enclosure.
like
— occurs
outline
is takes place in a boxor one-point perspective to define
frontal,
the walls that contain these
little
ambiguous. They take place
in
events, their settings, nevertheless, are
some no-man's-land between
reality
and
theatrical illusion. In using the stage metaphor, fact and fantasy dissolve into
one another, and ordinary events take on mythic connotations. In the 960s theater paintings, perspective is constantly modified, 1
if
not
altogether disregarded. Though the stage's back wall parallels the picture surface,
what goes on
shallow volume has
in its
are perceived. Frequently, objects float
do not converge, but the 1963
In
in
fruit.
The
with Figure
and
Curtain, a faceless
curtain and
still
life
are
more
its
/
in
had no desire thing.
to paint
feet a
androgyne stands
still
life
of flowers
abstract than any de Chirico says,
was precisely what he
a personality because the curtain was the most
wanted a pattern on
I
painted the figure with personality, thought,
I'll
reduce
those days, you
to
it
still
So important was that set,
things
mind.
important
In
how
"real" than the figure which,
composed of a few cylindrical forms, is far more dummy. But such impersonal quality, Hockney had
to do with
diverge, as they recede.
Still Life
before an elaborate fleur-de-lis tapestry— at
and
little
space and, perversely, parallel lines
it
and
stenciled on the design. If I'd
would have become the
a simple form, an old-fashioned
had them
in
it
in
focus.
skittle or
So,
bowling
I
pin.
pubs.
fleur-de-lis curtain to
he virtually reproduced
reincarnation,
it
all
its
Hockney
detail.
In
that
in
front of
the its
1
980 Parade
monumental
top-hatted impresario introduced the program for the
a
evening.
Hockney 's
many In
of
his
was not
curtain
domestic
those interiors,
it
limited to theatrical subjects but also appears in
which he regards as another form of theater. assumes many variations, from window drapery overrun interiors,
with tropical foliage to shower curtains. The fleur-de-lis, in simplified form, adorns the drape behind the nudes in the 1963 Seoted Woman Drinking Tea, Being Served by a Standing Companion. The plastic bathroom curtain in Two in a Shower, also from that year, is enlivened with birds and starfish
Men
silhouettes.
room
in
We
Two
if we are looking at a stage set or a living and Two Curtains. 1963. Behind the patterned drapes in
are not certain
Friends
23
24
loom two
this painting
stone heads, one
large,
Surely one of Hockney's
most
The Hypnotist, also from 1963, described
full-face,
cryptic curtain-bordered stage paintings
in
which
profile, stands in front of his
in
the other
in profile,
one another.
that fuse into
own
one by Hockney's standards,
quite an active
is
a menacing, dark-suited character,
is
white shadow. This composition, also the subject of an etching and
in which the exchange of energy between hypnotist and subject is even more pronounced. From the point where their hands converge, leaps a
aquatint,
white zig-zag of "electricity," striking an armless robotic type at the other end of the stage. Neatly lettered on the dark border at the bottom of the painting
A
is
The Hypnotist
particularly ambitious
treatment of the curtain that even more clearly
anticipates the artist's interest starring Ploy,
in
theater design occurs
Hockney's London dealer, John Kasmin.
One
in
two
paintings
of these. Play within a
1963, has Kasmin pressing his hands and nose against a sheet of clear
man pushing
plastic, like a
narrow
against a shop
window to look
background
strip of flooring, the
is
inside.
a tasseled curtain
Except for
a
adorned with
a peculiar pastoral featuring several vaguely Egyptian figures, a tree and
rainbow. This enigmatic work, Hockney explains, had This
is
how
Play within a Play
was done,
i
went
origin
its
a
in
museum.
National Gallery one
to the
day and found they'd just put up several paintings by Donnenichino containing depictions of curtains. In those days,
a week, getting
was
know
to
I
the pictures,
quite excited. Although
I
used to go to the National at least twice
and when
saw
I
brand new room,
this
were great
didn't think these
pictures, they
I
had a
was an illusion. I suddenly was aware of many levels one of the paintings the corner of a curtain was pulled away, and
quality of tapestry, which
of illusion.
In
standing there was a dwarf, peeling
it
it
was
a curtain that would look
like
a tapestry. Then
pressed against the glass door of sheet of plastic and put
it
in front
and
taking a layer of the painting
like
back, and there would be another and another I
.
.
of the picture.
decided to paint
took photographs of Kasmin
from these
his gallery;
I
.
He
I
looks as
painted him on a
were trapped
if he
within the shallow space of the picture.
Another example of Hockney's preoccupation with theater Closing Scene, is
in
which
a
white curtain, outlined
in
is
the
1
963
black on a primed canvas,
parted slightly by a costumed performer to reveal an opulent landscape.
Discussing this picture,
Hockney
reflects
on the
visual
and psychological
relationship of the theater curtain to the artist's canvas. If
you take the painting off its stretcher,
curtain on canvas, the illusion curtain pulled back,
A
tapestry
^2
"
'8
that
it's
it is
like
a curtain.
1963
miniature
in
in
When
an inch deep at most.
If
you paint a you paint a
reveals a picture, as a stage curtain does in the theater.
curtain in a painting always does that, even if
event you see Play withm a Play
it
is
the vertical strip r in Closing a
the Victoria
and Albert Museum which
The Royal College of Art painting school
is
in
on a window. The
it's
little
Scene was based on a Persian
the
I
got to
same
know
building.
I
quite well.
was always
25
26
(opposite)
The Actor acrylic
65'/^
1
964
on canvas
X 65 'A
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Rosenberg
Oosmg oil
47
Scene
1963
on canvas .
47
Private collection
27
'iV'
r.'iJ^'.j'M
4:\
'«i&, 28
^
cofeteno for
got to
how
tea. That's
curtain .otlf
The
,
-"-^!^
^2Z^Z^u6 drawings
-:;;,:: Ttt
^^^^_
-P^^
The interior undefined settings. -.e or a could be either a scuip reminiscent of Egyptian
J.tl:i, ,|ure, whose
v^-- f ^
in
features are
actor dais with the space. Sharing a
^ape
and an amorphous
plw
^^^^_
--^;
-^
-^ '^ ^
.^^^'^
not
v^as
theatrical
metaphors
Like his
space.
-h
w>^^'^.;e.nn.ng
surprised no on Theatre, should have limited to subiect in his
Y
J^^,,,,,
;^;,,,,
,
eventual involvement
...pended
^^f^,,,,,
I
;
h
s
w^^^^^
become Though not
^^^^
Hockneys
syndrome llnstays
Is
expand and contract p
^
°---"Vt'"thetr"
an ^^^'y
^'^''^^^^^Z^^^Zes. as directly as the ^^^^^^^
^^^
g.rmand
categories other important
,,3,g,. The Egyptian
subiect matter hav -«;*;; example, including a^
a fine
In his
work.
He
had
'-P^^
and learned about that ancient land visits
to the British
..awings of
^—
--^-f
Its
'
^^
^,,,,
^\';;;,^^^^ thro^^^^^
^^ ^^^^
'^f^^^ronly
the monumental
j;i:\-;ir,tie:::dvll,:ges.Buta,ways,his
—
,
^y oblique commentary. not past, he could
-^Thtaonic
^--owded
.^^ ,
^"^^f
-""-P^^/^^^^"^"
,
"^
"^^o 1
ornate hotel
was indeed, so intrigued in
acrylic
1964
on canvas
Cotct," HTShhorn Museum
and Sculpture Garden.
the tlme-dislocatlng,
,
Lra-toting
streets,
tourists,
and
or the pyramids,
return In 1978. That he would Hockney with Eg p^that ^^^^^^^ ^^^.^^^
le e^ coexist on the --e and present-day Egypt -^^ern t the sp imposed harshly deprecations of he recalls, had great artistic styles,
detectable.
visiting
books and frequent
villagers in Shell station signs, as the sphinx rooms were as f-^'-^'^g^^;'"
Tree Cub.st Boy w.th Colourful
,hat are
^^„ before
; art statdy
.^"^'"^
noble Though captivated by the In
l^^J^
^j;^"
but o1 present a y vestiges of antiquity, fabled ruins i..pressions of Egypt's
help seeing Egypt
^^ ^^.^^
rules of and interiors the
^^
of
^^^^^^
J^^
^
^
er to -^^^'^-l^XwZ\o paintings he fe t
^
„ some
at^^^^
h
t
in
.,en Hoc.ney
hrrrt^^rth-;;;:^^.-; color,
of the
other times
^^^eater,
references J with clear 1960s and 70s, sometimes
---^^-^Vil
o^cLsness. Despite the ^^^,^^^
^^ ^^.„ ^^^^^^^.^^
Its
Smithsonian Institution
29
/
became
interested in the Egyptian style, because
Those rules had
strict rules
wasn't
worked
anonymous
loved the idea of the slightly
I
form with
rigid art
so that the individual
mark
you never know who did what. This might not be the case
left. In fact,
exactly, but
was a
it
much
be obeyed, so
to
everybody
style that
in.
The atmosphere incorporated
of
that
permeated
country
ancient forms
its
his
But though
art.
he never
his painting,
in
he
victim to the
fell
blandishments of historicism, preferring to take only what he needed from such
awesome
sources.
Especially interesting
figures
is
the Egyptian flavor of
own
theater pictures, they have their
his
painted
1963, an unlikely couple
in
and business
suit
— and
a
the numeral
On
2.
upper
— —
sit
A
glasses.
about volume and
the content of
I:
a couch.
To the
this
left
to the right of the bride's head,
Here, Hockney used a "shaped canvas"
The "exterior"
pair of patterned
The Second Marriage, a is
on
side by side
man in dark glasses gown who vaguely
— he has
and lower right edges of the painting to create the
left
flowered wallpaper; the front wall and in.
white
in a
on
The Second Marriage,
the spindly low table before this grim pair are a bottle of
of a three-dimensional cube.
can look
In
a sinister-looking
painted the numeral
is
champagne and two its
960s paintings of seated
1
quality.
cone-breasted lady
resembles an ancient Egyptian deity of the man's head
cut
his
box-like interiors. While compositionally these are variations
in
odd
ceiling
exercise
Above
all,
Hockney
vignette,
are
in spatial it
is
room
is
illusion
covered with
have been "removed" so
window drapes
brilliant
flatness.
wall of the
we
the background.
in
and
stylistic
contradiction,
about theatrics. Asked about
discusses
its
occupants
in
formal
terms and does not speculate on any emotional relationship that might exist
between them. Indeed, not an illustration of situation,
and
its
for
the painting's elaborate detail, he says,
all
a particular event. Instead,
interpretation
These are very stylized
up to
is
figures.
it
is
—
inventions of mine
is
us.
The woman's head
is
painted from a black and
white photograph of the head of an Egyptian sculpture. different people
it
a cryptic, unresolved
— and
they
seem
be
to
They're just two
made
of different
materials.
Such incongruity
is
the rule, not the exception,
in his
realized The First Marriage. 1962, reveals his delight
completely unrelated The
subtitle
to
of both paintings
Momoge
(A
Mornogt of Stylet
on canvas
Collection Tate Gallery
30
I)
1
96 J
could add
the felicitous union of
A
is
Marriage of Styles.
new meaning
to
be Egyptian. The composition
it.
I
One of the
used
for
It
was
like
/
liked the idea of
working with collage
styles in these pictures
happens
both works was based on something
museum Down a corridor, a friend of mine was standing next to an figure. He was not looking at it but at something else yet, for a moment, they looked connected, as though a man and wife had sat down together was amused by the idea and back at tbe hotel made a drawing from I
The f im oil
I
work. The exuberantly
styles.
jumbling several styles within a single picture.
and
in
saw
in
a
Egyptian
wood
I
—
memory, using the idea of a seated Egyptian female
man drawn
looking
combine two very
and a contemporary-
figure
a different style next to her In a way,
in
different personalities.
When
I
was
trying to
got back to London
I
did the
I
paintings.
Not
only
Hockney
is
insouciant about combining disparate styles, but
he feels the same way about including completely unrelated objects
same
rectangle.
Marriage
in a
In
work
of entirely different character California Art Collector
serene conceit that takes place
cube
in
indeterminate space.
the bright blue roof of a pavilion
is
the
In
framework of The Second
964. he utilized the isometric
1
whose
Now
is
a
the top of the
two
sides are defined by
Perched on a ponderous upholstered chair covered with a
thin, blue poles.
is a stylized Hockney lady whose head merges with a monumental sculptured head suspended behind her To complete the room are a few more anomalies; a second sculpture resembling a female figure and
zany flower pattern
Cohfomto acrylic
An
Collector
rainbow
a spectacular
1964
that, for
some
reason,
"indoors" rather than over
is
the pool.
on canvas
During the
late
1960s.
Hockney 's
painting surface
became
increasingly
Prrvaie collection
refined as he lavished attention on rendering figures and objects
of this
detail. Typical
new approach was
portraits of close friends, standing and seated
these grand, neoclassic paintings In
were
it
is
the
double
sparse interiors. For Hockney.
if
introspective,
a new.
form of theater
their thoughts: they look
in
Among
were, totally unconscious of their audience.
impressive of these paintings
greater
in
their austere settings, his characters are lost
inward, as
in
a succession of symmetrical
the most
969 double portrait of Henry Geldzahler
1
and Christopher Scott. Geldzahler. then curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum, sofa
in
form
is
ensconced,
is
on
like a pasha,
the middle of the canvas. To
stands
his right
symmetrically balanced at the
left
by a
a massive velour
deco
whose torchere lamp. The
his friend Scott,
tall,
window behind Geldzahler is echoed by the square glass front of the couch. Commenting on this painting's relationship
rectangle of the coffee table
to a stage It's
in
set.
Hockney
says:
interesting from the theatrical point of view because
point perspective. In fact, the vanishing point
head.
I
fastened strings to the painting to
the lines converged over his out, so
I
photographed
look angelic.
he recovered
Henry
Gel<teohler
and Chnsiopher
Scott
1
969
made
in
week
to
it,
head
because
but
I
"recovered"
London, although the room
make
drawings, took a
rearrange the room.
I
uses absolutely one-
the perspective work
bit like
that sofa
it
is
lot
first
in
in
New
and
it
it.
It
all
made Henry
was rather shabby
the painting
York
and
a halo with rays coming
was rather amused by
I
He had just purchased it,
make
looked a
It
it
actually ]ust above Henry's
is
I'd
gone
of photographs, and
Later,
The painting was to
New
finally
York for a
decided to
rearranged things to give emphasis to the composition.
It
acrylK on canvas
B4
120
Abrams Family Collection
32
was painted the year
after the double portrait of Christopher Isherwood
Don Bachardy, which
also has a straightforward look. In that picture,
and
a large
33
34
table in front of them
comes up
to the viewer.
I
don't
comes
the one of Henry, because there the ground
Mnk
right
it's
up
as theatrical as
to you.
Geldzahler, with his distinguished fin-de-siecle appearance,
Hockney model,
benign but authoritative appearance. Later,
his
on a Screen. Hockney would again use him as painting. In that elegantly conceived
in
the
his
977 Looking
1
at Piaures
subject at the center of a
work, an older, even more distinguishedreproductions of masterpieces from
Geldzahler calmly studies
looking
a frequent
is
well-trimnned beard and scholar's glasses contributing to
his
London's National Gallery. After
this
cool
composition
in
the
1
new academicism and the isometric box 977 Seif-Portrait with Blue Guitar. Now, the box, instead his
of defining the picture's outside contours,
now on
which the
a massive table, at
it is
we
compositions,
of hieratically posed figured
series
how Hockney combined
see
room,
a drawing. In this endless
against the outline of a
becomes
a central
element
portrays himself seated, at
artist
a Picasso-like sculpture of a
window. The juxtaposition
in
this
in
it:
work
head levitates
work
of the lush
blue curtain at the painting's right edge and the few diagonal lines that might
or might not refer to walls and
Hockney In
floors,
seems perfectly
Though
logical.
has a bewildering habit of combining massive and ephemeral forms
a single painting, the results are less jarring than lyrically surreal. Situations
to Hockney.
which
in
and
real
He admires
the
forms exchange identity appeal
illusionistic
brilliant
use of this principle
in
Jasper Johns's
sculptures of everyday objects, such as light bulbs and Savarin coffee cans,
which were cast original selves. artifice.
The
metal, then painted illusionistically to resemble their
in
As
his painting reveals,
large canvas.
he was working on self-portrait has
Hockney often
Model with Unfinished
been placed
in
the background.
In
rendered sleeping figure of Hockney's
wearing
a
Hockney,
robe.
in
this
was done while
second picture the
Self-Portrait with Blue Guitar. In the
carefully
blue
favors the use of such
Self-Portrait.
the foreground friend,
My
Hockney
it's
studio.
Gregory posed on a bed life.
That gave
it
in front
of
it
back and there
I
to
It
looks as
seems as
if
draw a guitar
with the range of 20th-century art
numerous examples of
It
Gregory with a curtain. The curtain has been pulled
am, about
familiarity
and a great
a kind of power
a painting of two completely different kinds of space.
there's a stage behind
Hockney's
is
more
which was not finished at the time, was leaning against the
my London
deal of his figure was painted from
though
is
explains the genesis of this static drama.
self-portrait,
wall of
the
composition,
multi-leveled
psychologically as well as physically distant, while the sleeping Evans "real."
is
Gregory Evans,
his
work
that incorporate
its
is
attested to
in
celebrated themes and
techniques. Looking at Pictures on a Screen oil
74
1
977
on canvas
An
inveterate museum-goer, he frequently photographs
periods as he walks through galleries.
Some
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Miles Q.
Fi
works of art of
of these gleanings,
74
transmuted fashion, have been absorbed into
his painting
in
all
considerably
and theater imagery. 35
36
In
Hockney
designing an opera production, the paramount task,
to interpret the composer's ideas
Often he
for the music.
— to
find an equivalent in
modern
use historical or
will
asserts,
styles as points of
departure. Hogarth's 18th-century engravings for A Rake's Progress
Hockney 's
inspiration for
in
Mog;c
his
during the Stravinsky evening have their origins
he
is
20th-century
modernism his
In
the entire history of
in
major focus has been on early
art, his
The mannerisms of modernism
art.
—
The masks used
Flute.
Eskimo and Northwest
in
Chinese painting and the Greek theater of Sophocles. While
art,
interested
were the
version. Fourteenth-century Italian panel painting
and Old Kingdom Egypt are recalled
Coast Indian
is
form and color
are echoed throughout
—
French
particularly
recent painting and theater projects.
his
Metropolitan Opera's production of Parade, the
designs for the
immediate source was the voluptuous color and form of early 20th-century School of Paris painting.
To
his
has occasionally found himself caught up
Hockney
discomfort,
irresolvable
argument of
of the accomplishments of the great nonobjective masters
Mondrian and more recently Rothko
who probed
reserved for Picasso
—
He
is
all
—
particularly
wholehearted admiration
his
new
forms. Picasso's ability to turn
constantly impressed by his virtuosity as painter, draftsman, sculptor
stylistic
Classicism
— there can be no doubt
Hockney 's
he observes, however contradictory
as
may seem
explorations
Picasso's
—
utilization of art history has
Cubism versus
for example.
that a single voice
is
made him
speaking.
into something of a
grand eclectic, a characterization he would not necessarily dispute. But points out, even his hero, Picasso,
would prove
many
took from so
Nain, he copied a
What do
artists.
With
sources.
lot
as to Picasso's to
working
do
is
he worked
in,
in
work
Collection
Werner Boeninger
1
977
When,
in
1
it,
it
it's
very obvious because he
too.
Rut
to
He
art.
it's
copied Le
like that
like?
with
all
They certainly
be copies of Millet. You have
of styles.
number of Picasso's is
distinctive.
the marks.
everything he did
fits
No
different periods to realize
We're so used
to the
way
his
hand
matter how many different directions
together and, because he produced such a
this consistency.
980, the Walker Art Center presented an exhibition of works
destined for the
study
happen
number
a
volume of work, you can sense on canvas
he
if
and take what you want.
lot
look at a
moved and how he made
oil
as
two
an idea or
used African and classical
paintings that just
work your way through a
you have
Picasso, though,
He
of sooty academic painters,
that whatever he did, his
Model with Unfinished Self-Pomait
lifting
you think Van Gogh's copies of Millet look
Gogh
look like Van
All
was not above
useful.
All artists are canrtibals.
And
is
subjects with humanistic content enthralls him.
and creator of theater sets and,
to
the
the limits of realism and abstraction, then
utilized these polarities to create dazzling
space inside out and invest
in
versus abstract art. While respectful
figurative
new Musee
explaining he
Picasso
in Paris,
Hockney came to Minneapolis to
was about to embark on
a
major design project for the 37
—
the sets and costumes for Parade. Later that year, Metropolitan Opera when The Museum of Modern Art held its monumental Picasso retrospective. Hockney was a frequent visitor On view were reconstructions of several
costumes designed by Picasso for the
were
first
fabricated for the Joffrey Ballet's
decided that
1
production of Parade
973
version for the Metropolitan
his
1917.
in
Opera would make
These
Hockney
revival of Parade. Wisely.
respectful
reference to that original conception and, indeed, he quoted several Picasso motifs
in his
costume
designs, including the cubistic "stage
manager" and the
Chinese conjuror.
Hockney
s
admiration for Picasso's achievements, however, was evident
Met commission.
well before his
His drawings and paintings of the
contained frequent cubistic allusions; Colourful Tree, other
landscape, Iowa.
1
works echoed Cubism's various
964. the tree. barn,
geometric shapes. The seated
man behind
addition to the
in
a
1
965
960s
phases.
the elemental
In
and clouds are reduced to bulky,
silo
Surrounded by
Portrait
1
964 Cubist Boy with
1
pyramid of abstract cylinders,
Artistic Devices,
more
a
is
with
its
sophisticated
use of that style. Such standard cubist principles as simplified and flattened
forms, tipped-up table and floor surfaces and shallow picture boxes, are
standard devices
Hockney 's
in
painting. Yet he
more than
is
of styles, because he applies their formal principles particularly interested in
both for
space-altering properties and for
its
obsession with cubist space. fashion Philip jerry as 1
The Manager
in
Evening Dress
in
the Jeffrey Ballet's
973 production of Satie's Parade. The costumes were reproductions
of those designed by Pablo Picasso for the
—each
I've
(opposite)
l6'/i
I
I
It
tells
you about
my new
feet on into
deep
way
1964
paintings he has pursued his
of
numerous
prints laid out mosaic
prismatic realism.
how much con you
The
results, at
once
it.
s(>ace.
An
my
eyes are
and what
The space between you and what you see
My
deal with
I
theory
ordinary photograph
traditional painting.
thought
really see
is it
eye moves about focusing? As your eye moves
is,
always conscious of the ground under
on canvas 60 60 CollectKXi Hirshhom Museum
abstract syntax.
its
in his
see. For years, I've
I
photographs
980
'A
in his
kept thinking
I
really take in as your
forward.
(P«) hnn
is
composite impressions vary from intimate
subject recorded
often thought about the
important. In 1
He
and highly inventive, indicate the way he perceives form.
space. Porode Stof e Monof er gouache on cardboard
more than Composed
surfaces, these
funny or something.
you
ways.
to swimming pool pictures, to panoramas of the Grand Canyon and
interiors,
Yosemite
1917 Ballets Russes
factual
premiere of the Satie ballec
on white
new
now
borrower
Cubism, the esoteric creation of Picasso and Braque,
recent photographs
In his
in
a facile
is
all
us.
in
very
the ground from under
my
We
are
you must be aware of that
like
is
Otherwise, no one would put a step looking through a
window
It's
like
The window implies a wall between you and what you
acrylic
see. In painting, the
-
Snuthsonon
photography
Institution
Port/on Surrounded by Artistic Devices acrylic
1
965
on canvas 72
Collection Arts Council of Great Britain
38
Yet.
when you
eighty years
me
ago by Cubism.
as saying there
turn the page, there's
an
article
is
In
no cubist
on American
cubist photographers
(P^l)
60
window was smashed
a recent issue of Aperture, they quote
and Sculpture Garden.
Mind
you,
call cubist
if that's
cubist photography, I'm Leonardo da
Vmci What they
photography has only the most superficial aspects of Cubism. Those
photographers didn't
really
come
to grips with
Cubism's ideas about space.
39
40
i/iiiyiiK.iirt
41
'J.'kt
I
t
^
t
t
)
Cubism
IS
all
about space. Space
something you see Since the late
n
his interest ,n
French art
plumbing.
apparent
A
A in
in
is
The not limited to that protean force. figures, still-life ob,ects and instantly recall
Hockney's painting
Cubism,
"mechanical"
,k»
,
compose the
that tubular forms, for example,
landscape figures
,tself-^n idea-not just
directions reflect the 1970s, Hockney's major stylistic fascinated French painting. While endlessly
influences of early 20th-century
by Picasso,
m
a thing
,s
into.
that
everything
reduces
Miroesque ingenuousness
flickers
Legers pragmatic polychrome
elegant,
to
his art
through
and
is
especial^
the Ravel oper^. of the animals and insects in his characterizations Matisse an Dufy preva south-of-France flavor, evocative of
distinctive
even
in his
^P°"^^";°;;^'V''''' „'"! this French quality to that sunny tradition. Indeed, the nearby in California; it seems
California paintings. His fluent
and lush washes relate
it
line,
he settled has actually intensified since Pacific brings
apogee
in
his
out the Mediterranean
him. Such
in
sets for the
brilliantly-hued
Mefs
full
chroma reached an There w. no
Porode.
blue, red and ambience. The large, free-form question about Porode's French as of as evocative of Mat.se are scene garden green shapes in L'Enfanfs allowed himse^ to Hockney painters, Fauve Childhood perceptions. Like the garden scene ,s eyes. The final image of the regard the world with innocent s apes trunk and branches are abstract red thick whose tree an enormous "sees music coloristica^^y. blue foliage. Because he
that vibrate against dense
design. It ,s as if the tonalities in color in his opera he sought to match Ravel's the garden. child-hero of LEnfont had envisaged undergoes the stylistic changes his work But how does Hockney feel about ed another' The precise, detai to production opera one as he moves from with Parades slapdash sharply contrasts example, decor of The Rake, for seem to reflect opposing On the surface, both productions would
forms.
expression of
his
is a valid philosophies-but no, he says, each have led of successive opera pro,ects themes and music the Though attitudes. about form, space and color ideas basic his solutions, him to new formal
artistic
remain constant. with any particular style for long.
My
work always jumps obout.
It's
always moving
there's never believe that for twenty years
There's always something to push into
Httle
.
.
of restlessness and Nevertheless, he admits to a degree
areas
left
I've
In
many
inability
to stick
directions
been a moment .hen
,t
few dues. over from another pa,nt,ng-a
not explored;
I
also tend to drop
and
wasn I
something
I
t.
tend ve
repeating hate the ,dea of completely and pursue ,t can find a small area artists some how understond myself things. become subtle explorers of small extensively, and the best of them things and a Johns does it with many Morandi did this with still life and Jasper does my mmd Im not that kind of person, nor varied art comes out of it. But
used for a long time and
move
on.
/
I
Rovel's
Garden with N.ghl Glow
1
980
on canvas 60 X 72
oil
Collection
Mr and
work Mrs,
Morns
S.
that way.
Pynoos
43
Troop of Actors and Acrobats
drawing for Parade gouache,
ink. pencil
1980
on paper
Chincic Cor}}uror
drawing for Parade
1
980
gouache, pencil on paper
44
Hockney's
ability
to take what he needs from respected sources
was staying at a house on
/
admirably
is
account of copying a Matisse painting.
illustrated in his
Fire Island
and a Motisse poster was on the
wall.
I
had some wax crayons and thought would make a copy of it while sitting at the I
When
table.
A^otfsse well,
pinned
I
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;but
it still
my
copy
contained
to the wall,
my marks.
from a distance
At
first,
because the Matisse imagery dominated everything. Everybody's hand moves
like Matisse's.
in
looked
it
like the
you couldn't see them very I
can't
make marks
a different way.
While working on Parade, the relationship between Hockney's painting and stage design became extremely close and at times, these aspects of
were
creativity
strongly affected his
Rake had been earlier As a consequence,
as
marked by
directions,
brush stroke
his
The sketches and gouaches made for Parade painting. That project was a liberating experience,
inseparable.
itself.
large,
his painting
moved
freer
in
expansive shapes, whose origins were
in
the
Thanks to Parade, an energetic dialogue began between
studio and theater projects; one nourished the other.
his
To
distinguish the exuberantly
executed paintings that were by-products
of Parade from Hockney's production designs can be daunting, because they
many
share so scale
qualities of
An example
paintings.
Hockney submitted
style. Parade's sets
is
the
his
evolved from painted
designs are fully-realized
study for L'Enfant's garden scene, which
final
as a collage-painting
the massive arboreal shape
this,
In
theme and
models he made for each scene. Many of
is
to the Met's technical department.
over the
a cutout, centrally placed
verdant background.
To
assist
the costume shop
in
fabricating his Parade designs,
a series of small
gouaches to describe the action
each character's
attire.
astonishing effect
is
another.
amount of
Though loose and
improvisational, these convey an
information. Arranged
cinematic and the characters
in
chronological sequence, their
seem to move from one frame to
The gouaches accurately foreshadowed what would occur on
By the time Hockney painted these, he knew every as well as
instantly
Hockney made
each scene and define
in
its
decor. So certain
stage.
detail of Parade's action
was he about each scene, he could evoke
it
on paper.
After completing designs for Parade, Hockney burned off
some excess
energy by painting some variations on a few modernist sources he had relied on. During the his oils
summer of
1
980,
in his
London
studio, he decided to reactivate
dialogue with recent art history. There, he rapidly produced a
on music and dance themes. Some of these alluded to
number of The
Picasso's Parade.
(p46) Parade oil
48
Curtair.lofte, Picasso
on canvas V
most recognizable was with
its
his interpretation of
the ballet's celebrated curtain,
bareback rider on a winged horse, matador and
circle of
seated
60
harlequins. In his translation, (p-t?)
Punchinello on andtjffStoge
curtain design. visible only
Hockney enlarged the
The winged horse
from the waist down
remains, but
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the upper
left side
now
of the original
the bareback rider
half of
her body
by the top of the proscenium. Only two seated figures are
is
is
blocked
left:
a guitar
45
46
47
Strumming matador and a harlequin
in
a diamond-patterned leotard. Happily,
been retained. Hockney has used a
Picasso's tri-colored, striped ladder has
"wet into wet" painting technique that enabled him to manipulate forms and develop complex, textured areas.
and related paintings, he was
In this
concerned with defining edges than creating
would emerge Another orchestra
drawing
in
pit
is
organically.
the Picasso-inspired series
in
composition
less
from which forms
rich surfaces
which
is
dwarf punchinello
a
Punchinello on and off Stoge, a
in long,
blond curls stands
and faces the audience while a scene
is
the
in
played on stage.
The
deliberately chunky, with the innocence and forcefulness of a
child's vision.
we
such works,
In
determination to
himself,
rid
have further identification of Hockney's
moment,
for the
least
at
of the
refined
descriptive line that for so long had been a hallmark of his work.
Of Now, of
summer 1980 paintings, the most fully-realized is Harlequin. commedia dell'arte character appears in an environment elemental forms, as much Hockney's as Picasso's: a patterned theater these
the enduring
curtain that echoes the harlequin's costume, a pink pyramid and the French tri-color ladder This composition
To accommodate
of Parade.
its
became the Met's poster
Hockney provided the harlequin with his
for the
a shelf of
books on which to perform
handstand.
Even more generalized than the "modern art" outcroppings is
premiere
design to the opera house's vertical kiosks,
the southern California syndrome that
reactions to
its
varied landscape
tropical planting Hills,
in his painting,
now permeates his art.
we encounter smog-free
idealized
In his
aeries graced with
around azure swimming pools. Below the purple Hollywood
the endless grid of Los Angeles extends into
infinity.
His California subject matter ranges from the seedy to the opulent.
deserted
city
squares fringed with spindly palms and
Its
street theater
its lively
have been frequent Hockney themes. The elegant patios and manicured
lawns of Beverly
Hills
have
become
leitmotifs.
However,
adopted home nothing equals the swimming pool. light
reflects off the water; solitary figures gaze into
youths are glimpsed beneath Horttqum oti
(p50)
72
1
72
evident
in
sequence of
a long
becomes
a luxurious
its
form of
Hockney
surface. This style, in
turns and creates syncopated, interlocking shapes,
water
in
1966
the nude sunbather
fill
is
the
is
which
a
in
of Nick Wilder.
Now the
water
is
reminiscent
as a flat pattern of tautly
bottom three quarters
modeled
is
Hourloupe paintings. The portrayal of
drawn
of the canvas; at the top.
Hockney's cool,
classical
theme reaches something of an apotheosis
figure-in-pool
Museum Ludwig. Cologne
in his
Sunbother. 1966, by contrast,
on canvas 72
Collection
48
line twists,
spirals of confetti that
Sunbather
depths; athletic
the 1964 Picture of a Hollywood Swimming Pool,
of Dubuffet's inspired scribbling
(p5l)
72
In
his
966
on canvas
Private coltection
acrylK
is
uses skeins of broad blue lines to describe
Ponroa ofNidc Wilder acrylic
theme
paintings. In these languid vignettes, the pool
open-air theater
its
symbol of
interpretations,
shimmering surface.
its
His fascination with the pool
1980
on canvas
as the
In his lyrical
in
realism.
The
the 1966 Portrait
an opulent mosaic of blue-green, cobalt and
Harlequin.
49
50
51
52
sky blue areas. Wilder, then an art dealer
near-photographic manner, lined pool.
his
functions as a painted backdrop
elements of a Mondrian-like
at Tyler Graphics in
whose windows, doors and
were
much
as
Magic
finished the
Bedford
Village,
him was a new technique, he arrived origins
New
of the Flute. Though Ken Tyler's
who
master printer
Flute sets, he spent several
monumental abstract images whose
at
own swimming
in
the geometry
pool was the immediate
of
works
using
is
apparent.
to capture the interest of artists
blandishments as superb equipment
irresistible
came up with the notion
skilled technicians,
number
how
understands
by presenting them with such and
of having
handmade paper, another specialty
Hockney do
a
of the studio. In this
paper pulp, a semi-liquid material permeated with color,
technique,
a
tile-
long balcony are
subject for this cohesive group of images, their California ancestry Tyler, a
in
York, where, using what for
the California pool paintings as
in
depicted
is
grid.
Hockney had
1978, after
In
weeks
Los Angeles,
one-point perspective composition, the house
this serene,
In
in
head and shoulders emerging from the
is
pressed into compartments defined by thin metal bands that follow the outline of the
Once
Under the metal forms
artist's design.
is
placed a sheet of
wet
paper.
the pulp has begun to harden and the major areas of the composition
have been established, the
artist
can further
increments of dyed paper pulp, using a
The
instrument.
work
ladle, a
the surface by adding small
kitchen baster or
some other
open shapes of the swimming pool theme were
large,
ideally
new
suited to this process. Capitalizing on the possibilities of this malleable
medium, Hockney was able to capture the shimmering successive variations.
to affect their
his
own
The
quality of
water
heavily textured surfaces of the Paper Pools
in
were
approach to painting. Large color masses were allowed to establish
perimeters.
With the Paper California and
Pools,
Egypt.
Hockney was
on two experiences:
able to build
His unquenchable attraction to the representation
of water and admiration for the architecture are evident
primal
in this series.
geometry of ancient Egyptian
Midnight Pool (Paper Pool
10),
1978,
is
a large, six-panel image of a diving board cantilevered over an illuminated
water
surface.
architecture
The
pool's
in
The massive shapes are strongly reminiscent of temple The
Flute;
edges,
in
the diving board suggests a perspective,
recall
monumental doorway.
Glyndebourne's
distinctive
proscenium.
Though Hockney
colored and pressed paper pulp B\'A X 92'A Collection Walker Art Center Gift of Lindsay
and Ken Tyler
1978
in
London, Paris and
A
idealized
view of what might await him
about Midnight Poo/ (Paper Pool 10)
has lived
Angeles.
New
York, he prefers Los
hard-core devotee of the cinema since childhood, he had an
social conventions,
where
in
Hollywood. This was
eccentricity
and "laid-back." After the tensions and distractions of a brief York, he found California Edenesque.
seemed the ultimate
retreat. For
took to house ownership with
The
a place blase
was barely noticed;
life
was easy
stint in
privacy of a house, high
in
New
the
hills,
one used to semi-nomadic existence, he
zeal
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
but, given his
way
of doing things.
53
54
matters did not simply end there. Ineviubly, a character In his visual dramas.
his
house,
like his friends,
had to
become
So taken was Hockney with the verdant jumble of the Hollywood Hills In 980 he did several paintings that reflect its vivid character. Among
that
1
these free-wheeling evocations of the landscape are two large, rawly painted works, Nichols Canyon and Mulholland Drive. These
memory
are
impressions of driving rapidly up,
down and around
with their twisting roads, clumps of vegetation, oil
derrick.
The
tile
paintings,
the California hillsides
rooftops and an occasional
encountered while negotiating these roads vary from Intimate views Into stilt house Interiors to spectacular vistas of downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley There is little effort sights
to accurately describe the complex terrain except as rhythmic monumental shapes reduced to flat patterns of violent color In the gigantic Mulholland Drive. Hockney uses a whip line to define the contours of the local geography Separate but interlocking areas,
compartments of color
orange tonalitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; make up
this
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; mainly
blue-green, violet and
dramatic painting. Each area
is
treated
a
in
manner; some are heavy with Impasto, others are masses of polntillist
different
color Nichols Canyon, a vertical composition,
roadway
that symmetrically splits the painting.
is
At
divided by a dark, curving close range the
panorama
Is
a constellation of buoyant, even strident color masses that have an abstract existence quite apart from the forms they describe In the landscape.
Hockney
has taken
some great
risks in
these works. They have none of the
refinement associated with the
lyrical
swimming pool
violently expresslonistic, revealing
more concern with
and feeling than describing underlay so
scene
much of the
details.
They
paintings,
objectifying
but are
movement
reveal the intuitive approach that
design for Parade, particularly the
awesome garden
L'Enfant
in
Off one of the many roads that form an erratic network above Sunset Hockney 's house is virtually Invisible from the street. Nestled into
Boulevard,
a hillside, the multl-storled wood and glass structure angles around an amoebashaped swimming pool whose sky-blue bottom is overlaid with a vibrant
pattern of dark blue lines painted by Hockney to look
like the ripples and pool pictures. Against the dense palm and giant ferns are brightlycolored canvas chairs.
waves
In his
The house began of bland project.
1
its
950s design.
existence as a middle-class Los Angeles hilltop dwelling
recent transformation has been an all-consuming
Its
"What do need with I
way" Thus, has become
the erstwhile a flexible
work
a living
living
room?" Hockney
asks.
"I
room, with the addition of
a
Around the acrylic
1
980
on canvas
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Richard C, Hedri
fireplace are a
few
live
that
skylights,
space, complete with drafting tables, large, metal
print storage cabinets and stereo speakers obstructing traffic Nichols Canyon
don't
few battered velour armchairs and
a
in
the center
clunky
wooden
coffee table. Casually pinned to the white walls might be a few posters of recent Hockney exhibitions, some sketches and prints, or quantities of
Polaroids
made during
a recent foray to the desert
or during a
visit
to a
55
At the moment, he
friend's house. in
adding a spacious, high-ceilinged studio
is
order to work on large-scale projects, paintings and set designs.
Beyond the has
more
utilitarian area,
become
colorful things are happening to the
a "work-in-progress."
house.
It
muted
pink; the balcony,
The exterior stucco
extending the length of the house, and
is
painted a
the
stairs to
pool are a strong ultramarine. The idea for investing the house with such
came
personality
Hockney while he was
to
London
in
for Christmas
in
1
980.
Depressed by the grim English winter, to cheer himself up he decided to
make
house from memory. The color of Parade
a painting of the California
was very much on
his
mind. The result was Hollywood
House, a large-
Hills
he allowed interior and
scale triptych. In this highly subjective recollection,
exterior areas to flow into each other and the house appears as though
dream.
the outside
is
represented as a profusion of
Matisse papier It
shows everything
it's
it is
the house itself At that time it.
Bakon)r. pool and steps, the artist's house
Hollywood
so either
and had
I
had
move
to
lived there
two
Then, immediately,
1982
the Ravel opera. t/iot's
We
what we did
— he
London
was natural redwood.
today. There's a big
palm
In
I
Making
that painting gave
was only renting
out or buy
years, so
I
it
I
it
was a
and
bit
decided to buy
had the outside
I
delivers milk in
I
was a
Edwards Square
bricks on the windwall around the pool.
of
and
the idea to paint
wanted
to sell
fed up with moving around it.
bit
I
in
mad.
— come
Then
In
the
The colors were chosen from
painted.
People thought
me
the owners
used the bright green of the grass
first.
the
tree in the middle
the right you can see the curved brick wall around the pool
yellow rays of sunshine.
it,
On
wall.
garden and Les Mamelles de Tiresias.
the balcony, which then
is
the left fxinel you see the
and some things on the
fireplace
for Ravel's
red, not blue as
On
On
thought about the house.
models
the middle panel
the picture.
I
room with the
floor are the set
painting
abstract shapes laid out like a
flat,
colle.
interior of the
over
in a
contrast to his reasonably accurate portrayal of the living room,
In
the garden scene
My
to visit
—
milkman from
and painted the
painted the swimming pool.
Every two or three months
we would make a few
of what we were doing,
began making more paintings of the outside of the
I
color changes. Then, because
house.
Recently colors.
I
we
started having the inside of the house painted, using brighter
started by carrying the pink from the outside into the house
you could bring the outside at color all the time.
that inspired
strong color
me
—
It
was
in
partly seeing the
to paint the inside.
I
De
oti.
Hilli
House
charcoal, collage
Collection Walker Gift of
56
Mr
and
1
980
the red, blue, gray, yellow.
on canvas
An
Center
Mrv David
M Wmton
suddenly realized
that, in
a sense.
I
StijI
Then
remembered
I
also
I
remembered going
I
Walker
—
that
lots
of
Monet
there
was doing the same thing He made
house and garden an environment that he used as subject matter years.
realized
exhibition at the
looked through the catalogue
painted the inside of his Giverny house yellow Hollywood
I
because now you were looking through windows
for
and his
many
can understand a painter doing that
The Hollywood
Hills
House picture and the subsequent transformation of the
57
house
itself
made
clear that the old process
was reversed; now, Hockney's
theater design was influencing the course and content of Today, the hilltop house projects
—
photographs and theater models
paintings,
The phone
who
—
scattered about.
is
rings constantly with requests for loans of paintings for exhibitions,
and to dinner,
invitations to lecture far
his painting.
chronic mild chaos. The evidence of various
in
is
want to
just
as well as calls
collectors, relatives and friends of relatives
way through
the housekeeper picks her
housepainter makes
—
fellow artists,
On
any given day,
visitors
from Bradford.
piles of clothing,
books and papers; the
impossible to negotiate the narrow hallway.
it
Above the smog
from friends from near and
There are numerous
chat.
the house was meant to be Hockney's bastion
line,
against the pressures and blandishments of the outside world. This, however,
has never in
been the
studio or visiting his family
and photographs
in
New
Tyler's studio, a conference
new
penchant for taking on
case, given his
England several times a year working on projects
at his
He
projects.
is
Pembroke Gardens
Bradford. Frequent exhibitions of his paintings
in
at Ken museums
York and abroad, printmaking projects
on handmade paper
in
Japan, lectures at
and universities, keep him on the move.
He works
constantly, sketching objects and people around
conversations or pointing
remarkable
ability
him during
He
Pentax camera around the room.
his
has
to focus on a point, no matter what the distractions,
recalling in precise detail the circumstances of
making
a particular painting.
Soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, he expresses himself eloquently on a variety of art and non-art issues.
He
has the Yorkshireman's ability to characterize a
situation with incisive wit and
terms with himself as an he
figure,
is
is
a
superb raconteur
individual and an artist.
set apart by his attire. His
He
come
has clearly
to
Though now an establishment
approach to clothing continues to be
haphazard and inventive. His costume can vary from ployglot color and pattern
one day to almost conventional apparel on another.
At
his
best,
Hockney
is
a
walking
cap, paint-spattered, high-waisted,
1
While working
collage.
Metropolitan Opera he would occasionally turn up
in
a red
at
the
and white baseball
940s-style pin-stripe trousers held up
with red suspenders, a rumpled white shirt with a neon blue and yellow striped
tie,
and a pair of arresting multi-colored, wing-tipped oxfords.
Recently he gave up
more for
another
In
come up with
black-rimmed round glasses
light
of his daily dress,
it's
in
favor of a
no wonder he has been able to
such inventive costume ideas for
would be completely
So
his familiar
elegant pair consisting of a metal circle for one eye and a tortoise one
home
at
in
his
Parade's opening
operas.
crowd
On a good
day he
scene.
closely related are Hockney's views about theater design and painting
that his sustained involvement with
Glyndebourne and the Metropolitan can
hardly be regarded as peripheral activities. Opera's improbable themes have
provided him with that, as a
new
young
subject matter, rich
artist,
^^Y
Hollywood
Opera's sumptuous repertory.
58
1982
in
formal possibilities.
he had turned to literary sources, he
Interior. th« jrtists house,
In
the same
now
mines
f
c4
t
&j^
^^
Text to Image Stephen Spender
hearing
,n
the 1970s that Hockney
^
^
j^„,
^^
,he familiar
mui.c. Here completely .biorbmg the ,chl..ed .he mir.d. of
™i^:^ir.rre.o„,o.*ee«™....„e„o^^^^^^^^^^^
--v"''"?:Lc:b::rr:i";»r:.T.:,:iLp™»io„ An m,ense and dose observer, palming.
_^.^^
^
r:rr'":r:"n.L„ree.or,n.p^^^^^^^^^^^^ be completely cu.
of,
from
all
.be o.ber P'^"
^ppl„e»andenioymen.^lm,own^^^^^
^^.Tm _,"em.rk which
-^^^^^^^
he once was "::ZlTrP::Z:T... ™eUe, ^S,... » Drop Curtain ink
for
The Rokes Progress
on paper and cardboard
l3'/8
-rC^rrC?:
Sharp
»„. commen^o.,
I..
,n
f.c.
.n
" lOVt
61
many ways
a representative
member
of a generation for
whom
Elvis
and the Beatles were heroes. With so much about him of shared is
Important to emphasize that despite
Presley taste,
it
receptiveness to the pleasures
his
and fashions surrounding him, he inhabits a world of things seen and heard
which
uniquely his own.
is
The meeting of
musical with his pictorial
his
preoccupations brings out the originality he makes of settings
—
The Magic In
especially
in
the effects of color and
he becomes a visionary
Flute,
light
—
His vision
artist.
The Magic Flute the three tiers of characters
Papageno and Papagena, Sarastro and Priests
his eclecticism. In
— with
the
second act of
as in the
the music.
is
— Tamino
and Pamina,
their separate but related
stories scarcely ever converging, have musical Idioms suited to each, developing
throughout the opera.
parallel
the music into The great It
wall of fire
Glyndeboume
from Act
Festival
II
of The
Opera. 1978
MagK Flute,
as
his visual
performed
each of these levels Hockney translates
monuments
of Egyptian sculpture and painting: the bird
On
symbolism, drawn from the almost surrealist engravings of PiranesI and from Italian primitive
forms of Papageno and Papagena; the
trials
through
water of the music; the architectonic splendor of the mystical
fire
and
religious music;
the progression of the opera from the stylized opening scene
the temple
in
gardens, through the architecture of the temple, to the near abstract effects of pure color and light of the later mystical religious scenes.
Hockney knows
a lot
about painting, a
lot
about music, and quite a
One example how much
though he has the appearance of the self-educated.
how much
surprised at
and can
recite.
the way,
he knows, for
For he does not strike one
say, that Eliot
Is.
in fact,
lot else
always a
bit
poetry he has read
as being a learned artist
and Auden were learned and looked
it.
—
Under
in
his
considerable sophistication, he remains fundamentally naive, childlike even a fact of which he
is
aware
In
a
way
that
shows
loyalty to childhood.
So what
surprised critics of his designs for operas was the extent to which he had
work and showed
acquired background information about each
The Metropolitan
sense.
triple
bill
historic
of Parade. Les Mamelles de Tiresias and
L'Enfant et les Sortileges brought the aesthetic excitement associated with the
legendary names of Picasso, Apollinaire,
New
York of the 1980s. The
Hogarth,
in
whose famous
inspiration. "Everything in
To the surprise of many
Satie, Ravel
and Poulenc into the
sets for The Rake's Progress are faithful to
series of paintings and engravings Stravinsky found It
comes from Hogarth," Hockney
critics
Hockney,
in his
told me.
designs for The Magic Flute.
paid great attention to the stage directions and records of the original Vienna
production at the Theater auf der Wieden
in
1791, a source despised,
disdained and passed over by most producers of the opera,
Schikaneder, the original impresario, director, of Papageno and friend of Mozart, as
little
made the
plot almost incomprehensible
Viennese
public.
The
lively
in
librettist,
regard
better than a mountebank,
attempting to
tailor
and irreverent Hockney, always conscious of
origins In Bradford, Yorkshire, reading about The
62
who
player of the role
Magic
his
it
who
to suit the
working
Flute must,
I
class
think.
have felt sympathy for Schikaneder who worked his way up from poverty to become director of the Theater auf der Wieden, where he put on performances of Singspiele (popular musical comedies). Hockney is certainly Mozartian in the idea that the basis or base of the pyramid
liking
are symbolic forms
apex sublime, and like
in
He
striking the stars.
Shakespeare's The Winter's
Papageno and Papagena
reached
is
Mozart
in
in
popularity
— to the
Hockney 's approach to stage the music, then
past productions.
He
in
told
is
High
designing
who
romantic lovers until
way
Shakespeare,
in
have to
the apex of the pyramid sacred
is
in all
Priest.
a process of saturation. Saturation
is
the libretto, then
me
— the
ascend by
— Autolycus
the music of the Masonic cult (reaching to what
mystical religion) of which Sarastro
first in
its
Tale. Fairy story, fable, parable,
and tests which sanctify their union,
trials
those pyramids which
sees The Magic Flute as a fairy story,
of yokels, country bumpkins and coarse lovers
endure
(like
the Masonic cult) of art should be
the history of the
in
work and
its
that he loved the libretto of The Rake's Progress
before he came to love the music which was not entirely sympathetic to him.
was only
It
to love
after he had listened to The
Love
it.
is
Rake
many times
a great
came Auden and
that he
the operative word. Love for the language of
Kallman leading to love for the music, and love for the paintings and engravings of Hogarth's A Rake's Progress are the preconditions of
Richard
drama
—
Wagner put forward
singing, acting
and scenic design
—
oceanic combination of voice and orchestra leitmotifs
which achieve
cave for singers, and
onto
—by
but,
The Ring,
in
it
is
stage properties
—
anvils,
swords
really achieved
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
in
—were
poem
by Mallarme.
In
a kind of
labels stuck
—though mostly without
which the solo dancers become
symbols of the surrounding music, scenery and developing story musculature of their bodies
only the
unending melody and recurrent
in
Wagner's scenery remained
a fusion. In fact,
Music-drama was
his leitmotifs.
voices
his
his designs.
the idea of a fusion of the arts of music, and
as submissive to this as the poetic
line,
the
symbols within a
the Diaghilev ballet the dancer becomes the object of
the music and the action.
Hockney, whose
first
stage designs
were
Roi of Alfred Jarry, surely began by absorbing his ideas of a fusion of the
arts
on the stage from the
Ballets Russes
Satie and Poulenc, Apollinaire and Ravel,
Hoganh
them. This was true Left Bank
Hudibras Beats Sidmphd. Plate
VIII
from Samuel Sutler's Hudibras
1725-26
9"/ii
X I3i^
In
Rake's Progress. Plate VIII
1
735
engraving I2i4 -
period was
in
The Art
in
Institute of
Chicago
interrelationships of
just of theories
of the arts.
thought up by
The
part what appealed to Hockney, at the
each work, to suggest the
idea of going
when
in
his
Met, he wreathed barbed wire link
with wartime
Paris,
1917.
the Metropolitan production he designed scenery and sets with witty
references throughout to Picasso, Braque, Dufy and other French stage pictures transformed into unique Hockney.
15'/.
Collection
this
round the stage
William Hogarth
A
back to
Paris, a village
production of the three one-act works
engraving
and Picasso. The music drama of
grew out of the
group of poets, painters and composers, not
a William
for the 1896 surrealistic satire
Ubu
more
clearly than
Hockney
in his
work
No
artists,
one demonstrates
for the stage, that an artist can
owe 63
and acknowledge that he owes
a
great deal to the past and yet be completely
original.
At Glyndebourne Hockney was doubtless influenced by the
was designing
sets and
costumes for an
ideal small
fact that
opera house, situated
he in
the opulent, green Sussex countryside, the realized dream of an eccentric millionaire
(now dead), John
Christie.
There
an atmosphere at Glyndebourne
is
of aristocratic grandeur and noblesse. Christie wished that, during the evenings of high
summer
of the Glyndebourne festival,
Some booked
should wear evening dress.
were served
during the main interval
all
members
of the audience
their places at the restaurant, and
excellent food and chateau-bottled
vintage wine. Others strolled through exemplary gardens or picnicked on
spacious lawns. David Hockney and Ceiia Birtwell prcnic Progress.
Glyndcbourne
Festival
at the
Opera, 1975
opening of The Rake's
and
if
If
the standards of performance had not been supremely high,
music lovers had not been prepared to pay
Glyndebourne evenings, But there
all
this
On
the
first
wife and
their
anachronistic.
something authoritatively nostalgic about Glyndebourne
is
though the past has established
my
sums for
sacrificial
would have been ludicrously
I
evening of the
a just claim to criticize
first
as
the present.
performance of The Magic
Flute to
which
went, there was an outdoor party on the lawns after the
performance, with food and drink served from long
There was
tables.
something greenly, sumptuously, exceptionally English about seeing guests, performers, David Hockney and the director, John Cox, enjoying their
triumph on that occasion, a fete champetre
at
which one might have found
Mozart and Stravinsky toasting one another and the Such Englishness can be unforgettable and
seems something snobbish about which
Is
to be
a
setting for
it.
Glyndebourne creates
I
its
David Hockney
In
s
if
there
atmosphere
productions which are jewels and
awareness of the splendid occasion shows
Magic
and performers.
artist
need scarcely apologize
I
I
think
designs for The
Flute.
asked Hockney
how he approached the problem of doing He replied that after listening a great deal to
designs and costumes.
and studying Schikaneder's directions, what struck him above
all
these set the music
else in the
opera was the combination of the comically human (which must on no account be
lost sight of )
with the awesomely religious
clear" music. Schikaneder tried to
with other Viennese did not suit the
Singspiel.
in
what he called the "unbelievably
make his libretto and production competitive
Obviously the idea of Egypt
in
Vienna
in
1791
Glyndebourne audience of 1978. So Hockney, who had
recently gone as a tourist to Egypt, asked himself what kind of Egypt would
work
today.
Only an Egypt which incorporated
ancient Palestine would appeal to the
He
considered
first
of
all
modern
a past Biblical vision of
audience.
a kind of stylized realism rather in
Piranesi's engravings, but rejected this. Yet
I
the
manner of
think that something of Piranesi
does get into some of the stage-pictures. For example,
in
the scenes of the
Temple, there are three pillared temples surmounted by pediments. Inscribed
above the portal of one
64
is
VERNUNFT
(reason),
on the second WEISHEIT
—
NATUR (nature). These have the character not of
(wisdom), and on the third
Piranesi's topical engravings, but of his studies of architecture,
which Hockney must have often seen
at the
examples of
London apartment of
his friends
Nikos Stangos and David Plante.
The opening scene of Hockney 's Magic Renaissance
Flute has the character of early
painting of rocky deserts and of chiseled, sculptured,
Italian
grooved and hollowed out mountains seen beyond a tawny-colored foreground of sand. a bit
A few scattered trees are painted in leafy detail with loving observation,
comic looking and with something of trees pure but not a terrifying solitude. For
ascetic,
trecento painters, totally
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
in
Los Angeles. This desert the deserts of
like
is
Italian
artist, the warmth of his some miraculous way, although no way pastiche, but entirely Hockney,
the control of the
hand pressing everywhere.
loving, creative
in
it is,
so candidly indebted to the past,
it is in
In
Ancient Baths (FI26)
from Opere vane
di
architettura
etching
with touches of feeling
5 'A X 7V*
— the
his
humor
clarity of
This confrontation of
music made
the entry of the dragon
pantomime with supreme
in
visible
ascetic religious
— becomes
explicit with
The contradictions of comic hymn and with human love (reaching with
pursuit of Tamino.
religious
Pamina to poignant heights
humor with
to the eye
— coarse and
jovial
with Papageno and Papagena
designs. This results
seem projected from Mozart's music into Hockney 's firstly from Hockney 's complete absorption in the music,
and after that, from
his
rapacious with the Moor)
and plot, and
does
his ability
cheerful acceptance of
Hockney sees The Magic and
the inconsistencies of action in his
is
Flute as a journey
—
a progression, central to
the search for each other and the coming together, after frustration
trials,
of the
two
of religious seeking
lovers,
in
Tamino and Pamina. There
the work, realized
in
is
a parallel progression
the sacred music. So long as these
progressions are maintained, the notorious contradictions
Queen
designs as Mozart
the music.
in
which
all
to reconcile these differences
— the
star-flaming
of the Night becoming a dark villainess, Sarastro, the tyrant, becoming
a high priest of righteousness
and Papagena
falls
— do not
greatly matter
The
love of
Papageno
into place, paralleling and partly parodying that of
Tamino
and Pamina like the coarse working-class lovers in a Dickens novel, underscoring (p66)
the repressed and sublimated loves of the upper-class characters. Hockney
A Rocky Landscape model
for The
Magic
Flute
1
977
photographs on cardboard, paint on
molded cardboard, 16
21
•
tissue,
brings out
in his
In for The
Magic
F/ule
1
977
photographs on cardboard, wire, tissue
16% X
21
'/4
X 12
the second act Hockney used
from darkness
All for The
Magic
Flute
1
977
photographs on cardboard, wire, tissue •
many scene changes
— to emphasize the theme
when
into light,
the sun
all
of a journey.
of the action taking place
comes
out.
A
difficulty,
—
thirteen
in all,
I
The whole opera moves in
darkness except at
Hockney explained to me, was
to paint darkness. The only way of doing so was to use rich earth colors.
(p67)
16
think he said
the end,
fire
model
theme of
profane.
12%
Woter model
interpretation of The Magic Flute the Renaissance
sacred and profane love: Tamino and Pamina sacred, Papageno and Papagena
wire
21%
'
12
the indoor action of The Magic Flute takes place
mountain
in
in
a temple, the
in
a
garden on the temple grounds. These include a
which there
is
the scene of the
outdoor scenes being
trials
by
fire
and water through
65
-W^f^
"
lli'
lFflP'y
idJA'
which Tamino and Pamina
Hockney renders
pass.
with the visionary,
this
terrifying intensity of an early English romantic painter, Blake or Palmer.
The
down over
waters curl
fleece-like
stalagmites to
meet clouds
steps, the flames rise
on them
that descend
upwards
in
like stalactites.
As the music and action proceed to the interior of the temple, the sets become more geometrical (like Piranesi's illustrations of architectural forms) and even abstract. The music becomes increasingly pure and sacred and the stage pictures correspondingly so. This
rendered by
purged of
art
all
pantomime
Papageno, but
action
we
art,
it
is
pure music
from the music. Hockney remarked
that against this exaltation of the religious
the
not abstract
is
distraction
theme there runs across the stage
Papageno and Papagena. "We're laughing
of
have to believe
Papagena provides the comedy of our
lives.
The Magic Flute stage pictures achieve marvelous unity out of The Rake's Progress has the unity of a
at
him," he said. Against eternal skies
in
diversity.
single, consistent, deliberately artificial
style.
Hockney 's approach to Stravinsky approach to Mozart, the difference is
a very
in
is
arising
from
different as possible
as
from the
fact that
important sense romantic, whereas The Rake's Progress,
interpretation of Hogarth's sequence of pictures of the decline and
18th-century rake by the in
Stravinsky's music,
Flute in
I
mean
is
members
that the
Mozart's music and
lies in
in
W.
librettists
the
of an
in
The Magic
of the audience can identify with the lovers
Hockney's
Hockney
in
fall
Auden and Chester Kallman, and
H.
modernism. By romanticism
sets.
The
classicism of The Rake's Progress
the ironic detachment of composer and librettists
the visual plane by
fall,
librettists,
neoclassical
his
The Magic Flute
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;from the characters and
seem to stand outside the tragedy of
Tom
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
carried out onto
story
composer and
Rakewell's decline and
while the audience regards the events that take place on the stage as pure
spectacle which scarcely involves
and for that matter the scenery
them emotionally, though the music
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;may move them by
its
itself
beauty, occasional
The audience does not identify with the loves of Anne Trulove and Tom Rakewell. It is a kind of mechanism like a Swiss cuckoo feeling and depths of truth.
clock.
The music
of
Anne
has pathos without the character herself feeling
pathetic.
The Rake
is
of course a parable of
but one seems to regard
it
from
human
folly,
wickedness and suffering
a great distance, the
18th century seen
through the wrong end of a 20th-century telescope. The music, while
modern
idiom,
is
also a pastiche of an old one. and the
Hockney's sets which, while of Hogarth.
we
We
as
modern
as
Hockney
is
hear and see on the stage
Stravinsky and
in
the
1
is
based on
a
in
a
true of
himself, are also pastiches
are never allowed to forget, listening and looking, that
moral story enacted
what
sequence of pictures depicting
a
8th century.
Hockney have
it
in
common
that they can both
completely modern work most recognizably their
68
same thing
own
make
a
out of the elements
of
the
shared by
work which arouses their admiration, a characteristic whose language here is based on librettists. Auden and Kallman,
some
past
Hockney
libretto
He
reads the text, conscious of
its
18th-
deliberately multiplies those
century pastorals and vers de objectifying that are present effects of distancing and societe.
in
complexities.
the music and
He
invents the
corresponding to the considerable intellectual image of the Bread Machine preoccupation with the octe gratuite Kallman's and complexity of Auden decision, made at the suggestion demonstrated in Tom RakewelKs arbitrary
freedom of will by of Shadow, to exercise his the choice of
him Shadow
marrying-not according to
is repulsive to but against it-Baba the Turk, who twin tyrants of Rakewell to act freely, to ignore those
his senses,
Tom
tells
appetite and conscience.
He
wife. counsels him to take Baba the Turk to and stage series scenery, costumes
Hockney takes from Hogarth's
the scene in the In the background of properties, innumerable details. detail drawn like graf^t, on the Hogarthian of explosion an there is
madhouse
He might
imprisoning walls.
Hogarth s so easily have simply transposed something much subtler than
he has paintings into stage pictures but
done
hint stagey realism, he has taken a order to distance the action from stage pictures series of paintings and made Hogarth the of engravers from the and and crosshatching both scenery with the engravers- line, hatching pictures J^hat making engravings, as visualized costumes. The entire opera is introduced to emphasizing their artifice. Color is look two-dimensional, thus effect of distancing, in watercolors. The over painted prints of effect give the look like making the stage sets and costumes
that
in
objectifying,
is
underlined by
Hogarth's already ironical satire. characters are trapped, the like boxes In which an engraving in the backcloth painted to look like a being exception only househd on forth from the T-love setting Rakewell Tom opening scene of look proliferate into docks which boxes scene, madhouse his journey. In the esigning d^^^ Perhaps, madwoman. or is a madman ,-,J prison cells; in each The Waste Land lines from T, S, Eliot's
ironical pastiches of
On
scene,
the stage,
rooms look
We
Hockney remembered
a of the key, each confirms his prison / Thinking think of the key, each in regression-from the house progression-^r the conveys pi on The actfon to whom Tom Trulove and his daughter Anne, of the respectable bourgeois <^째--^rothel and the scenes in Mother Rakewell s betrothed, through delirium. The and churchyard, death and Tom's London house, to Bedlam before the declaimed by the character epilogue moralistic opera ends with a Don ^^o^^"^^^":^ Mozart's to Epilogue the of '
Tal
-n
the
manner
are Auden, Kallman and Hockney
all
extremely sophisticated
T^^:^^:^:^ckney visualizes emotions of love, sensual living of Baba the Turk sketch for The Rokc's Progress collage, ink
H
A
on paper
1975
ordinary human
their
relig^an. the
--P
beings which has to ^e '^^ Hogarth as seen 18th-century morality of
the Rake's Progress he visualizes modern eyes and yet fixed
Irough
in
in
the distance of
its
past. In
J
both works.
II
69
inodModunt sketch for The Rake's Progrta â&#x20AC;˘nk
70
on paper
1975
Leavt all
Study for Bedlam
sketch for The Rake's Progress ink
10
on paper 10
1
975
Itue
ÂťkJ
Itoft.
(ek,^j.
and Le Rossignol,
as in his designs for L'Enfant. Parade
deepest insights
his
come from his being inspired by the music. It would be wrong to say that some of the sets for L'Enfant, The Magic Flute and The Rake's Progress excel his paintings. What is true is that he has invented here something different from the
Tamino
paintings,
supreme of
he has submitted
flute,
Like the animals
its l<ind.
Orpheus who tames wild
an
is
his
in
the scene
which
in
beasts with the sounds of the magic
genius to the music, transforming the characteristics
of a visual artist into musical color, line and symbolism. The Magic Flute
medley, a great many things
woven
finally
farce of animal humanity (Pagageno); the tests of
Pamina); sacred love (Sarastro)
—and
the words and you have something
and scherzo
human
go on
all
a
good
like a
at different levels.
more
deal
symphony It
is
is
a
commedia dell'arte: the human love (Tamino and
into a
in
Take away
variety.
which
allegro,
andante
a parable of the multiplicity of
life.
Sorostro
Considered purely
drawing for The Alogic Ftuxe crayon
as plot
and characterization, the libretto
The transformation
self-contradictory.
of the
Queen
notoriously
is
of the Night
—
first
appearing as her daughter Pamina's semi-divine protectress and guardian of
her love for Tamino
—
into a malevolent witch and hatcher of
confusing as action and plot, but not, perhaps,
the music.
in
contradictory on that level of the imagination, where beautiful
queen might well be transformed into
witch.
does not
It
really
to be the holy priest of a
and
of the Night
is
in
public with
a
more
of the sacred at In
a
is
a tyrant) turns
it
who
is
all
If
the poetry of
in
The Magic Flute were
in
—
all
retains
of
W.
The
—
libretto of
picks up and
its
a
modern
— each with — diverge and
its
musical
also intertwine.
hold over us because this confluence of separate views
— permeated with mysterious forces "the music — true to the complexity — words which Mozart The Magic like
influencing our fates
Flute has
makes wonderful: the
of the three boys; Tamino's is
Yeats
times.
(be firm, patient and taciturn)
picture
B.
than the mystery of music that expresses the sense
them true
of the spheres"
Queen
accord with
The Magic Flute the three strands of action
The opera
also wise
the fact that
Mozart's freemasonry really present
Idiom, comical, romantic and classically sacred
life
in
might seem to be church music and present
difficulties
in
out
wicked alienator of her daughter's
modern audience which accepts
esoteric occult religious symbolism.
Mozart's Catholicism,
72
story a
the mind of Sarastro (male chauvinist pig supreme) the
woman diabolic. Nor does
any obstacle to
of
monster,
wicked witch, inhuman tyrant
the mind of the mother, Sarastro
affections,
his
a fairy
wicked stepmother and
a
To the modern audience such contradictions
cult.
also
is
(a
is
perhaps
— are merely psychological complexities resolved anyway
priest in
who
in
plots,
it
is
matter that Sarastro, cast for the role of tyrant
Tamino's recitative, em Unmensch. em Tyrann
guardian mother
wicked
Nor
its
little
drum
Dies Bildnis
bewitchingly beautiful) with
its
life.
felicities
sei standhaft,
— with aria.
of
is
duldsam und verschwiegen
taps pointing up each ist
word
bezaubernd schon (This
wonderful stretching out of the
I
'
diffe
en
words Simply become the the words, or. to put phrases which he can
it
Cransfju7e
^
beyond words.
own
"^"'"
"
them
'^^^'<''i
—
rmt^r:::: t^r "-^^ ""^"° ^- -
t^at
which seem clearer in e words Tn, them, such as the Bread Mlcht Stravinsky asked to be fed with respect. Quite rightly,
Hockne
oCe
we V'
subject of r.e
Ko^e^
"w.'''
"""
o
t
".
^'''^
'"''''
^.'^l^^^^^^^^ "'^ "' Auden
to the music which eventually h. With r.e M.„c f/^he
The
"^' '"""
'"
'''
^'h o^ '" ' """ ^^^'"^ ^° '^-^ / Mo "" "'" '° "'' °" ^°''' -^ 1 ^e '''" "^"^'^^ of
n
a language
-
^
^^
it.
^^^-8^
^^^''^''--n of
' "'^^'"'
^"^^
^<1--'-t.
'' '''
'^''^
^tTlTb'""^"° ^"'^ ^f^^" 'turned
r;r
""^'
"
^
^
"
^^.^
y,^^^^^^^^^^
tale
'^^
^^^ --<^^-
'^^'^
" '^''^"^''^^•
°'''^'^ ^ "^^-^''^^ about the downfall of the reckless e! ^°"' '^'^^^^"' ^^o falls into evil hands and thTf T''^""' '°'' ''" °'^""^ is a tale in ^-'°-- '^ whose ext vta" sta '' ^^'"'"^ ^^^^"-^^ '^^^-t^^- 't nothing of
''x'
Willingly
Z
the Salvation
Hockney
T
has
^"' ^'^'^^"^^^"-^
uu^e ^irHtT' " propert/i: :^t -^r
also
every stage
""' "
,
^trav.nsky and
^rf^^^^^^^l
of ironic pas iche
b^ed o
Mozart. There salsranot
T ' ?""'' ''f
^'^
^^^
"""" '"'"'"'' ''^"^"" '"^^'"^^^'^
'"
---•
^ased on
- ^^^ ;:f;r:or;:r: ^-"^'t" " "'°'''^"^' ^'^^^"^ed existentialist
Hogarth,anmor:i,tT:fr: in
the libretto,
is
.nH
A
.
"'"^'" " " '"' °' ''""^"" '"^° rI "^'^ Tom not ^° ^'^^ L y earchTlL °^L''"^^^'^ " "'^^'^ """'°"^ '''' utmost sense of big ThettcTudeV '"""''^
which the central ch rac e utmost. give the
make
infidelity
marriage blunts bore),
want,
death
''
,s
ean like
to any marria.. In
extremrsTff
Coc
is
really
L, poe J o
rec
more
like
in
M«^i
T
o
They
loving.
'"^^'"'"^'
''—
""""' ^^^^'^^^ TT' ^'" "°'^^" ^'^^ y*^
*^
^1:1
'''
^
'^
""''^"'^'^^^' '"^''"^-
""""'"• '^^^ A^trRrlTr^T '"" ^h°— John Berr^man
than like Hogarth's hero though /h
libretto score anH
'''!""' ""' ^""'
oTcel ^'^e A °
ea
Tom Rakewe
(as several
Rakewell
'^
''"pa.nng and
""in. witn •
''°"e).
.'
(ood. This
happens
in
73
74
imprisoning separation of each within
his
box-like
stall
of the
mad scene and
ending with the churchyard.
Every opera goer would agree, and character
Magic
in his
I
suppose, that despite confusion of plot
music, Mozart has
woven the
Flute into a unity of style unique to
it:
strands of action of The
entirely different
from
his
other
operas and from any other opera by any other composer Hockney has discovered
in his
characters and,
sets visual counterparts for the separate strands of plot and
like
Mozart, woven them into what might be called a
musical unity. His designs for The Magic Flute are as unique to that
Mozart's music. that they will be
If
is
no more
like this
than are
his
designs for Parade. Le Rossignol.
wittily and beautifully related to the fact that Stravinsky's
based on the art of Hogarth. Hockney
mixed
it
indeed rooted
in
designer of operas
his is
that he it
Tom
Trulove;
is
though itself
is
were, gone back to Hogarth,
yet very closely related to
is
all
of theirs,
His uniqueness as a
able to absorb himself so completely
into visual images
and yet which contain qualities of
Anne
it
loving experiencing of them.
music that he can translate
Father Trulove:
has, as
style,
opera
with Stravinsky, and with Auden and Kallman, and then produced
something entirely Hockney, which
Garden Scene from The Rake's as performed at Glyndebourne
as
he goes on to do other stage sets one can be quite certain
or L'Enfant. For The Rake's Progress he has also created a unique it
visual-
work
in
the
which are themselves musical,
his idiosyncratic
and recognizable
vision.
Progress Festival
Opera. 1975
Don Garrard Gomez
Jill
Rakewell: Leo
Goeke
Nick Shadow: Donald
Gramm
Auction Scene from The Rake's Progress as
performed
at
Glyndebourne
Festival
Opera. 1975
Sellem, an auctioneer: John Fryatt
Baba the Turk: Rosalind and
members
Elias
of the Glyndebourne Festival
Opera Chorus
75
Hockney at Glyndebourne John
Cox and
Martin Friedman
suppose, if you're asking me, you're wanting something a bit out of the ordinary!" (David Hockney to John Cox on being Invited
"I
to design The Rake's Progress for the Glyndebourne
When
the Glyndebourne Festival
Progress. John sets. Earlier,
Cox
Opera decided to produce The
some
job, but
with the devil would lead to
his ruin. In his
with the Glyndebourne Festival "on and
He was 1
its
Cox demurred.
For him,
deemed
a love of humanity, a quality the director
essential in telling the story of the once-innocent
became
off,
own
Tom
Rakewell vi/hose pact
words, John
man and
Cox
has been
boy, since 1959" and
the
came
in
director of production.
looking for an unconventional approach that would allude to the
8th-century Hogarthian origins of the Rake theme, yet emphatically
in
Rake's
discussion about having the Sundoy Times
Gerald Scarfe, do the
Hockney 's v^ork projected
1971
Opera.)
favored David Hockney as the ideal artist to design the
there had been
political cartoonist,
Festival
spirit of its
composer, Igor Stravinsky As Hockney
at a particularly difficult time,
when
his
recalls,
modem
the invitation
drawing and painting had
reached their most intense academicism and he was casting about for an escape from sheer technique. The Rake theme, which he had pursued in his barely post-art-student days, was especially enticing;
made
a series of etchings
reimmerse himself
in
it.
on that subject and
This
new experience
it
was
study for The Roke's Progress
colored 19'/.
X
inks, cue
1
libretto, resulted in
975
and pasted paper on paper
25%
Collection Gift of R.
The Museum of
L
B.
Tobin
Modem
Art,
New York
Glyndebourne's
one of the most
stage.
So
well
1961-63 he had
a simple
matter to
of working on an opera and
responding to Stravinsky's exhilarating music and the An Assembly
in
brilliant
Auden/Kallman
inventive manifestations to occur
received
was the
first
on
Cox/Hockney
collaboration that a year later they teamed up again for The Magic Flute. With this second successful joint venture, it was apparent that Hockney 's
77
talents
were not
limited to the design of 20th-century opera and that he
on the
could, with originality and style, take
As soon
as they
Hockney was no conventional suggestions for
all
classics.
began working together,
was evident to Cox that
it
was cheerfully free with
he
designer;
aspects of the production, not only for
For The Rake's Progress and The Magic
Flute he
character
visual
its
prepared himself thoroughly,
nuances of the music and libretto, and explored,
familiarizing himself with
through numerous sketches and cardboard models, ways of interpreting these.
From
the start, he thought of himself as a
partner
full
these
in
enterprises, with definite views about the character of the evenings and as
Cox
the collaborative process was challenging and unpredictable.
recalls,
The working arrangement between David Hockney and
director, at least insofar as
With David,
come
drama and opera
was a case of
it
inviting
and use the operas as
in
take off as
an
are concerned,
mere
is
My
hope was that I
demands of the
theater, scene by scene.
he was proposing was going
submerged
and done, but when you
as
it
role as
had
making
him of the
to insure that
what
work and that the operas would not be
to
know you
is
supreme
surrender
will
arbiter of all questions about
someone
invite
like
David Hockney
much of your autonomy. A
to
what
is
seen
team up with
small price to pay.
turned out.
Once Hockney was persuaded no handicap he and
also
right to
the designs.
in
Normally the director
you, you
I
a
interpreter
own
certain that these two operas would, in fact, inspire him, advising practical
like
genius would
his
saw my
from
different
artist established in his
inspiration.
he were at work on canvas or stone.
if
me was
between director and designer. A stage designer,
that normally operating
—
Cox
it
was
that his lack of theatrical experience
inventiveness that
his
initially
was
attracted Glyndebourne
about determining the look of The Rake. The 18th-century
set
engraving technique of William Hogarth, with
Cox
offered endless ideas and
says he
was
its
wealth of descriptive
enthusiastic about
detail,
Hockney 's
first
proposal which was predicated on these images.
When
come bock
he
and thus making
it
with the crosshatching idea, using the restricted palette
very
technique,
inspiration. In
a way,
an acid-etched
style
—
ink
(or The flake's Projreu
oncardboinj
16 » 21 ' 12
78
From the 1
975
descriptively.
the devil
in
A
it
was even more
I
was delighted because the idea was 1
for detail,
start.
—
it
8th-century
own musical
exact, for Stravinsky's harmonies have
opera came from Hogarth's
Rake's Progress, not the engravings. Once
action, content
them, detail Truhre'i Garden
model
own,
quality, yet the first idea for the
took a microsecond!
it
David the
his
coincided exactly with the sources of Stravinsky's
it
paintings of
much
Being a 20th-century utilization of an
so musically correct.
I
had accepted
was thereafter a matter of describing
and mood of each scene, and asking him
to
oil
this
to
match
from the whole corpus of Hogarth's work.
Cox wanted
the sets to function symbolically as well as
The benighted hero, Tom Rakewell. having made
his
pact with
the person of Nick Shadow, would be raised to dizzying heights of
^
MVf::,
^^, -»n
-"^^-Mk
80
Brothel Scene from The Rake's Progress as
performed
Tom
at
Glyndebourne
Festival
wealth and Opera. 1975
Goeke
Rakewell; Leo
Gramm
which takes place
Cox wanted
Bedlam Scene from The Rake's Progress as
performed
Tom
at
Glyndebourne
Rakewell: Leo
social status,
and experience
Cox
his inevitable decline.
measure the joys of the
in full
Festival
Opera.
1
975
Goeke
Anne Trulove: Jill Gomez and members of the Glyndebourne
Opera Chorus
make
to
Tom
garden where
In
the opening scene,
Rakewell and Nick Shadow meet,
certain the audience got the message that
Tom's
fate
was already determined.
My Festival
a
in
flesh
and Hockney were agreed that each scene
should reflect another step of Tom's steady descent.
Mother Goose: Thetis Blacker Nick Shadow: Donald
before
request to David was that
first
door.
an
Ir)
open the
way
artless
it
it
should be a walled garden with a solid
should be a prison for Tom.
He
should be unable to
because he lacks willpower (Only Nick and Anne Trulove*
door,
Tom's betrothed, representing opposite poles of evil and good, are ever seen to
open
Otherwise, the only idea
it.}
accompaniment there in
is
innocence
Anne's
in the
I
contributed was the swing. The musical
words sounds a
first
image. David very
bit like
wittily
saw
and wanted a couple of whores on swings
too,
it
to
scene, but there were practical problems lack of swinging space
Cox felt
in
a crowded
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
vivid sexual initiation
the subsequent brothel
not the lack of underwear, but the
fly -gallery!
there should be strong and cohesive
opera's most spectacular scenes, one
in
in
visual
elements
the brothel where
from Mother Goose
herself, the
other
two of the
in
Tom
receives his
Bedlam which
in
occurs at the close of the opera where he has been robbed of
reason by
his
Nick Shadow. So overpowering are the dramatic action and music scenes, that
Cox wanted
For the brothel scene
to contain
wanted
I
them
in
Mother Goose.
I
to assure
a strong visual focus. I
also felt very strongly that there
is
no eroticism
own, with catechism and folk song verging on nursery rhyme.
(p82) Tom's Room fRoom
model Ink
Tom
model ink
first
â&#x20AC;˘
975
1
with Baba's Hanging Objects 1
975
model for The Rake's Progress 16
moral paradox
in
which innocence and "experience" coexisted.
One
of
its
These were
virtually toy
cupboards where,
Cox
"the
says,
couples retired, so to speak, to play with their toys." Hockney 's cellular design of people
in
boxes was repeated,
in
distorted perspective,
in
the
The three scenes of Tom's London townhouse morning room were entirely idea. In each set the room assumes a different identity. The first
Hockney 's 1
975
reveals the
room
in all its
elegance, indicating that
Tom
Rakewell
is
well
on
on cardboard 12
:
* Anne's family
Earl of
model
1976), and
for The Rake
on cardboard
Progress
1975
Opera.
name
has been spelled
in
one of two ways
in
previous publications; Trulove
in
the
Harewood's The New Kobbe's Complete Opera Book (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. in the Glyr^debourne Festival Programme Book I97S (Lewes: Glyndebourne Festival
Redlam
ink
it.
culminating Bedlam scene.
12
(P83) Tom's Room, Auction Scene
ink
in
prominent features was the series of small rooms to which the prostitutes
for The Rake's Progress
21
the second, he regains
the brothel scene. Hockney came up with an ingenious solution to the
on cardboard
16
and
the
In
12
Room
loses his innocence
also
counterpart to Bedlam, because
in
led their clients. Tom's
somehow be a
all its
was
I
/)
for The Rake's Progress
on cardboard
16 X 21
a scene
It's
suggested a large double bed as
the music, just a perverted innocence which has a delicious naivete
anxious that the scene should
both
In
within a strong, centralized design.
which, like Redlam, can go out of control, so a "throne" for
and
a creaky swing,
the potential corruption
1
975); and Truelove
Chester Kallman
(New
in
the opera libretto for The Rake's Progress by
York: Boosey
& Hawkes.
W.
H.
Auden and
I9SI).
81
1
m
f
!
m-
his
way
to the fame and fortune promised him by Shadow.
that Tom's sudden rise to affluence and social status
by making him a compulsive art collector.
the second
In
Hockney decided
would best be exemplified set,
the
room
exotic junk and takes on surreal character;
among her
bizarre trophies
innumerable admirers are stuffed animals,
birds, snuff
boxes,
busts.
is
transformed to a repository for Baba the Turk's collection of
drastically
Cox
fossils,
from
Roman
marvels at Hockney 's capacity to invest the same interior with
varying moods.
room scene,
The
third
and
certainly elicited from
alt in
block and white,
me
the
the
is
most bravura
and
as Tom's misfortunes increase, so color departs, In
Tom's year and
Graveyard
model for The Roke's ink
the graveyard scene.
Progress
1
975
a day of
Shadow
all
in
Cox
black; in fact, as
model Hockney made
technique to Indicate details of the design
complete "negative." prize.
The
hero
is
that the graveyard scene
black and he used a scraping
white.
In
It
was.
Cox
says,
a
and Shadow play at cards, with Tom's soul the
inspiration for this
Hogarth of two
must
Tom
splendid sense.
wages, the heavy price of
observes, the cardboard walls of the
were painted
for this set
made
this
visually
David said here that
profligacy, and the miserable
Hockney decided
on cardboard
should be
at last claims his
freedom and
given his choice of ways to die.
most bravura of all
direction.
ominous
Again, as with the bed
in
Cox
tableau.
figures playing cards on a
tomb
says,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ond
was
re-creating this
was a
the brothel, a large object, the tomb, gave
sharp focus to a scene, and gave the character. Nick Shadow, a chance to play at theater a bit
Though Tom, by
tender feelings he once had for Anne Trulove,
recalling the
manages to win the card game and thus save render him insane. The poignancy of final
Bedlam scene where Tom, robbed of
be Adonis, pines for
his lost love,
Anne,
from whose rectangular compartments
we
life.
Shadow's revenge given
Is
he
Is
is
to
rein in the
calls
Venus. For this vividly
a large, crate-like structure
masked chorus
a
learn,
full
reason and thinking himself to
his
whom
dramatic scene the dominant stage element
sorrowfully. This design idea,
his
this situation
rises
and holds forth
developed from a more modest
scheme.
As an boxes.
early idea for this scene, I
David showed
happiest collaborative coup of all, for their
kinds
me
three or four characters in
suggested we should put the entire chorus
own
thing
(e.g.,
in
I
that awful Actors Studio
Marat-Sade and
in
boxes. This
We Come
way of representing madness of all
to the River). This way,
the chorus as figments of Tom's diseased imagination. Again,
of controlling the focus, and here
it
was the
hated the prospect of the singers doing
always had
to
be on Tom.
it
we could
use
was a question
We
had already
included his bed as a direct reminder of the Brothel (catechism on the latter to
Mother Goose; this
final confession
here to Anne). The "boxed" chorus completed
reference to that scene and was, incidentally, the only other scene that got
off floor level.
With The Rake, both Hockney and Cox were working from 84
similar 18th-
century
visual
conventions and the production style was
The Magic
start.
precedents and to a great extent each man went matters,
Hockney was working
New
in
The collaboration was more
difficult
satisfactory result theatrically
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and,
much
was unable
I
were going
be working
to
my
guidance, describing
to
Australia.
One of the problems was that we were creative process much less than in The
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
do a theatrical monitoring job. Knowing that we
absentia,
in
way. To complicate
of the fact that Hockney created
this in spite
together during the
Rake, so that
in
fast visual
the end, perhaps led to a less
in
several stage pictures of great beauty.
not very
own
his
York and Cox
the
easily set at
on the other hand, offered no such hard and
Flute,
wrote a long scenic analysis for David's
I
ideas as they were at the outset, but this
was
only of
limited value to htm, because no real dialogue could take place. By the time
saw William Hogarth The
Industry
engraving
and
New York
it
was too
late
reconsider anything very radically, so
idle 'Prentice at Play in the
Church
During Divine Service
from
the designs in
tdteness
1
Yard,
because of deadlines,
realized then that
I
to
would have
I
I
ask him to to
people "his" Flute rather than direct "ours."
The designs
747
saw
I
model were
the
in
strong, striking
especially after the austerity of
color,
and
vivid explosions
The Rake. There was a
of
farrago of
10
and
influences, borrowings
but
sly
cross references to so
view, the only available unity for
David's style
found in
own work seemed
on
this
The
not worry me.
this in itself did
was the
it
to single
much
work, and so
Flute
is
many
parts of art history,
equally multifarious,
unity of diversity.
him out as just the
Many
right artist to
the popular theater of the English provinces, his
namely, Christmas pantomimes
in
my
impose
his
of the Hockney iconography can indeed be
these designs. Resides, both of our theatrical roots are firmly
in
and
aspects of
in
in
Bradford, mine
embedded
in Bristol
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
which short scenes of comparable diversity
are strung together on a loose, narrative thread, with no regard for tight organic
development or consistency of principle, I
am
and
it
clearly
was
sure, justified. (Indeed,
manned pantomime adherence
to
its
style.
That
is
we even
variety
to say,
also David's. This reference
back
to
is
the guiding
pantomime was,
incorporated the principle of the double-
horse into the scene of the enchanted animals.) Our
freedoms ensured a highly entertaining Flute, but perhaps
rather at the expense of the sublime.
Having designed a
series of static tableaux for Rake,
David was anxious
to
use the instrument of the theater with more resource, albeit traditionally,
making
sure,
meanwhile, that there would be no waiting between scenes. Far
from being jaded
contemptuous
or
by,
of,
such a simple business as flying
painted cloths up and down, he revelled miraculous, which
it
is.
can have sheer magic qualities and
away
Uccello's landscape melted
appearance.
Once
in
Similarly, the dissolving
seen,
to
however,
completely as required, and
this
this
it
and considered
was exploited
become a
starry
first
fly-gallery
it
was not
Act
I,
Scene
for the
I,
as
Queen's vanish
indication of the tiresome troubles
which dogged the technical realization of the design,
crowded
in
empyrean
the stars stubbornly refused to
was the
effect
its
of a scene through a scrim
for in
Glyndebourne's
possible to separate the two flown cloths
85
\><'-
^
(T^
\t^-
^ ^^
f'*-f'^j ^^o
:'"
^
And
suficiently.
Cox
as
unable to
ironically,
other scenes,
in
work
light the
modern
the
lighting
well—that
really
is
equipment was,
to say, as pictures.
mixed emotions about the outcome of the collaboration on The Magic Flute. While he was fascinated by the freshness and originality has
still
of
Hockney's
problem was to make these radiant enclosures support the was frequently necessary to improvise solutions to
sets, his
opera's action.
It
allow characters to go about their business. For example, he says the apartment in Sarastro's palace in which the heroine, Pamina, is imprisoned .
.
.
my
suffered most from
model
lack of contact with David during designing In the
looked well enough, but had no provision
it
and
for entry
exit
and
no sense of her captivity— benign or otherwise. The scene was saved quite fortuitously by the use of a trap in the Glyndebourne stage which enabled Papageno to do a relatively convincing excavated break-in, and to dispatch
Monostatos by the same
Cox
route.
realized that Glyndebourne's small stage prevented
fully realizing
about The Magic
his fantasies
achieved through
Flute.
Deep
Hockney from
space had to be
foreshortening and other perspectival devices of which Hockney was a master. His conception of the environs of Sarastro's kingdom, Cox says, was of "a superb vista, kibbutz-like on the edge of the desert. One saw at once the Utopian quality of Sarastro's realm." illusion,
Sadly, in order to
expose this to view, the city walls which should confront be dispensed with, leaving three small doors instead of temple portals, and no majesty or authority of architecture. I was anxious to show
Tamino had
to
what a desirable place later
— and gave David
Sarastro's realm
the
doomed
The several scenes of Act precincts,
They were
full
of bold,
— one has no
chance
real
most of which occur within the temples
II,
gardens and mysterious
its
must be
task of reconciling impossibles.
rich color,
were altogether more successful.
vaults,
strong geometry and brilliant tricks of
perspective.
Improvisation
seemed to have been the
rule during
many
aspects of The
Flute production, often with fortuitous results.
The scenes changed
remember
rapidly, if
the garden wall
not always by the most orthodox means.
Papageno's suicide scene being held up by
in
(I
six
unflinching stage crew crouching out of sight.) The lighting was more effective, being atmospheric and nocturnal, and spatially the acting area waxed and
waned
with a satisfying rhythm.
All things considered, the
action
and
the front,
most
effective scenes
were those
in
which the
the painted cloths were confined far downstage, carefully
and
the whole aspired
most nearly
frame. David's conquest of space was
still
to
to the nature
lit
of a picture
from in
a
come.
The most unsatisfactory aspect of our Magic Flute was the costumes,
TjuZr ink
The
on paper
"'*'''
MagK
Flute
1
978
'^''^'^ ^'""''' ^^^^^^'^'^"^ f^" ^^°rt
for
him
to
know where
^ook for the priests
to turn.
— David
We
of perfection because
had from the
derided the
Mormon
it
became
difficult
start rejected the Druidical
Tabernacle Choir look, and
I
87
wonted the sense of people working with Utopia rather than simply praying
and
world, western eyes looking east,
wearable Assyrian
look.
Some of the
muted impact and were perhaps
finished up with a hybrid
wrong
unhappy about them and often regretted go before designing them. wonders,
say,
if
had had
in
to build
and not very
David was very
model
to let the set
a void, and one
in
copy the Schinkel design
to
a
an exotic
had a curiously
fabrics, besides.
that he
designing the costumes
he would have chosen
Queen of the Night and their
He was
we were
principals' costumes, too,
the
in
hands and brains
their
into existence. Yet
it
for the
Papageno hod he hod
the traditional feathered suit for
environments before him as he worked.
Though Cox and Hockney seemed to diverge at various points in their conceptions of The Magic Flute, they were agreed on treating the opera as a wondrous, Utopian world where virtue triumphs over The Flute /
result
through the eyes of Papageno. creature like
Ren Luxon, had
present
to
the
its
want him
end
Pan, but in the all
emphasizing
his
right
I
let
qualities
them
there.
What
after
is,
who has
to
do
all
this
really get to
Hockney made frequent
whose Anne,
man had
positive
He
is
a
the great could
work
in
order to get in
the end.
know.
Magic
allusions to the spirit of the
heroes, Rakewell and Tamino. is
of maturity and
generalized princely virtue he symbolizes? Papageno,
their productions of The Rake's Progress and The
The Rake
go because the
it
whom
the dirty, dangerous
much
be a feathered
are never quite sure what Tamino really stands for
all,
we can
however, In
We
world very
enforced lack of fulfillment, slavery almost.
type of Everyman: the humble, worthy fellow without
never be great, but
who saw
it.
to
masculinity! The absurdity of such a costume on such a benefits,
Cox,
evil.
approach to
of Magic Flute at the expense
didn't really
I
some overgrown Peter
Papageno.
his
human content of my wanting
think the emphasis on the
of the sublime was the
first
ponders
as an earthy morality play,
make
their
initial
Flute,
Cox
and
18th century. Both
appearances as innocents.
ultimately a pessimistic tale of lost innocence and corruption
protagonist,
in his
eagerness to achieve wealth and fame, abandons
true love, and makes a pact with the devil. Rakewell follows his
his
destiny through crosshatched Hogarthian vignettes of gardens, streets and, finally,
to the madhouse. His "progress," however,
of degradation and only
in his final
innocence. The Magic Flute, despite is
is
uncomprehending
about the attainment of higher
its
a
descent through layers
state,
does he regain
his
pairings of appropriately suited lovers,
goals.
Tamino, wandering
in
dream-like
landscapes reminiscent of ancient Egypt, pursues wisdom, nature and reason.
He ennobles characters D.ÂŤ,d Hockney seated
m
front of an
rocky landscape set from Act
88
I.
oiomem
1978
of The
Mope
fiuie's
^'^^s of
in
life,
emphasized.
himself spiritually and finds true love
in
the bargain. The leading
the Stravinsky and Mozart operas symbolize
two opposing
which the direction and design of both productions strongly
Ik-
m
Till ^iik
U-L i)
A
K
\
h
The Rake's Progress as told
by David Hockney
Production series from The Rake's Progress, as performed
(/)
Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1975. (See Opera Chart p 2 6) Anne: Jill Gomez, Tom Rakewell; Leo Goeke, Father Trulove: Don Garrard. Nick Shadow: Donald Gramm, Mother Goose: Thetis Blacker, Baba the
They
at
1
Tom Rakewell live in
their house,
though
Ellas.
in
Trulove, the daughter of Father Trulove.
the country. You have no idea of the size of it
very innocent, placid
Tom obout
Trulove decides to speak to Turk: Rosalind
Anne
to
the stage directions
in
Tom seems
garden.
engaged
is
domestic tranquility
seems
—
Sellem:John Fryatt.
advice
opera
(2)
is
—
Her
needed
the kitchen.
in
'Tes, father,"
father
tells
Anne
Tom he has arranged
prospect and declares (and I
stand,
my
I
IS
in
—
first
in
the
comer of a
impression. Father to
Anne
that her
as she does throughout the
a clerical ^ot
the garden.
think the libretto
Tom
borrowed
,'ur
is
this
'!,•'
in
the city of
not thrilled at that
from Martin Luther),
constitution sound," which suggests he hos other ombitions. At
the end of his speech he says:
gate
replies
be located
your
ond suggests
and departs
London and then he leaves Tom alone
"Here
to
thot's
his future
"I
wish
a myslenous-looking character
I
had money'" And standing in black,
at the
none other than the
garden
Devil,
Nick
Shadow.
91
(3) left
Shadow
says he
is
looking for
ore a rich
(7)
Tom Rakewell
England many years before, has died and
parents never mentioned one
man
When
"
"
Just like that! So Tom's wish
Tom who has been away
know what
do She decides
92
I
him
thot on uncle,
him a legacy Tom
believe, sir,"
seems
to
who had
says,
to
to find
for quite
him
in
"My
Nick replies "You
(4; f other Trulove affairs
order
in
and
fortune,
is
and encourages Tom to go (o London to put his Tom Rakewell and Nick Shadow, to receive the
quite pleased
Off they go.
at the
end of the scene Shadow
says,
"The progress of a rake begins"
have been granted.
scene three begins, we return to the Truloves' garden Anne
worried about
at night.
lo tell left
"They quarreled,
is
very
a while now, and she doesn't
London and leaves
surreptitiously
(8}
Act
II
begins
things, he's
but
Tom
IS
in
the morning
been spending
getting a
little
tots
room of Tom's fine London house From the took of money There's been a gome of cards going on,
of
bored these days
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
there's
something lacking
in his life
(5)
The next scene
is
Mother Goose's Brothel
roaring boys surrounding
Shadow, as we
see.
is
in
London,
Mother Goose, who wishes
introducing
Tom
with whores and
filled
to initiate
to the finer things
of
Tom
life,
herself Nick
the delights of
London.
(6) In the brothel,
He IS
Nick Shadow appears and asks him
the Turk.
Tom
says he has not.
mere glimpse of her desire her?"
Tom
"
". .
.
if he's
been
to St. Giles Fair to
brave warriors
.
see Baba
have swooned after a
Nick then shows Tom a picture of Baba and asks, "Do you
replies. "Like the
gout or the falling sickness."
I
"The
Whom
lips,
Tom idol
flirts
asked what love
my
(9)
replies.
name;
is,
is
of
osked wonderful questions; "What ail
dreams, the same
imagine as a hat he
strikes terror to
replies,
my
I
I
"Thot precious word
is
Pleasure, then?"
be a cat"
a
fiery coal
like
wear or
it
to
When I
It
he
burns
soul" But he does not really answer the question.
(10) Here, the story gets into a philosophical point. exercise his free will
is
V^hatever shape
Old maids believe
and do something he knows he
Shadow persuades Tom shouldn't
He
tells
him
to
to
Ignore those "twin tyrants of appetite and conscience" and to marry Baba the
Turk
So, taking
brings her
up the challenge. Tom not only marries the bearded
and her great
lady,
but
collection of exotic objects to his house
93
f
I
1
1
tn
(12) Meanwhiie.
a rawer grono scene, baDa ar
from the street coming
to look at
London finally, IS
says.
in
III.
which takes place
in
Tom's house,
Bobo's collection are being auctioned off While the auction
Trulove arrives
her
all
and asks where Tom
is
all
the objects
going on. Anne
The chorus of Respectable Citizens
tells
kinds of things He's gone off to Americo. "Spontoneous combustion coughf
him hurrying" He's dead
94
is
for the country.
The
leaves,
says.
"My
Tom who
city
is
am
"
impatiently asks.
and Tom
and
(IS) At the beginning of Act
Anne has found her way
procession Suddenly, she sees
her
"
wife
t
a to
Anne
to
Tom's house and watches the grand
greets her gently and also
bad place Baba remain
in
the Turk
here forever^"
says. "I see. then
it
I
tells
her to flee
and waits and
Anne asks who she who was unworxhy," that girl?" Tom
When Bobo the Turk asks, "Who was " To whom was in debt pet
brokenhearted
"Only a milkmaid,
is
sits
I
I
(16) As the auction proceeds. Se//em, the ouctioneer, points to something hidden
under the tablecloth her
)
"And now
excitedly.
(It's
Bobo.
stiK
covered with the cloth
for the truly adventurous."
Tom
angrily threw over
he says, and everyone starts bidding
(13) Next,
Bobo
Baba
he
is
the Turk
and Tom are shut
just does not stop talking.
the gifts her
bored ogam.
and
starts
her,
then
in
the morning
He knows something He
smashing Tom's crockery.
falls
asleep
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
room
together,
and
She sings that marvelous chatterbox ana about
many admirers have bestowed upon is
her.
Tom
missing from his
is
not amused.
life
Bobo
is
In fact,
annoyed
throws a tablecloth over Bobo to silence
there's nothing left for
him
to
(14)
Now, Nick Shadow wheels a strange contraption
wakes
sees that
the
lifts
the cloth
crowd she recognizes Anne
that theirs
is
and baba, indignant,
whom
a "true love" She
somewhere, wretched
tells
she realizes
Anne
tells
him
is still in
to find
the sale
it's
obviously
is
over
love with Tom.
In
and
Tom, that he's out there
see of
Tom
(18) The next scene
and a day services.
When Tom
money has been used to roise
money
in
up.
the
When
city, it's
for a while.
is in
after they
It's
room.
that can turn stone mto Shodow shows him what he hos brought The audience a fake, but Tom is gudib/e enough to fall for it, Tom is
excited by the bread machine, especially since his
we
into the
had a dream about a machine
he's
he and Nick Shadow go off with the breod mochine
do but sleep
the lost
(17) Suddenly, he
he says
up,
breod, whereupon Nick
a graveyard where Nick Shadow hos token
met You
realize that the Devil
Tom's soul that Shadow wants. Tom,
who
wants is
to
Tom a
year
be poid for
terrified, cries.
his
"Have
mercy on me, Heaven!" And Nick Shadow, being a gambler, says, "Very well A game of chance to decide your fate Have you a pack of cards?" then .
.
95
119) They play, and wiih each card
Anne
And
Tom miroculouily
he correctly guesses that the
Trulove.
When
a spade, leaning against a grave,
seeing what
to cheat
and
Poor Tom,
slips
stiti
fell,
the
first
Thinking of
receives a clue
card
falls over,
is
Tom
the
Queen of Hearts
cries out,
"The deuce!"
he says "the two of spades" Then Nick Shadow
tries
Queen of Heorts bock
cord
into the
pock as the
unable to think of anything else but Anne, says,
third
(20) Shadow, furious, admits defeat but says to Tom, "Henceforth be you insane'"
and disappears
into the grave
Anne has been
told
by the
The
last
jailer that
goes along with the idea that she
is
scene
Tom
is
in
Bedlam, the insane asylum
believes himself to be Adonis, so she
Venus They sing together very tenderly.
"0 Queen of
Hearts, again," and he wrestles the card from Nick Shadow's hand, thus winning the
game
(21) Finally, father Trulove comes to find Anne, to
ended and she must go home Once again Anne leaving
Tom
in
the
madhouse
tell
her that the story has
says, "Yes, Father,"
and they
exit.
(22) just as the opera
audience starts
moment
I
makes work
I
is
about
main characters come out and as the
to end, the
applaud, they raise their hands and
Though our
what you saw
96
to
story
now
Since the curtain
for idle hartds
And
is
ended
first
I
soy.
"Good people,
There's the moral to
ascended" The moral
that's the
end of the opera
is
draw
jUSt a I
From
that the Devil
'
K^tiV.r&Sit^.c**;.-
/7 -'Sk
u
J'"^^'
"J 4
;j'\
'ia»-
f'^ ^
J
III!
Designing
The Rake's Progress Martin Friedman and David Hockney
If
it
did
the
in
summer
of 1974,
Hockney 's subsequent development At
painter might have been different, indeed. a
come
Glyndebourne's invitation to design The Rake's Progress had not
when
drawing
style,
equal parts idealization and observation.
spontaneity of the 1960s official
his
work had by then assumed
character. For Hockney, the
1
970s was
a
and of
was
It
Clark and their
Sleep.
975.
1
No
double
1970-7! (Ossie and Celia Birtwell
accidental effects
those hermetic compositions, with figures posed their sparse surroundings. For
in all
1
974, and
were admitted
In
studied relationship to their subtle
modeling
in
and shadow, these people were strangely weightless beings. Hockney
only hints at volume exist
in
Mark Lancaster
also a period of such stately large-scale
Gregory Masurovsky and Shirley Coldfarb.
cat),
George Laws and Wayne
one another and to
place of the
Henry Geldzahler,
as
Evans, Celia Birtwell, Peter Schlesinger, Nick Wilder,
his parents.
portraits as Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy.
light
In
measured, quasi-
time of elegant portraits
colored pencil, crayon and ink of close friends such
Gregory
a
as a
was perfecting
that time, he
in
a flat
Hockney visiting
him
in
these
static, Ingres-like
continuum of mirage-like
recalls the in Paris,
tableaux
whose
characters
exasperation of
surfaces. his
London
urged that he abandon
his
dealer. John Kasmin,
who,
unrelenting academicism and
return to a free approach. But so determined was the artist to master descriptive drawing that, by his
own
admission, he had trapped himself
in
the
pursuit of technique.
At that time myself
to
I
had not been doing much painting because
draw
scrutinizing
it
better.
carefully.
I
I
I
was
trying to teach
would spend two or three days working on a thought
this
would improve
my
figure,
drawing because
my
eyes would see more. Kerby (After HoganI}) Useful Knowledge
Even before Glyndebourne wrote to him, Hockney had been casting about
1975
for alternatives to his compulsive drawing style. Collection The
Museum
Gift of the artist, John
of
Modern
Art.
New
York
Kasmtn and Advisory Committee Fu
As matters turned
Rake's Progress would be the vehicle for his release.
Though
out, The
at first reluctant
to consider the project seriously because he had no experience
in
opera
99
production, he agreed to talk things over with the Glyndebourne /
had only a general idea of what an opera production might
more
those at Covent Garden were usually productions. The only thing
conceived,
simply
Glyndebourne people
me
convinced I
I
I
had done
I
because
suited
it
in
the
didn't really think
I
Ubu
the theater,
knew enough
to
On
started
I
me
make
simply to
the
job, they
eight or nine drawings of the
make them
making a few drawings.
the advice of a friend,
Mo
MacDermott, Hockney decided to make
Though
designs as detailed as possible, leaving nothing to chance.
Court Theatre with
earlier he had provided the Royal
Ubu
told
I
do the
scenes and hand them over They would then interpret these and
So
was very
Roi,
Even though
did.
realized they expected
into sets.
knew
I
than ordinary theater
costly
work.
staff.
involve.
a set of
his
eight years
drawings for
Glyndebourne's requirements, he decided, posed more complicated
Roi.
problems.
Mo, who worked
He
London.
me
for
me
told
not look exactly as
wanted
I
stylized as opera, you
production
then a
Hockney had long been
1
975
on paper
7x11
to.
it
I
costumes
each
in
worked
for
a stage designer
decided
I
to
la
in
looks.
You must design the
scale models of the sets.
on the Rake
Mode. Intrigued with the precision of the these prints, he decided to apply
in
exaggerated scale to
in
make
fascinated by Hogarth's engravings
for Marriage a
similar patterning
also
realized that working with something as
crosshatching technique so prominent
front and Bock of Painting of a Pike
ink
had
must control how everything
three dimensions.
in
theme and those sketches for The Roke's Progress
bit,
not just to do drawings because the result on stage might
architectural elements and
all
the production. That style was particularly expressive, he
felt,
of
the jagged, linear character of Stravinsky's music. Using the hallmark of 18th-
century engraving was consistent with the composer's
own concept
of the
production. Stravinsky's music, Hockney says, "was a pastiche of Mozart's,
and
my
design was a pastiche of Hogarth's."
The misadventures ancestry; It
we know
was never a
it
written story.
and Kallman based of their own.
when
the
In
Hockney reminds
It is
a
their libretto
tale that
you deduce from
runs out. Instead of on ugly lady,
bearded
lady,
Raba the
had a very human
a soft spot for them, but boba. Ked Pantakwns
sketch (or The Roke's ink
on piper
low Progna
1
975
For
his
eye.
many
twists
ugly old
maid
Auden and Kallman decided
He
in
the early
is
a great
artist. It
understood mankind's
work also shows a certain delight
1
960s even
always seemed follies
in
and had
condemning
life.
his Roke's Progress series,
Hockney made sixteen two-color
using a technique combining etching and aquatint.
100
images. Auden
on the Rake theme.
To any English art student, William Hogarth that he
his
Turk.
did a suite of prints loosely predicated
me
have no literary
Tom marries an
Hockney was no stranger to Hogarth's work, and
to
us,
on Hogarth's scenario but added
Hogarth's version, for instance,
money
to bring in a
of the Rake,
through Hogarth's eyes.
The
idea for these
prints,
came
,
^
V
^
from
to
his first visit
and squalor, the himself
in
What
New
me
about
you didn't see
those
in
96
1
1
With
.
its
startling
was
I
But
/
the
he loses
the
in
Rake
thought the derelicts
in
and have
You see
little
I
made
seen
made
is.
he
prints,
For the last scene,
a stamp of
They
all
that
it
people
wear
I
a
is
Rake
I
his
modern
engravings
version of
this.
vivid personality, but little
Redlam,
/n
did a drawing of a
I
impressed on the etching plate
the madhouse, but you can't
in
T-shirts that say,
tell
WABC"
swing with
"I
radios plugged into their ears. Before that time I'd never seen
radios like those, they didn't exist in Europe. At
hearing aids;
York were just like
sixteen.
my
in
five faceless
which one the Rake
New
looked at
I
do eight etchings using the same sequences that
this quality.
faceless figure, then five times.
end
is first
Bowery
the street. Frankly, in the English welfare
in
thought, well, you could do a
/
just going to
but
did,
When little
York was the experience of walking on the
about
t/iot.
Rake's Progress
Hogarth
In his
extremes of wealth
setting for a morality tale, with
Hogarth's London When, a year or so later
Originally
by
New
lying
state,
A
in
the role of benighted hero.
struck
and seeing drunks
for
York
seemed the perfect
city
first,
thought they were
I
thought some disease had struck the young of
prints,
Hockney used
New
York.
a naive, near-cartoon style that lends itself
admirably to their themes of degradation and dehumanization. Even though
some
episodes, according to their
Kafkaesque
In
is little
frightful
mishaps and
in
Harlem, Madison Square
sense of time or place
the young
visions. In successive scenes,
succumbs to
occur
titles,
Garden and Washington, D.C., there
man
soon reduced to non-person
is
these
in
yields to temptations, status.
contrast to this extremely subjective conception of the Rake theme,
Hockney 's designs
for
Glyndebourne were hard-edged,
calculated to enhance every aspect of the story.
and
finely detailed
He knew
job was to
his
provide a coherent visual context for the action and, to that end, analyzed
He
the Auden/Kallman text, scene by scene. into
models which he conceived of
showing these for the
first
Everyone who was going
quickly incorporated his ideas
as three-dimensional drawings.
time to the Glyndebourne
staff in
they
saw
almost every
What
set.
I
didn't
them thought my ideas wouldn't work. hatching the entire set was too didn't say anything. to DtoOt
go
to
at the time
—
they thought
it
in different sizes,
test
my
idea
We
made
was a
and hung them up on the
the theater with binoculars, deciding
lots
some of
that
some thought
later learned that
the
had made a
I
was
was concerned about the crosshatching,
Glyndebourne and
hatchings
m Horlem
I
much
I
know
—
amazed when
the designs. They were expecting to see drawings, but
for
recalls
be involved with the production was there
to
producers, the prop people, the lighting man. They were totally
model
He
London.
mad
too. so
cross-
idea, but I
decided
of samples of cross-
stage.
I
what the scale should
sat at the be. If
it
back of
was done
Bedlam
too small. from A Soke's Progress etching tnd aquatint 12
102
16 each
1
It
would look
96 -43 1
on paper
checkerboard
came up
— and
like
that
a solid color
would be
with the exact size.
If
it
ridiculous.
was too So
/
big,
it
would look
mode some
like
calculations
a
and
r^f/iP
Tk
m I-. LJ
^gaitt9tn«tk/CL
t: k.^mULSl
VJ
^tAtntrndcri^
\
A.PVLLt.V !
/V)
W
**7
â&#x201A;Źr
'T? C
â&#x20AC;˘?''
y
'f^^,^-
^ Baba'% Hanging Objects
sketch for The Rake's Progress ink
He presented
the Glyndebourne people with a
1975
executed
on paper
In
colored
each
Inks,
symmetrically
number
of set designs,
composed
one-point
in
perspective. /
think
t
arrived at the color for the sets this way. Crosshatching
done with a
single color But then,
technique that normally
is
don't want to do
black and white.
so
I
it
all in
We
have
to
use
some colored
simply chose what would have been standard printing colors
century.
I
bought good German
other colors
in
the design.
I
in
The Rake mainly
Though Hogarth's engravings were the most pervasive
In
museum
the 18th
as decorative
tints.
Hockney's Rake designs, more subliminal forces were interest
in
we
lines;
green and black. There are no
inks; red, blue,
used colors
elements. They are essentially
a graphic
is
thought,
/
collections of
all
sorts
Is
at
Influence
on
work. His consuming
reflected ironically
the bizarre
in
group of objects he has provided Baba the Turk. Though Tom's wildly transformed house scene,
Hockney
is
strongly reminiscent of Hogarth's treatment of that
has approached
its
design with glee and Ingenuity.
Crowding
the shelves, covering the walls and hanging from the ceiling of poor Rakewell's
morning room are such wonders fossils
as a sphinx, a giant snail shell, assorted
and the mummified crocodile. There
is
a
conspicuous analogy to Pop
Art: Hockney's enlarged crosshatching throughout The Rake generates an optical vibrato similar to that of the
(P 103)
Mother Goose's Brothtl
model ink
16
for The Woke's
on cardboard '
104
21
12
benday dot patterns
in
Roy
Lichtenstein's
paintings.
Progn
Indeed, the overwhelming impression of The Rake on stage line.
Sometimes Hockney's
fluent line
models
is
oscillating
a chair leg, a cabinet of knlck-
'^ 3
""'Ml •'>*."'"'
/
ni^,idel00^J^
and encouraged acdemcism's hold on Hockne,
,ncongru,«s. fe,i«,l ol.pa,ial
"~^7
seems Lke .he Hogarth draw.ng, o, a .andscap.
a. r,rs.
-P;- -h ™
;rpo;::2
aiogicall/
'
^""'^
J„
to be a more
-
to *"''
h,n,
,,„ „<,™,, dep.Oion
,,„ „„,„,, ,„
-.. .
:r„ " :, r^ o, .l t*s ,, . ».. ™»g.
a occupy the same space:
foreground rests behind Kerb, represenu an
a
row
s,gn
^,
^^^^
-J«
-J^^J
™
^
suspendeu
of trees Car aw.,.
-P»™-
^J';"J
''r„ '„,
L
pied ton.l.t,
::r:hr7.hro:r.;'r:nsana,og,.^^^^^^^^^
volumes, shown
in
arbitrary perspective,
-7''';^^^;^'';
^J^
:r:r^ro:r.r:::r!:;^^^^^^^^^^^^ large painting.
-^.
Hockney's Kerby
is
,ee growing from
it
a prophetic
work
would have
their
.n
sculptured
'^^"^7^;;.;;;;'^;
"-"«'°
hill
p„,e
and
sets:
"J^ ^J^;/;,,, endless
:s::;t:aX.rd:r\:rnp:^^x:«.»'"-.-^^^^ all
Cover for the program of The Glyndebourne Festival Opera paper offset lithography on I2'A ^
9'/i
Rflke's Progress.
1975
perspective in the process. rules of illusionistic
«
speinng of the
I
Sth-century art.sfs
(a..,ly na,.e.
105
The Magic Flute as told by David
Hockney
Production series from The Magic
Glyndebourne
Festival
Flute, as
performed
at
Opera. 1978. (See Opera Chart,
p 2 6) Tamino: Leo Goeke. Papageno: Ben|amin Luxon. 1
Queen
(1) There's a Prince, Tamino.
who
is
wandering around Egypt dressed
costume. A monster, a dragon, comes to attack him
monster and
is
rescued by Three Ladies who
kill
He
m
a hunting
faints in fear
of the
the beast.
May Sandoz, Pamina: Isobel Thomas Thomaschke, Papagena;
of the Night;
Buchanan. Sarastro: Elizabeth Couquet-
(2)
When
jovial,
he wakes up, Papageno. Mr. Everyman, has
easy-going character
birds for the
Queen of the
who
Night.
is
He
dressed
in
arrived.
Papageno, a rather
brightly-colored feathers, catches
claims he killed the monster with both hands.
107
(3)
At
this point,
Prince that
tell
lies"
was they who
it
with him. They
come back and say. "Papageno. that is naughty And they put a lock on his mouth They tell the
the Three Ladies
of you You shouldn't
tell
him he
is
monster and
killed the in the
all
three of
them
fall in
love
kjngdom of the Queen of the Night. The Three
(4)
The Queen appears and
tells
Prince Tamino that her daughter, Pamina, has
been kidnapped by a wicked man. Sarastro, and asks her The Three Ladies give him a magic
flute to help
if
he would go ond rescue
him
in
case he comes into
danger
Ladies give Prince Tamino a picture of the Queen's daughter, and he immediately falls in
love with the girl in the picture.
beautiful she
(7)
The
Prince,
who has found
Reason ond Nature, with what the
man
In fact,
ond nothing
He
sings a wonderful
ana about how
is.
is
iarastro's
suspicious, because
Queen of the Night it
does look as
if
told
there
kingdom and
is
its
temples of Wisdom.
what he discovers doesn't quite
him about
Sorostro's being such a
some sense of order
in Sarastro's
at all that looks evil At one point, the Prince plays the
tie in
wicked place
magic
flute,
made peaceable by the music, to surround this scene much as the animals con upstage
(8)
Papageno gets a chance
recaptured by Monostatos
and making them dance
are captured and finally meet
the evil one.
him
priests and, if he wishes,
their singing)
108
do not
like
bells
magic
bells
when he and Pamina are
have the effect of tranquilizing
his
m
Sarastro's
kingdom Sarastro
tells
Then Prince Tamino
of passage and
coptors
the Princess he
has rescued her from her mother, the Queen of the Night, who he soys
which brings wild beasts, charmed and (Tenors. I'm told,
to use his
The
off the stage. After a lot of confusion, the three travelers
is
he can join
purification.
told he this
is
now among an important
is
really
order of
brotherhood by undergoing certain
rites
They suggest that Papageno go with him, but Papageno
(5)
ofSarastro. his
own
He
lucky
agrees
charm
to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a
occompony Tamino set of
magic
as he's afraid
resists,
only after the Three Ladies give
him
(6) In the next scene, the Princess
for help,
bells.
leaving
(9)
Act
II
begins with Sorostro and his followers singing beautiful music. That's the
George Bernard Shaw said was
came
Cod's voice.
to
journey and
Papageno
trials
(still
to
to allow
and
willing to
Cod ever sang
it
.
.
probably the nearest music ever
would be
that the two couples.
like this."
Act
II is
about the long
Tamino and Pamina and Papageno and
appear) must endure The high priest Sarastro and
Tamino
agree is
If
".
to join their
undergo any ordeal
brotherhood to
Tammo
win Pamina.
tells
them
his followers
he's a Prince
the prisoner of the slave, Monostatos; but
Papageno and Pamina
Tamino's love for her and she
bit that
is
Papageno rescues her when Monostatos, frightened by Papageno, runs
(
1
0)
Papageno
is
is
eager
go Papageno
dragged along. They begin the journey
immediately wants
to
break
it.
tells
off to ask
Pamina of
meet him.
to
outside the temple. They have taken a
a bird-catcher
free to
vow of
in
a very dark place, just
silence, but
of course Papageno
He's perfectly willing to go back to his quiet
for the town, but
life
as
he con't escope and agrees to go when he
is
promised a wife as a reward The Queen of the Night sends the Three Ladies who earlier rescued Tamino from the dragon to find out why the two men have broken faith with her. (She's obviously
don't get
an answer and the
been wotching everything
trials
that's
going on.) They
continue
109
(/ 1) There's
a scene
in
the
Queen of the Night
where Pamina
the garden
Monostatos, accosts her and
tries to
slips in
and
is
resitng
get her to marry him
gives
Pamina a dagger,
and the chief
He
is
her to murder
Sorastro The evil Monostatos overhears this and threatens her, but Sarastio, IS
just
bit,
behind him, saves
her,
explaining his philosophy of love
It's
slave.
a techer Then
telling
who
o rather funny
because immediately Monostatos says he's innocent, even after he's caught
(12) In the next scene Papageno breaks his
who
says she's his promised love
and
tells
vow of silence and
him he must swear
suffer serious penalties
When
young, beautiful
Papageno, but she's not quite ready
girl
It's
he swears
to
be
faithful,
has not completed the journey, so she magically disappears lost
her that he decides
to
talks to
to
an old hag
be true to
her, or
she reveals herself as o for him,
He
is
because he
so sad that he's
hang himself
red-handed.
(13) The Three Ladies reappear and say,
you?" As he plays the magic
bells,
"Remember
the
magic
Papageno comes out and there
duet when they sing each other's names and speculate about
Papagenos and Papagenas they're going
Queen of
helps her he can have
down as
to
the Night to toke o^er the temple
Pamina
m
have
bells
we gave
a marvelous
is
all
the
little
There's a last effort by the
She promises that
if
Monostatos
marriage, but the sublime light strikes them
they try to get into the temple
(14) Tamino and tests life,
toward
light
have now gone through the darkness and through the
made when
the journey
flute,
reaching a higher level of
interpret that as going towords the sun
I
Pamina are joined
in
a grand wedding
and they are taken
Everybody
is
Finally,
Tamino and
overjoyed that they have
into Sarastfo's priestly order
At the end
the sun's rays strike out the darkness, all the players are brought together
and everybody
finds
a universal theme
110
Pamma
of fire and water, with the help of the mogic
a partner In that sense,
it is
about the union of oil creatures,
'.^^.
^^ -l^ ^^^^^^ 1짜t'
lillLilil
't^^.
Designing
The Magic Flute Martin Friedman and David Hockney
The Magic Flute has undergone seemingly endless Interpretations since its 79 premiere in Vienna. It has been played as a romantic comedy about the 1
1
travails,
separation and reunion of
two
as a moralistic saga
whose
ambiguity
hands
its
comedic or
more Queen of
who
principals
on the way to
plot to allow for
in its
Far
too human
all
physical and spiritual trials
many
its
it
has been presented
must overcome innumerable
There
self-realization.
have at one time or another prevailed.
youthful quartet are the characters of the
the Night and the high priest Sarastro, the enigmatic personages
activate
the physical and psychological terrain the foursome must
Hockney
traverse. Yet as
points out, their roles are never precisely defined
and The Flute remains an open-ended drama with constantly
The Queen and her Three
Ladies,
who
things as difficult as possible for the wandering innocents.
her opposite
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
sorcerer.
the benevolent Sarastro
is
It is
he,
in fact,
Flute,
in
Hockney reminds its
in
^
us,
written
possible about
its
initial
as
popular
its
practice
the rituals over which Sarastro presides. Such in
late
18th-century Vienna
incurring considerable hostility
Before starting to design The ,
at least
music on commission. Since both were
references must have been relatively daring
Pâ&#x201E;˘^""
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;or
of Freemason lodges, small coincidence that allusions to
the opera, especially
where Freemasonry was
drawing for The Mogic flute
rival
whom she falsely characterizes as an
flourish.
the Theater auf der Wieden, was,
members
determined to make
Her
with text by Emanuel Schikaneder, the director of
entertainment, and Mozart wrote
exist
meanings.
who presides over the harmonious domain where
Wisdom, Reason and Nature The Magic
shifting
rescue the hapless Tamino from the
giant reptile, eventually turn out to be agents of darkness,
evil
sufficient
is
readings, and under various directorial
spiritual qualities
interesting than
Tamino
sets of lovers, the aristocratic
and Pamina and the earthy duo, Papageno and Papagena;
Flute,
production
Hockney decided to at
from the crown. learn as
much
as
the Theater auf der Wieden. His
1978
crayon on paper
research convinced him that Schikaneder's primary interest was to put
'^
something
"'
'^
lively
and amusing on stage that would please
a large audience.
A
has been written about Schikaneder's exploiting Mozart's talent
lot
everybody runs him down. I'm just suggesting that he couldn't have been bad, because for him.
mean he played Papageno had asked Stravinsky done
It,
all
had been, Mozart wouldn't have written such sublime music
if he
suspect he was probably a
I
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
whereas a
of a ham, wanting to hog the stage.
bit
himself, didn't he?
something
to write
lesser artist wouldn't
for
.
It
.
.
was as
if
I
David Merrick
Broadway. Stravinsky might have
hove dared, because he wouldn't have
the confidence that his art could rise above any vulgar ideas the plot might contain.
money.
Mozart must have taken such commissions
often,
and not just
don't believe he did anything for base reasons. There
I
no sign of that
was treated
the work. Everything he did
in
for the
certainly
is
even
seriously,
the comedies.
Whatever Schikaneder's motives plot has increased,
interpretation
is
in
writing The Magic Flute,
anything, over the past
if
being
still
debated.
In
its
ambiguity of
two-hundred years and as
fact,
Hockney
its
admits,
Glyndebourne's production, too. occasionally lacked clear focus, because he and the opera's director. John Cox. had somewhat divergent views cases about
what should take place on
design problems
were
far
stage.
As
a result,
in
a
few
both agree,
its
greater than The Rake's. Given the vague setting of
the story. Hockney reflects, no single historical period could provide a
comfortable format. Although the really
have
library
found
I
it
libretto suggests
to look like
it.
takes place
it
When
I
decided to look into the quite inventive.
I
Old Kingdom Egypt,
1
in
the British
doesn't
it
Museum
8th-century European's view of Egypt and
found marvelous looking things, especially those that
were completely wrong. For instance, many they thought ancient Egypt looked descriptions of travelers.
in
began doing research
My
like,
designs for
artists
had made drawings of what
and these were mostly based on
The Magic
Flute used that naive
approach. They also reflect a Renaissance view of Egypt that you see
in early
Italian painting. In
how
considering
he would design The
fusion of exotic forms
beast that
assails
from
all
St.
century Florentine masterpiece,
London's National Gallery during
circa
for a lyrical
a his
George's spear painting
in
Hockney came to know
student days. The
if
Paolo Uccello's 15th-
more benign
in
beasts of
the forest, those improbable creatures charmed by the music of The Flute. came from medieval drawings of fantastic animals discovered while Hockney was browsing the British Museum's rare book room. The early Italian
Uccello
St George and the Orogon oil
Hockney opted
Tamino was inspired by none other than the ornate,
unfortunate, dragon impaled on
PÂťlo
Flute,
periods of history. The not-so-fierce scaly
1460
on canvas
22/.
'
influences he discusses are the ingenuously painted landscapes found
29/.
abounds
in
the near simplistic rendering of rocks,
Giono flight into Egypt.
fresco
Scrovegni CKapel. Padua
in
the
panel paintings of Giotto and his trecento contemporaries; such influence
Collection The National Gallery. London
1
4th century
opening scene.
A
highpoint
in
hills
and trees
in
The
Flute's
Glyndebourne's production occurs when
the huge Giottoesque boulder at center stage revolves and
splits
open to
Queen
reveal the
conceptions of
of the Night
Hockney's research into earlier
voice.
in full
opera led him to the romantic visualizations of Karl
this
German
Friedrich Schinkel, the eminent 19th-century designer. sky,
Schinkel's version, the
In
Queen
architect and scenic
appears against a magnificent starry
and Hockney thought enough of that dazzling notion to design a
variation
on
it.
Museum
His research also took him to the Metropolitan
number
Egyptian collection, where he found a
The dominant
into his unusual scheme.
room where Pamina the Metropolitan
Museum, was
its
Monostatos,
evil slave
one another But
seated, jackal-headed deities facing
enormous
feature, for example, of the elaborate
imprisoned by the
is
of Art's
of motifs that he integrated
monumental
his
staircase,
a pair of
is
major discovery at
which
in
transmuted
version dominated The Flute's great temple scene.
many ways you can
There are so
Cox and to
had discussed many
I
see things
my own
in
The Magic once
I
Flute.
saw
I
it
more
My
straight lines. Here's one example.
My
geometrically.
was a place of order and proportion and
It
Even though John
got into the music,
way. John had thought about Sarastro's
ideal place, a Utopia, but
abstract.
interpret
possibilities,
I
tended
I
kingdom as an
concept was more
expressed those ideas
Act
set for the beginning of
II
is
a symmetrical view of a palace garden that extends into deep space. The
converging feeling.
I
lines
of palm trees and the pyramid
suppose
if
had directed
I
been placed formally within that framework But John actually wanted them seated
in
if
the distance give you that
to
emphasize the
a circle on the
of Sarastro's kingdom was a kind of democracy. the text, they take a vote to decide
in
Sorastro and his followers would have
it,
Mind
floor,
set's perspective.
because
his vision
had a
point, in
you, he
they will allow Prince Tamino to enter the
brotherhood. The horns sound, the drums beat, they raise their hands and say
agree
yes, they'll
workers. So rulers
—
when
to
it.
they
When
and aprons.
are wearing blue robes.
see both sides of them
the visual
I
like builders
—
appear, they are carrying instruments: T-squares,
would have used. You see them
things people building a city
shirtsleeves
Once
John also wanted the priests to look first
in their
they're in the circle at the start of Act
II,
they
thought they should have two costumes, so you would
—
as worker-priests.
style,
however
hybridized,
Hockney, the next step was to use
it
Glyndebourne's small stage did not lend
had been established by
Because
to advance the action. itself
either to grand spectacle
or complicated scene changes, he cast about for other means to provide Karl Friedrich Schinkel
The Hall ofStars of the Queen Flute,
Act
I
.
Scene 6
)f
the Night stage design for The
l8'/i
dramatic
changes
illusionistically
1816
gouache on paper •
Magic
of
environment.
His
solution
was to use
many
as
painted backdrops as possible to designate different locales.
As
with The Rake, he decided to work with models. The process began with a
24 '/2
group of gouache paintings whose forms would be enlarged
Collection Staatliche Museen
drops. Integral to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's grand inspiration for
Hockney's Great
1932 photograph
Hall in
Interior staircase
The Magic
his
scheme were the
\
Glyndebourne proscenium.
In fact,
as
background
distinctive cut-off corners of the
he made a virtue of that architectural
flulc-
detail, using
it
as a point of
departure
in his
designs.
The
coffered,
beaded
lis
and otherwise ornamental
ceilings in the opera's interior scenes
proscenium's strong shape.
In
several pairs of smaller set elements
columns
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which,
would serve
made
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; mainly
rocks, obelisks and classical
placed at either side of the stage
wings and heighten the
as
large color photographs of each
model of the Glyndebourne
echo the
Hockney designed
addition to the large drops,
front of the backdrops,
in
spatial quality of
stage, and used these to
He
each episode.
drop and wing element for the
work out
scale
the sequence
of set changes.
Because Hockney thought the central theme of The Magic Flute was the progression from chaos to order, this idea governed
Queen
beginning of the opera, the
untamed realm of unscalable mountains and desolate Sarastro's harmonious
on The Magic tapes and
he
done by eliminating Hockney). The The
artist's
977 photograph of Peter Schlesinger with the
1
statue of King
Egypt, circa
1
Rameses
300
B.
II
at f^it
colossal
had to be echoed
felt,
all
result:
terrain.
contrast,
In
pure geometry. While working
in
play in his
music on records and
its
be
designs. This could best
chiaroscuro ("No haze, not too many shadows," says
images that are strong, unitary shapes
almost
In flat,
poster-like style.
Rahineh {Memphis), near Cairo.
C
expressed
is
Hockney continued to
Flute,
purity,
its
domain
Thus, at the
his design.
of the Night's kingdom appears as an
covers a
that
mountainous landscape in
The Magic Flute
Hockney's conception.
In
production
in
relatively
a
is
amount of geography. Act
fair
In
Act
temple garden, the temple great wall of
must sun
pass.
whose
I've
hall,
something we wanted
Flutes. If
clearly
let's
make
spectacular phenomena: a
is
an epiphany
it
is
I
performed
in
it
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
a bright yellow
stage.
a fixed set you never get II.
It
can even seem
tried to stay close to the text.
decided,
I
make
it
so important in Act
is
to avoid.
a big room,
libretto requires
a garden,
two
a vault, and
extend the length and breadth of the
many Magic
seen
domain marked by
see a palm grove, the temple porch, the
The opera's concluding moment
the sense of journey which
clearly
we
II
a
room
and a gigantic waterfall through which Tamino and Pamina
fire
rays
fast-paced includes
the Queen's celestial realm, a polychromed
Sarastro's palace, and the entrance to the high priest's
three small temples.
I
let's
a garden;
make
if
it
static,
When
a great big room;
the
it
says
says the vault of a temple,
let's
look like one. By working in this
it
if
way and emphasizing
definite
scene changes, you would understand that Tamino and Pamina were on a greot symbolic journey. The idea was to show them always moving to some higher plane.
Because of the physical and
Magic
Pyramid and Obelisks
mode! for The
Mflg/c f/ule
photographs on cardboard, l6'/4
X
21'/.
X
1977 tissue.
12%
Flule
photographs on cardboard,
X
21
'/4
combinations of Glyndebourne's blinds,
transitions
model for The Magic
X 12%
1
977
spiritual
progression that characterizes The
he was forced to think about the production as a series of
constantly changing situations, rather than as fixed tableaux.
window
A Greot Hall
l6'/4
Flute,
full
and
partial drops,
intricate
like a
row
of
he could generate a rich profusion of imagery and make
from one scene to another seem
of having so
With
operated
many
set changes
effortless.
One
of the problems
was the time needed to accomplish
these.
tissue.
If
you are go/ng
to
do a
lot
of scenes for
The Magic
Flute, you cannot have
I
-y^^ ^^.-
s\ <.
*
^v
i»«i II
II
iiMi
iB"i
M II
II
II
laai
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r
even a two-minute interval between them. That's too long
the theater. If you
in
have ten changes, that would be adding twenty minutes to the performance which
is
much. You cannot do
certainly too
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
that.
Although, from a technical point of view he carried
his
theater design far
beyond that of The Rake, there were some disappointments. For example, by
worked out the
the time he had
he discovered there were no
drop combinations for each scene
intricate
the
lines left in
to Sarastro's kingdom. The chariot, to
gallery
fly
whose
the chariot carrying the Three Genies,
from which to lower
job was to conduct Tamino
had to be rolled
his irritation,
from
in
the wings.
However
The Magic Flute designs are
diverse their stylistic ancestry,
remarkable for their compositional consistency. back and forth with astonishing ease from one
from ingenious description to Sarastro's
kingdom and the
at
Glyndebourne
Festival
Opera,
1
978.
of realism to another, small temples of
from which the Queen of the Night by contrast the
simplicity;
and waterfall
fire
and the temple staircase are astonishing trompe
scenes Painting the set for the interior of Sarastro's palai
Hockney moves
these,
The three
startling illusionism.
giant rock
emerges are the essence of
In
level
Symmetry
is
common demoninator
the
events.
I'oeil
each scene. The pyramid, staircase
in
and temple door are at the center of each stage picture. Whereas the sets for The Rake's Progress are distinguished by their overwhelming linear quality. The Flute's sets consist of large
Hockney, for
compartmentalized color masses.
the inventiveness of
all
his design,
He
when
it
wings
to, say, an artfully angled interior
comes to
setting the stage.
the conventional stage
He
flat.
box
To
made
delights
ancient stage device, placing one painted
that end he has
the obvious
in flat
infinite space.
cutting openings
While making The
in
the great staircase scene,
openings over the balustrade reveal a sky the sky backdrop
is
fresh use of
of this
artificiality
He found another way
to
models he discovered that by
Flute
the drops, he could achieve such an
in
superbly accomplished
set with side
behind another to suggest vast
distance within Glyndebourne's small viewing box.
suggest
essentially a traditionalist
is
prefers the simple
in
illusion.
We
with rolling clouds.
filled
see this
which large rectangular In reality,
only a few feet behind the staircase drop, but the effect
is
of limitless distance.
Thanks to The Magic
Flute,
Hockney had to concern himself with the
relationship of stage lighting to color
ideas
on the models, he was
far
Though he had tested various
lighting
from certain about how these would work on
stage. A Room
in
model for The Magic
Flute
photographs on cardboard, 16 X
During the lighting of The Rake's Progress,
Sarastfo's Palace
21%
'
1
977
tissue.
for The Magic Flute
photographs on cardboard, 16
2l'/4
little
about the process and the lighting
That set was
relatively simple to light,
/
had kept
man
because
12
1
977
Things were more complicated with
The Magic
people who were going to work on
it
questions were asked.
"How would
came
you do
to
quiet,
was done
it
Flute.
When
knew
I
in
What
a graphic
style.
the Glyndebourne
see the model
this?
because
Robert Bryan was so good.
12'/.
Grove with Three Temples
model
so
in
London,
many
material would you use
tissue.
for that?"
And
so on.
We
had a long
session.
/
remember Robert
Bryan's
119
i^^^
-^
i^
WM
He
reaction.
"these
said,
flat sets
be very
will
for a long
Now, light to
model
can do
is
agreed
it
put even light on
it
and change
create an effect
light to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and danced
anything. Then he turned the
turned
to
to
do
with
it
work
me and said,
what had happened. have
color or intensity.
its
problem together Some scenes were
to solve the
I
had put
light.
wall of fire that Tamino
"It's
at
you can angle the
painted set All you
flat,
no good
It's
won't have an effect. Robert and
it
with the three-dimensional mountain. But
He
easy, in a sense
is
with shadow. You can't do this with a
scene, the lights flickered
set.
He was
much painted scenery
time and most of what he had worked on was three-dimensional.
lighting a three-dimensional set
moving a
to light."
difficult
especially concerned because the theater hadn't used
when he worked on
first.
lights
easy, like the first
I
sat in the theater
I
one
the waterfall
and
didn't say
back on and sat there looking at the
better this way,
isn't it?"
the flickering effect
in
I
agreed.
with paint
The same thing happened when we
I
realized
and we
didn't
tried to light the
and Pamina walk behind. Those painted flames needed
only a soft red glow, because the scene lasts only two minutes, you can believe
the
fire. If you
were
to
watch
it
for
much
longer,
two minutes you go along with the magic and appears and you believe that
for
you wouldn't believe it's
it,
but for
over Then a big waterfall
another two minutes.
Once Hockney and Robert Bryan had
resolved the problem of evenly
illuminating the flat sets, the tonality of each scene could be controlled.
would now be possible
result
it
colors
in all
As
a
for the audience to experience The Flute's
their clarity.
Everyone said the production was very way. because
it
was mostly the
colorful,
though
colors of the earth,
red ochre, yellow ochres. Even the blues were
did not think of it that
I
mud and
soft;
sand
in
Egypt: red,
they were Antwerp blues,
not vivid cobalts or ultramarines.
The Magic
Flute,
which encouraged Hockney to think
space, also led him to regard his
new work
as a
sculpture. But his painter's sensibility prevailed and the far
more
challenging to him than
mere
verisimilitude.
in
terms of time
It
game
of illusion
II.
Scene
Festival
I
from The Magic
Opera.
1
Sarastro's priests
Flute as
performed
at
was
was more interesting
to suggest endless space with fragile painted planes than to displace heavy volumes.
Act
arid
form of environmental
it
with
Glyndebourne
978. with the palm grove, distant pyramid and in
the foreground.
121
Hockney at the Met John Dexter and Martin Friedman
When John Dexter
proposed the French
Metropolitan, he regarded
do
it
triple
bill
company's director of production. His
as the
management of the work he had set out to
to the
as the culmination of the
initial
proposal contained
everything he thought the
Before Hockney 's talents
Met
the
about
it
as
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Met should do to attract and dazzle its audience. were enlisted, Dexter had visions of that evening at
almost confrontational theater
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with more than
a whiff of
Dada
which the public would actually watch the production take
in
form. In "if
a 5 July
treated
exercise
in
1
978
memo
manner
the
to the management, he suggested that this program, indicated
in
the synopsis, becomes not only a small
the philosophy of theatrical mechanics, but an evening for us to really deploy all of our resources. In addition, it gives us an opportunity to turn
the
in
Met and the
plaza into a gigantic musical
to take every ride or play every
The
les Sortileges.
house, wrote Dexter, they .
.
amusement
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the choice
arcade.
No
will
one has
up to them."
is
order of presentation suggested was Les Mamelles de
original
Parade and L'Enfant et
.
game
Before the audience arrives
in
Tiresias,
the opera
be
waylaid by Darius Milhaud on an improvised stage
Studio group will be performing at about 7:30
in
the plaza.
pm-7:45 pm
An Opera
the
first of Milhaud's Operas-Minutes (eight minutes each opera, to be precise), time
to end with sufficient interval for the audience to take their places in the auditorium where everything else seems to be normal. The comfortable gold
curtain
is
down and
the orchestra
is
in
place
in
the
away, the conductor comes out and we continue with
pit.
all
The chandeliers go
the normal
flummery
of an opera performance.
He goes whose
on, describing his vision of the set for Les
stylistic
ancestor, he says, might be
Hat. During the Porode
gouache, pencil, crayon on paper 22'A
;
first
1980
Rene
Mamelles de
Clair's film.
The
Tiresias
Italian
Straw
intermission he suggests the audience could either leave
^^^ theater or watch the scene change. If the set
change
is
not amusing enough.
I
would suggest that they are able
to
123
turn to the second
Mtlhaud opera which can be viewed either from the terrace
m
or the plaza (if wet,
the garage area. Fire
Department permitting). Should
the open air not attract them, there will be on a level a pianist
works of Ravel,
Poulenc,
Satie,
capable of being listened
opening gala
podium on the Grand
(backed by one of the Dufy cloths from
to
this role will
level) playing
the foyer levels. (Dare
all
Tier
piano
His position must be central and be
etc.
from
C
hope that
I
be played by Maestro james^) After
for the
promenade
this
they are then able to return to the theater for Parade.
Though Hockney's name was prominent continued Parade.
his free-association
should, he said, consist
It
of:
one front cloth and one back cloth
The whole
Picasso.
place
in front
taken their
ballet
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
either Picasso or
In this
of one of these cloths. At the end of Parade when the ballet have
last
bows without use of the gold
curtain, they divide at the middle,
away
to reveal the
make the second intermission features. Hockney agreed with Dexter about doing
stage crew
who
to
case,
painted
Hockney pastiching
would be choreographed by Twyla Tharp and take
turn to the Picasso backdrop which flies
proceed
Dexter's proposal, the director
in
process as to the appearance of the set for
curtain,
with
its
a variation
winged horse and acrobats.
on
Picasso's
For the second
intermission feature preceding L'Enfant. Dexter suggests that the pianist
in
the
foyer play one of Milhaud's Operos-Minutes to gain the audience's attention.
Those remaining pit
in
the auditorium could watch the elevation of the orchestra
and the soloists and children's chorus taking their places. L'Enfant. he
says,
should
mimed and
be sung,
played out front and ought
to
represent a climax
in
the
evening of a clear statement of a theatrical philosophy that true magic can only exist in theater
when you show
quite clearly you have nothing
up your
sleeve.
Dexter's sing.
The
first
concept for L'Enfant was to have the
part of the wicked
He proposed
that various
representing
animals
in
little
boy would be mimed
members the
of the chorus carry
garden:
dragonflies.
in
soloists rise
and
ordinary clothes.
emblems or masks
bats,
frogs
and
other
characters.
While carrying the emblem or mask,
their bodies
element or animal would move and so the raised orchestra pit
in
must move as they think the
visual picture will
be standing on the
everyday clothes, acting out with masks. At the end of
the evening, order will be restored by the lowering of the comfortable gold curtain,
and the audience, as they
combo (American)
leave,
may stop to be entertained by a 1900-30 in the plaza, so that
playing jazz of the period
the absent composers
may pay
American contribution
to the evening.
a debt and the audience be reminded of the
Once Dexter began working with Hockney. his initial
idea: evidently, the
124
the street theater aspects of
scheme disappeared. There was another reason
management
for modifying his
did not share his enthusiasm for the ancillary
performances he wanted to occur outside the Met itself. Thus, the carnivallike events in the plaza did not take place, nor did a pianist offer Milhaud and
between the
jazz
it
if
the evening turned out to be less free-form than
took on other
His interaction with
episodes
But
acts.
he had anticipated,
qualities: intense lyricism
Hockney provided
and
rich fantasy.
seemingly endless sequence of which music, costumes and set elements were vividly interrelated.
in
a
There was no shortage of invention on the Dexter's
the Metropolitan
arrival at
followed a successful career
in
stage.
1974 as director of production
in
He was
England.
an actor
in
the
Derby
Repertory Company, along with such notable contemporaries as Alan Bates and John Osborne. During the run of Osborne's Look Bock in Anger at the
Court Theatre, Dexter assumed the
Royal
duties of assistant director
In
1963 he was invited by Laurence Olivier to the National Theatre, where he directed Saint Joan. Othello. The Misanthrope. Equus. The Life of Galileo. The Shoemaker's Holiday and many other productions. Having established himself as a director, he took on additional assignments in London's West End and on New York's Broadway.
Dexter's
first
experience with opera was the
1
966 Convent Garden
revival
of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini and, through a chance meeting with Rolf Liebermann at the Hamburg State Opera, he was invited to direct a number of productions there, including
Budd and From
was
/
Vespn
Since
the
Siciliani in
came
Un
to the
Maschera. Boris Godounov.
Ballo in
House of the Dead. His
first
Billy
project for the Metropolitan
974.
1
Met.
have been very conscious that someone had to do something about making 20th-century works acceptable to the Metropolitan audience. Both James Levine and were agreed that we needed to present I
I
I
works by Berg. Stravinsky and other important composers. The question was how to go about it. came up with an economic solution: sell it to them I
through Dialogues des Carmelites, a 20th-century piece that was not too costly to produce. It did workâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; it did 95-98 percent business.
While doing Carmelites, to
be death
in
/ had the idea for a triple bill, which is supposed an opera house. To me, these three 20th-century French works
had always seemed Tiresias
and
related:
Parade,
Poulenc's
Les Mamelles de
Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges.
One of the
relationships, apart
Satie's
from the purely nationalistic one, was they were
World War when the Germans were about sprang out of French culture at a time when
all
conceived during the
thirty miles it
First
from Pans. They
all
was under the greatest possible
The three composers and Apollinaire, mode deeply aware by the First World War of the mentality of war, the waste of it. the mindlessness of it, attacked it with irony and tenderness. threat.
Apollinaire arrived in
19
17. so for
wounded from
our production
it
the front to attend the premiere of Parade
seemed
there
was a poetic point
using barbed wire on the stage to suggest that war forget the
theme he presents
in
is
to
be
mode
by
always imminent. Don't
the scenario of Les Mamelles;
"We need more 125
mis ml
!l
r/S^n
r
I
f/1.
make more
babies,
babies."
are French and for people
It
doesn't
who are
come through
not, the
in
performance unless you
barbed wire serves
to remind them of when, how and why the French government was ordering people to have larger families. The possibility of war surrounds us all the time and
particularly
threatens the lives of our children. By using a child and a harlequin at the o/" Parade and at the end of" L'Enfant, / hoped to moke the point
beginning
that
the only sanity for our children
is
only thing that any civilization
is
think, consider that
After bill
I
at the
briefly,
artsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; music,
the
remembered by is when we come to educating our
had gone through the
Met
in
accepted.
painting, literature.
its
and we'd
art
The
better,
I
children.
battle of getting the idea for the French triple
asked David Hockney
I
at the Royal Court
to design it. I'd met him once, when he was doing Ubu Roi and had seen all his
work from the very beginning, because
I
used
to putter
around the
galleries.
I
had seen The Rake, which was very good, and Flute, which was very good, but Ubu Roi had some of the madness was looking forâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;so many parts it I
had so much,
especially the Polish
movement and
color
army
of
scene. His
England and everyone used
to take
long,
triple bill
chances with
fairly
know why
wanted
I
When went I
to say
we had a
design. in
it
I
thought about
to Los
my
in
common. I
wasn't
in
a
mood
very carefully, but not for
it
from the beginning without
detailed letter outlining
his
knowing
it.
I
idea for the evening, letting him
work with him and that
it
Angeles to talk to him about
it,
to
had the sense of of each other
thirty miles
lot in
was such a delicate operation that
its
because David was
wrote him a
also
thought could translate directly to theater But we'd
I
never really met although we come from within
The French
work
would not be
all
that easy.
he grabbed at the idea and
started working immediately on a
number of approaches to the three events. Dexter's letter to Hockney (25 September 978) detailed a strong scheme to create a total theatrical evening from three heretofore unrelated works. He also stated his intention to have the Metropolitan Opera present important 1
contemporary works and develop new audiences
would be the
for these.
The
triple
bill
step of Dexter's three-year plan. His letter expressed the hope that Parade, as the entire evening came to be called, would initiate and first
'.
celebrate this jump into another area of the opera house with a parade the things which have never normally been permitted in that august establishment." .
of
.
all
Dexter had already spoken with Rudolf Nureyev about doing the chorin recruiting Hockney believed he was assembling a strong artistic unit whose members would interact creatively. It soon became eography for Parade and
clear,
one 1
18'/-
led to courtesy
Andrew Crispo
a ballet
about the meeting of
Diaghilev, the creators of the original Parade.
24 I.
however, that Nureyev had an extremely different view of Parade. odds with Dexter's conception of its role in the triple bill. Nureyev
wanted to do
Curtom wit/l Square Stage and floorboards drawing for Les Mamelles de Tiresias 9i crayon on paper
Private coll
at
Gallery
Satie,
Picasso,
However,
Cocteau and
artistic differences
Nureyev's withdrawal from the project, to be replaced by Gray
Veredon.
127
Dexter's convictions about what constitutes theatrical experience have taken him Into areas other than "directing his arrival, his interest In
Met audiences and
When
David came
be done
stage." Shortly after
became apparent to
starkly elegant productions of Diologues des Carmelites
to look over the
to relate the vast
how
feelings about
When
really using three quarters of their
were always chopping it
was
actually
saw
off
it
I
we agreed
no way related
first
arrived there,
something hod
always had strong
and
visual
found they were only
I
in
the house you went, the
a letterbox opening. The proscenium size you to the
volume of the house
them
and used the proscenium's
the very back of the family circle
and
You couldn't
itself
off from the vital action
Carmelites and carrying on through
So, beginning with
that
I've
proscenium height. Those great gold drapes
the audience feel you were shutting
the gold valance
space,
and the further back
like looking into in
Met
stage to the audience.
the space could be used to intensify the dramatic
qualities of our productions.
more
on the
Budd.
8i;/y
to
in his
traffic
the visual aspects of theater
feel
full
Billy
Budd,
Now
height
let
on the stage. /
removed
you could
at
sit
you were seeing the whole space of
the stage.
David and
I
possible angles.
automatically.
have to discuss the issue of opening the stage.
didn't
away what
right
wonted. His approach was
I
Indeed, most designers working
They
look at the stage from
will
positions, not just the far
away
ones,
and make
know, one of the biggest problems you're going house
Itself
We
to study the
to
in
all
new house do that the awkward viewing
a
all
notes.
have
He knew
house from
is
said to David, "You
I
the actual look of the
have to find ways of breaking into that." Once David had
mastered the geography of the Met. we began collaborating on the production designs in earnest. Originally, the idea
after about six
months
was it
to
have Parade
seemed
me
to
in
the middle, not as a prelude. But
that the best thing
would be
exactly as the French would have, not as Cocteau's ballet with little
its
to treat
episodes, but as a simple parade before a performance introducing
elements that were going
to
appear throughout the evening
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
it
complicated all
the
not only the
characters of the child and harlequin, but also the visual elements that would help
tie
ball.
Our idea was
the production together
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
the alphabet blocks, the ladder
and
circus
that this motley group of acrobats, magicians, dancers
and
other circus types would perform in front of a painted curtain behind which the
audience would be led to believe the mojor theatrical event would occur. In
Mctroffoliwn Opero House.
ViewofSwge from Bock of Balcony cnyon on paper
18%
devising his
scheme
composer Henri Sauguet.
1980
estate.
" 24
for
Parade.
a friend of
Dexter acknowledges the help of
the original Les
From these sources he had
information on Satie's Ideas for Parade. Gary
Chrjrst as the Chinese
Parade by The Joffrey Ballet.
Con|uror
in
New York
the
1
973 production of
Costumes
128
1917 Diaghilev presentation
and of the Cocteau
He
also
photographs and
referred to Cocteau's
rehearsal drawings and diaries describing the preparation of the original
for this
production were reproductions of those designed by Pablo Picasso for the original
Six,
access to letters,
production
In
1917.
Though Parade was the
last
of the three
Met works
to
be designed, we
decided to open the evening with
and
interpreted time original
again.
It's
it.
a germinal piece of music that can be
realize that people get sentimental about the
I
Massine /Picasso collaboration, but when Massine was reviving
the joffrey
in
1973, he told the dancer Gary Chryst that the
was not a pure
reconstruction. In fact, he told Chryst
it
bore
to the original,
because he could scarcely remember
it.
So,
new
for
it
production
resemblance
little
people were really
being nostalgic about something they saw at the joffrey a few years ago, not that night in
1917 when
was
it
performed at the Theatre du Chatelet.
first
As Dexter's conception of the Parade evening evolved, he was
in
touch
with the venerable French conductor, Manuel Rosenthal, celebrated for interpretations of the music of Ravel, his one-time mentor. Rosenthal's
his
ideas about early 20th-century French music, his friendship with
made him
creators,
29 April
1
980
Dexter expressed
letter to Rosenthal,
bringing together this trio of French modernist works.
the critic Richard Buckle
who
the 20th-century theater.
its
Parisian
conduct the three French works.
a natural choice to
his
In it
feelings
In a
about
he agrees with
referred to Satie's Parade as the
doorway to
the letter. Dexter also invokes the spirit of
In
Guillaume Apollinaire, the visionary
who
called for the creation of such
program for the French
theater. In fact, the Metropolitan's
Apollinaire 's statement, which had appeared Les Mamelles de Tiresias and which,
in
Dexter
triple
bill
the preface to
his
says,
new
contained 1
903
play
continues to guide
his
thinking:
One
tries
A joy,
To replace
Which The
here to infuse a
new
is
play
this
pessimism,
more
in
than a century old.
was written for an ancient stage
round theatre with two
One
to the theatre,
quite ancient for such a boring thing.
Because one wouldn't have
A
spirit
a delight, a virtue.
new
built a
theatre for
us,
stages.
the center, the other one
like a ring
Round the audience and which would permit the expression of
The
big display of
our modern
art.
Putting together often without any visible
The sounds, the The
music, the dance, the acrobaticism, the poetry, the painting.
The chorus, the /
actions, and the multiple decors.
wanted the evening
humanity through Dancers from Nijinsky's 1913 Socre du Prinlemps with costumes by Nicholas Roerich. (This In
It,
the figures
is
the only
known image
of these costumes.
link, as in life,
gestures, the colors, the cries, the noises,
art,
to
make
several points, not only about the salvation of
but also about a
new kind of theater
Apollinaire
was important
to the conception
of the French
triple bill
were cut out and superimposed on the Roerich to the Stravinsky evening. Indeed,
backdrop.)
it
remains important to
by bringing together opera, ballet, drama and painting, Costumes
that could
for the
1
920 Sacre du Pnntemps. choreographed by
Leonide Massine. These and Roerich's 1913 version were closely related models for the
Hockney/Dexter production.
change
the re/otiofish/p of the audience to the actor Consequently, that statement by
strong,
unified statement.
I
all
hoped
Opera audiences no longer go
and,
later,
my work because to
to
produce a
ballet: ballet
audiences no longer go to opera; a few of each go to the theater. They need
to
129
be reunited rather forcefully and
that's really
what
wanted
I
to initiate at the
Metropolitan Opera over the next few years.
David and
I
met again
another couple of months
in
about the structure of the
triple bill
and
was
also
when he came up
blocks as a visual
theme
that the scenery,
in
dynamic of movement about to the blocks
he
Maurice Ravel, then decided spelling Satie's
decided on
to carry the
we
why
I
responded to spell
motif through the whole evening, also
and Poulenc's names. Thus the blocks became a device
got to L'Enfant.
/
then suggested
make up
other sides of the blocks to
and other objects
room
the
in
way we work
it
it
that
find acceptable by the
still
might be interesting to use the
the furniture
— and he
working out. So we sat and worked the
agreed
must have a
intensity,
how many we would need
would begin the evening and that people would time
for the
We
French operas.
and
feel
otherwise, you're lost That's
it;
We
around.
left
color,
its
He had produced
with the idea of using huge alphabet
to help relate the three
addition to
Los Angeles to talk
Normandy house and garden
half a dozen different versions of the Ravel. That
in
to discuss specifics.
—
well,
said,
the armchair, fireplace
would take a
it
out. Serendipity,
of
bit
that the word? That's
is
together.
For Les Mamelles de Tiresias David cubistJc set for the mythical
first
proposed a rather elaborate, nearly
town of Zanzibar
in
southern France. That was one
of the earliest versions. Not disagreeing with him,
said.
I
"Well, look,
wanted a very simple pastiche of an Edwardian musical comedy
—
I
three sets
made of cut cloth surrounded by the darker space of war" Hockney began designing Les Mamelles and L'Enfant in Los Angeles and in
1980, while
Dexter was
National Theatre, he
We
designs
Life
of Galileo at the
London
in his
studio.
arrived at a working method. Realizing the difficulties of developing a
design from sketches, quarter-inch model. /
London directing The
in
worked on these
had a
big one
made.
must work from a model. You can have a
said you
I
He
said, "I can't
was
It
work
at a quarter inch,
really the only
way
deal with specifics. Sometimes he can be exasperating.
Laurence Olivier for fifteen or twenty years;
for
it's
too small" So
could think of to get him to
I
I've
worked with
two weeks during rehearsals of
Othello, Larry disappeared from the world; you couldn't contact him at
was work/ng out
know
that
eventually
his
own problems, which he had
was happening,
come back and
it
was very
to give
difficult.
with the
same
drawing for Parade evening
gouache on paper
for a
1980
ago.
let
learned on Olivier is
I
absolutely
him go on
yes"
until he's
I
also just sort of say
talked himself out.
I
wait
moment until I'm sure, and say yes, that's what we agreed on two days Now we can get back to work. He would show me a model of a set and
I'd say,
130
and
I
an area which
one hundred ninety-ninth time and goes on
point, you just say, "Yes, David,
Othello! Othello! Othello! Punchinellos Changing Blocks
into
He
learned that he would
him time, and what
used on Hockney! Whenever he goes off irrelevant or repeats himself for the
I
all.
But when you didn't
to do.
can you cut a
bit off that or
take a
bit off this?
He
allowed
me
to
do
:.i±'«V':iiji.
m
m
W^,^^
5r mi2
«^^'
'0-^'
^^1
that. If
he hadn't,
and we
do,
As the
and
I
don't
know
if
we
could have worked together. Rut he did,
that's that.
action shifted to the Metropolitan stage,
himself with the great range of
Hockney
familiarized
scene shops, wardrobe, and the
facilities:
other incomparable resources that make up the Net's technical departments.
Though
his painted designs were faithfully enlarged, constant modifications were required to achieve the desired visual and dramatic effects. This meant that considerable improvisation was necessary. For example, the giant alphabet blocks that were to spell the composers' names had to be designed
for easy manipulation by the children.
Dealing with
Met and
human
Punchinellos, to
little
scale has been the problem from the beginning at the
that question
was basic
move
the larger in the child's dream.
them have some musical show-biz
most
We
kids.
difficult
We
to L'Enfant.
used children, dressed as
the exaggerated furniture about, I
instinct
making
it
look
all
used the children's chorus because most of and are used to being on stage without being
had a couple of those and got
problem David had
rid
of them. The
first
and
decide on was the right height for an
to
alphabet block that a child could carry. A row of blocks had to read as Maurice Ravel and a pile of them had to look like a piece of furniture from the back of the auditorium.
The rehearsal blocks were made of lightweight composition board and had the prop shop with vague markings on them. What the prop
come down from
shop hadn't understood was that the children would be able
from the back, so the back of each block had the front as to the element
considerable confusion lot
it
to
represented. This wasn't done
in rehearsal.
David come
them
see
only
be marked as clearly as
to
to the
and there was
rescue and
we spent a
of time that afternoon with the kids splashing paint on the blocks
to
make
clear their specific meanings.
Moving the blocks about had been worked out on the model, but working
it
out with kids of twelve, thirteen and fourteen was a different matter You've
got the questions of size and weight; are their arms long enough to
Have you miscalculated anything? You have it.
You explain
technically
it
to
to let
them
find their
lift
them, you explain they are Punchinellos and are
Their costumes will
make them
invisible.
them?
way around invisible,
David's being there
certainly helped.
Though positive
critical
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
and popular response to the French
the box office reflected
this,
too
triple
bill
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Dexter,
was decidedly
after the
initial
performance, wanted to make a number of changes in staging that would strengthen his idea that the three works were strongly related and shared common themes. Through a child's eyes we can experience the wondrous effects of Child with Large Chair
drawing (or
and Fireplace
L 'Enfant et les Sortileges
gouache on paper
all
the arts and, on a darker
so long as war 1
980
is
a constant threat.
So
level,
the child's
individualistic
life is in
mortal danger
and self-contained were
these works that even with the theatrical device of the child and his harlequin guide moving from one production to the other. Dexter felt his message was
133
134
1
not as clear as a
number In
Parade
silly
should be. To ensure a greater sense of totality, he proposed
it
of changes for the 1982 revival of the French triple
bill.
plan to trim the ballet and keep things simple. There would be no people rushing about and going into the circus tent to see the show. /
I
would make no attempt
to
the subplots of acrobats,
There was too war. the child tigers,
much
and
go near the complicated Cocteau scenario with
managers and magicians doing separate
concentration on the relationships
the harlequin.
I
want a simple parade
clowns and Punchinellos appear
among in
all
things.
the figure of
which
all
the lions,
thus announcing the sort of
briefly,
evening it's going to be. That's what a parade is. Cocteau wanted one kind of parade: we. with Apollinaire. saw another kind emerging from these three musical events.
Our
original idea for L'Enfant
was
that at the
animals would begin to fight viciously
garden would disappear. You would be the revival.
I
still
hope
to get the final
wire so the child's cry for
a warning Indeed,
though
it
left
with blackness
image
Maman when
end of the garden scene the
among themselves and
I
all this
slowly,
and barbed
the
wire. In
wanted: a return to the barbed
happens
in
the garden
is
more
to the audience.
in the 1982 revival. Dexter made most of these changes, and meant that some of Hockney's costumes for the ballet were
eliminated, the evening gained
During a
final
technical
in clarity.
rehearsal for
Parade.
Hockney to collaborate with him on another
Dexter decided to ask
triple
bill, three Stravinsky works: Le Sacre du Printemps. Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex. He had originally begun working on it with Jocelyn Herbert who soon left the project as she was unable to leave England at that time. As a result, the usual lead time
was
not available to Hockney and the production had to be realized within eighteen months. The sessions began at Dexter's house in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, where the pair rapidly decided on such fundamentals as circles'
and masks as unifying motifs. Shortly afterward, Hockney sent the director sketches for the Chinese emperor's palace in Rossignol and for the Oedipus set. Both drawings stressed the tiers curving around the Met auditorium and indeed these were incorporated
Hockney's note asking
in
the design. Scrawled on the drawing
Dexter thought the Dexter and Hockney were determined if
circular
was schemes might work.
that the Stravinsky triple bill should offer a strong contrast to the French evening which, for all its anti-war sentiment, was perceived by the audience as a warm and lyrical event. Aside from the fact that the works in the triple bill were by the same
composer, commonalities had to be stressed through direction and production design.' This would be an evening of
Stravmsky
Triple
Bill.
Study for Curtain
crayon and gouache on paper
1
98
ritual. The primitivism of Sacre. the artificial refinement of Rossignol's Chinese court, the preordained fate of Sophocless doomed king lent themselves to this concept.
The Stravinsky evening had an occasion for our saying
to
be more contained than the French one.
to ourselves
over and over again, "less.
It
was
less, less."
135
11
—
1
We
were making our homage
and
a story around a
telling It
was
theater began
all,
works related
one another The
to
and the
circle
right to
of masks
the
its unity.
You sensed these
was one Stravinsky evening and the
it
emotional and musical strength
intellectual, first
was the natural basic form.
thing
we
tried to express visually
Listening to his music, you're
aware and you're aware of his perpetual the audience. He once said to Manuel Rosenthal, "We have the
of the danger, you're aware of the challenge to
l<.inds
with somebody
circle
fire.
coming from Stravinsky was
feel
a
in
Stravinsky's music that gave the evening
weren't three Stravinsky stage works,
you
and the masl(.—all
to the circle
kinds of circles. After
all
risk
do everything except bore audiences. " Absolutely perfect! I love listening because of the tension, because of the challenge, because of the
to Stravinsky
demands
excitement, because of the
it
makes on me.
forces you to change your perceptions of
what
It
listening
forces your attention,
is.
Once last.
again, Dexter and Hockney had to leave the design of a ballet Though the circle motif had been decided upon, there was another
question
Sacre to be settled.
in
Where does
and Oedipus which suggest specific locales
it
until
basic
take place? Unlike Rossignol
— an emperor's
the ballet has usually been perceived as occurring
palace and
the
Thebes
murky realm
of generalized primitivism. Socre, of course, has long been a favorite of ballet in
companies,
largely because its sacrifice-of-the-virgin theme and violent percussive rhythms could justify the wildest gymnastics, performed under conditions of near nudity. In the publication, Stravinsky in Pictures and
Documents, by Vera Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Socre du Printemps described as a musical-choreographic is
unified by a single idea: the
locating
it
in
There have been
we
also
version coincides with Stravinsky's idea of
a cold, stark setting.
summer; so many
Stratas
many Sacres which you beautiful
naked bodies
think are taking place in high
fluttering all over the stage. Originally,
went much too "hot" with it; had a book on face painting that Teresa had given me, called The People of Kau, by Leni Riefenstahl. The faces I
were black-and-white and brown-ond-white and 1
Socre du Printemps. Socre Disc
/
98
1
began with that
gouache on cardboarci
Socre du Pnntemps, Socre Disc
idea, then drifted
//
1
98
Though David made a great number of sketches
gouache on cardboard
at the
I6%d
first
rehearsal they
seemed
Bonnefous sat with us and 3
Socre du Printemps, Socre Disc
VII
98
1
gouache on cardboard
I2d 4
really heavily textured.
away because David thought
it
was too
We hot,
though oddly enough, we ended up with very severe, painted faces, not unlike those photographed by Riefenstahl.
l6'/,d
2
is
that "represents pagan Russia and
mystery and great surge of the creative power
The Dexter/Hockney
of spring."
work
1
They had
to
he,
become heavier
classical line with coarse,
We
for the
costumes, on stage
too elegant. The choreographer Jean-Pierre
David and felt
I
we had
agreed they had to
to
be changed.
break into that rather beautiful
heavy material. The costumes didn't look primitive
gouache on cardboard
enough. Too sophisticated. David and Jean-Pierre went up to wardrobe, chose some other material, and made three or four new costumes much heavier
I2d
looking.
Socre du Printemps, Socre Disc
XV
1
98
—
We
liked
them and
said, "Right,
go ahead and do the whole
lot!" (This
137
we were
put somet/iing o\ a strain on the budget, but
end of the whole worth
we
thing, so
a
lost
Remember, we wanted our production
It.)
to
Freezing cold. Between every bar of music, the ice
When
the curtain
on
work other
to the next circle
fell
composed
to stress the
Sacre. there
still
under budget at the
of what we'd saved
little
was no
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but
it
was
be a bleak, Russian spring. is
breaking
effort to provide a transition
than through the front curtain painted with a huge
of green, blue and red segments. Although the intention was
ritualistic
among these works,
relationship
between each were abrupt and the change
mood from
of
Socre to the coolness of Rossignol could not have been
devoid of threat or violence, Rossignol materialized
in
the transitions
the feverishness of
more
drastic. Utterly
a delicate haze of color
and sound.
The
design for Rossignol varied
final
While he
says the inspiration
he had encountered
Dexter has
proposals.
first
the Chinese section of the Victoria and Albert
Museum,
a slightly different account.
David came up House.
in
from Hockney's
little
was 18th-century blue-and-white porcelain that
wandered
to visit
me
Derbyshire.
in
was
I
a hotel near to Chatsworth
in
Chatsworth had an enormous amount of porcelain, so we
Well,
around
under
eye
the
God knows how many
of
curators
photographing stuff there. The emperor's palace was there and so was the special opalescent quality of the porcelain glaze. In fact, the
wos already blue and white to
photograph that Rossignol
telling
IS
a
for
me
theme of Rossignol
even before David went off to the V and A
collection.
fairy story.
It's
neither a
dream nor a
fantasy.
a moral tale to children. The fisherman and the servant
two who recognize the absolute voice of beauty when they hear not. In the
dance
it
taken by the of
artist
ho research
m
London's Victoria and Albea
Museum as a
one of the
In fact,
for the design of Stravinsky's Lt Roisignol I
know
The
rest
do
who would be danced by Natalia
earliest notes
sent our choreographer, Frederick
I
Ashton, was that the fisherman was available for partnering
part
it.
a way of
ore the only
was our intention that the fisherman, danced by Anthony
Dowell, be the partner of the nightingale
Makarova.
These deuil photographs of Chinese blue-and white porcelain were
It is
girl
Sir Fred's delight in
complicated
impression of a bird moving through the
Once Oedipus had been
lifts.
you
air,
Also, if
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; mainly because
you want to give an
lift.
Dexter began studying the Cocteau
selected.
text, carefully. Stravinsky required the soloists and chorus to sing in Latin, but
he
felt
that the narrator should speak
in
the language of the country
in
which
the opera-oratorio would be performed. /
got crosser and crasser with the
part, so
was
I
had
brilliant,
which
IS
but
it
got
my
22/1
138
30
Danccn Pushing Handi
1
98
then tried
it
cummings
speak
in
the I
I
way
think
it
translation of the narrator's
realized that cummings's version that lost
a
Cocteau speaks bit
until
I
got his
in
French,
of the purpose, so
schoolboy French to work and re-translated
Cocteau recording Socrt du Pnntcmpl.
didn't
harsh, distant, non-musical.
down and
gouache on paper
e.e.
to re-translate all the French.
rhy^ms and vowel sounds
lines.
into
I
I
sat
played the
my head and
again.
Oedipus Rex was
in
strong contrast to the silken Rossignol that preceded
it.
*^^
IXXXKX
OcdifxA
Ru. Smd^
for
Moslu
/I
1981
gouache on paper 23
-
29
Oc<tipu% Re*. Principcl Singen
and Chorum
gouache and tempera on paper 23 ' 29
140
1981
Again, the great scrim on which
green
was
circle
was emblazoned a monumental
raised to reveal a stage that
red, blue
and
seemed enormous, even by Met
standards. Unlike the turbulence of Socre or the fragile lyricism of Rossignol,
the quality of Oedipus was at once ominous and riveting.
were frozen Oedipus,
his
beings, with only a
mother
few
Its
protagonists
made by the Creon and the
hieratic gestures
Jocasta, her brother-in-law
principals:
blind seer,
Tiresias.
Attired in tuxedos, the chorus of eighty-two singers, seated in a line across the stage, close to the audience, formed a strong black and white unit
On
with the similarly-clad orchestra below.
were the protagonists
a red dais
of Sophocles's drama. Seated on a throne-like chair at the orchestra level
who
the English dancer Anthony Dowell
On
the
dais,
spoke the
was
fateful lines.
four attendants held huge white helmet-like masks over the
seated soloists and as each performer rose to sing a mask covered
his
or her
face.
Oedipus was
difficult to
teach the singers; to give them the confidence to do
nothing except one gesture, but achieve.
It
arrived that
The working
relationship
where each
point
first
felt
/
in
portraits,
to
how
it
was the
it
in his initial
letter to
is
t/ie
because the only way you're going
Dexter more
Hockney: they did
gamble was more than
him, "David, this
to you, so you'd better
easiest to
stayed.
between Dexter and Hockney evolved to the
a "creative collision." His
once muttered
that's
challenged, indeed pushed, by the other.
than realized the goal he posited
engage
intelleaual terms,
in
weekend and
justified.
perfect chance for one of your
to get
me
is
if you
have
me
talking
put a mirror on the wall and paint yourself into the
conversation."
When
he invited
find the time.
went around
We
me
to sit for him,
did find a date:
to his studio for
said
it
would be a pleasure, and
let's
a couple of hours and he started working, but
left
soon afterward to watch the
but
it
will
I
was Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
it
fun.
I
think
we
will
get around to
it
again
I
we
soort.
probably take another collaboration, or another Macy's parade.
141
Parade as told by
David Hockney
Production series from Parade, as performed Metropolitan Opera House. p 2 7) Harlequin: 1
at
the
98 (See Opera Chart, Gary Chryst. Columbine: Jane Muir 1
1
,
(I) Satie's
Parade does not have much of a
to introduce the characters
who appear
story, so
as the triple
we used bill
the ballet as a
way
progresses
Chinese Conjuror Dave Roeger
(2)
The evening opens with a group of soldiers moving across a
wire, searchlights
and a French
the soldiers removes his gas
flag
make up
this rather
mask and uniform
to reveal
battlefield.
Barbed
grim scene &ut one of himself as a harlequin.
143
(3)
He
IS
ihe guardian spirit of a
little
boy
safety At one point he drives off a soldier
gun. Instead of the
gun
whom
he leads from the fury of war to
who
attempting to hand
is
the harlequin offers puppets of himself
this child
a
and Columbine.
(4)
When
the harlequin
and
the
child leave
down a red
harlequin looks up and pulls
curtain
the
circle
Some of the
costumes bring alphabet blocks onto the stage and
line
of barbed wire, the characters
them up
in soldier
to spell
"Enk
Save"
(5)
The harlequin then seats the
will
observe everything Then the harlequin returns to the center of the stage and
litOe
boy on the prompter's box from where he
with various gestures introduces the evening's cast of characters
appear only
m
the
Save
ballet,
Some
will
such as Columbine, the Chinese Con)uior and the
Stage Manager Then costumes are direa quotes from Picasso's 1917 designs
144
(6)
Other characters who ore
include Therese, from Les
in
the Poulenc
Mamelles ond
and Ravel works come on stage They
Ihe cots from L'Enfant et les Sortileges
As the bo/let ends, the blocks are arranged
in front
of a blue fleur-de-lis curtain
This time they spell the words "Francis Poulenc," to prepare the audience for Les
Mamelles. the opera
to follow
1\'i
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1
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i
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Les Mamelles de Tiresias as told
by David Hockney
Production series from Les Mamelles de
Tiresias. as
at the Metropolitan Opera House. 98 (See Opera Chart, p 21 7) Therese: Catherine Malfitano. Gendarme: John Darrenkamp, Husband Davtd
performed
1
1
(/)
It's
town
in
a
mad
plot,
a plotless
little
Holloway. drudgery, too
(2)
him
She wishes
to
much housework,
be something
they're going to
exchange
is
Zanzibar, an tmagmary
and Monte
fed up with being a
too
else,
roles
many
and
mam
woman
Carlo.
The
set
characters are
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; she ^inks
it's
babies.
so she ties
up her poor husband and
and he can take care of having
happens: her breasts (red and blue balloons) beard. She
m
Mediterranean port town. The
Therese and the husband. Therese all
that takes place
play,
France, somewhere, perhaps, between Nice
looks like a typical
fly
tells
children.
It
away and suddenly she hos o
and her husband change sexes and she becomes
Tiresias.
a man. and
leaves home.
147
Two
(3)
drunks. Lacouf and Presto, appear
other says, no. we're
in
Pans. They argue
One
and
says, we're in
finally
have a
Zanzibar and the
duet.
They
pull their
guns at the same time and shoot each other dead. A chorus sings about the death of Lacouf and Presto
and he
falls in love
tries to
moke
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
they think
it's all
who
with the husband love to him. the
Presto enter again, they have
is
shame A gendarme makes an entrance now dressed in Therese's dress, but when
a
husbond puts him off and he departs Lacouf and
come back
to fife, rolling in
on scooters Everybody
sings
iS)
(4j
Then
The husband then decides he can make more children by using the cubist idea
He
behold, he
makes a journalist' Rut
rips
up a newspaper, puts
attempts lo blackmail him. And,
it
in
the child
a pram, puts is
in
some glue and
a disappointment
like the first reporter,
he
is
la
and
to his dad. for
gently sent
owoy
he
II.
the
husband has already given
whom
nursing.
he's
husband, thinking that the father of so
One It
many
children
little
birth to
Some
perambulators at the front of the stoge, A reporter comes
in
are
dance by
more thon
in
a row of
to interview the
must be a very
rich
man
of the children has already written a best-selling novel, and the husband gives
to the reporter to read. After
asks him for a loan and
some unfavorable comments about is
politely
/t
the journalist
thrown out
(6) Finally, Tiresias (Theresej enters disguised as a fortune-teller After a bit of
soothsoying. she reveals herself as a to the fact that they'd both
woman
to her
babies, not
war
husband and they come around
be better off as they were, a proper
The sex changes are reversed. They are again
make
148
intermezzo between the acts a govotte. o
open up on Act
thousand children, some of
forty
finally
of collage
there's a small
the time you
man and
wife
man and woman and the point
is,
>^,
>^
J.
L'Enfant et les Sortileges as told by
David Hockney
Production series from CEnfant
performed
at
the Metropolitan
Opera Chart, p
et les Sorijieges. as
Opera House. 1981. (Se Hams. Mama: Isola
2 7) Child Hilda 1
Jones. Princess: Gail
Robman, Mr. Arithmetic Joseph
(I) L'Enfant
ts
about a
little
Normandy. Colette wrote the opera occurs.
I've
been
to
boy who has no name, the setting story
around 1917
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
that's the
ts
a farmhouse
period
in
in
which the
Normandy and know those farmhouses. She describes beams and a large fireplace. I
the house as having a very low ceiling with
Frank. Fire Ruth Welting. Grandfather Clock David
Holloway. Squirrel: Florence Quivar, Dragonfly: Ariel Bybee.
(2)
As the music begins, you imagine the
room, and these are mysterious room. You don't
actijolly
fire
to the child.
making dancing shadows
Anyway, the mother comes
see her, you see her huge shadow on
in
the
into the
t/ie wall.
IS!
(3) She tells the child that until he's
done
alt his
homework and been
may have only dry bread and tea without sugar She leaves a Wedgewood teapot and a china cup on it and soys, "Now, baby"
he
baby — "be a good — want being good
boy'"
"/
(7)
Then the
fire
to
When
she leaves, the
little
a good boy
tray with a black
— she
calls
him a
boy says he's fed up with
be free and wicked, wicked, wicked'"
leaps out of the fireplace and says,
Tou know,
fires
con
worm
'
the ashes put out the
fire.
The
fire
chases him around the room
until, in the
end.
He
he tears the wallpaper off the
wall, a strip with
rips
he pokes the
fire,
shepherds on
he pulls the pendulum off the grandfather clock, and he
up the
it
comes down,
fairy-tale
book
been reading.
(8) Little
shepherds and shepherdesses come dancing off the wallpaper singing a
very tender, sad song about little
how
they were torn apart from each other
when
the
boy tore the wallpaper They do a beautiful dance, the shepherds go off one
way and little
152
rushes over and smashes the teapot, he breaks the cup, he ;obs the
squirrel with his pen. he pulls the tail of the cat sitting by the
he's
people but they can burn very wicked boys Burn' Burn' You are wretched and you shouldn't behave like this"
(4)
fire,
boy
the shepherdesses another with their pink sheep IS
sod
and blue
trees,
and the
(5)
boy,
Then he
sits in
like this
the boy
little
Louis
XV chair,
sing,
you wretched
complaining about
Then, suddenly, out of the book rises the go/den-hoired princess
happily ever after
really
I
I
in
feel sorry for
the music.
who
my book and now nobody knows whether you" She
is
feel sorry for you. She sings a beautiful
tenderness are
(6)
When
they have finished, the grandfather clock runs around the
"You wretched boy Even else? You are
I
don't
know
the time now, so
wicked and you shouldn't behave
how can
I
tell
room it
to
singing,
anybody
like this."
is.
"You wretched boy! You have torn live
move about and
We'll be glad to see the back of you- The
and does a dance with the
how wretched
(9)
the armchair that begins to
you shouldn't behave
fauteuil sings
Then she disappears
says. I
will
saying, you are wretched, but
ana and
all
into the book.
her anger and
And
the
little
boy
(10) Out of a lesson book jumps a noisy, crooked
Mr. Arithmetic, the book
jump a
who lot
of numbers. To the
little
36. 6 limes 2
94.
schoolmaster character.
boy's delight, the
and so
shouting S times 4
is
with
he runs around shouting
this, naturally,
little
starts rapidly reciting arithmetical problems,
is
all
on.
the
The
and
also out of
numbers run around
little
boy
wrong sums as
is
so thrilled
well.
says he's fed up with books as well.
153
(/ /)
Eventually
all
the
the block cat. which in the
is
little
sums disappear and
now
giganvc. Through the
garden The white cot
the boy
is
window
alone
it
starts singing to the black cot
unlike the love duet of Tristan
and
in
the
room with
sees a huge white cat
and
their
duet
is
not
(12) Then the black cat leads the boy into the garden and this marvelous music
goes
mad
The claustrophobic room disappears
garden "Oh, how marvelous
it
awful things that happened
Isolde
toward the huge tree
in
is
to
The sap
is still
m
him
the
in
to reveal
a beautiful, moon/it
the garden," the boy says All the
room have disappeared He walks
the center of the garden, but the tree says, "Oh, you
wretched boy! You stuck a penknife that
be back
to
coming
out.
in
my
side yesterday, you shouldn't
You shouldn't behave
have done
like that, you're absolutely
wicked.
(13) Then o dragonfly
What you them on
did to
the door
my
comes up
sister'
to
him and
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an awful
thing to
do" And
up and complain about how wretched the boy he
IS
"Oh, what a wretched boy sister
and pinned
then the squirrels and frogs is,
They complain so much and are so angry
they're all running
154
says,
You took the beautiful wings of my
around and one treads on the
how naughty he
is,
ot the frightened squirrel
come
how wicked
little
boy that
(
1
4}
He and
When
the boy sees the injured squirrel, a
takes o/f his neckerchief and say, well,
and, singing. the curtain
l/es
up the
"He
is
good, he
comes down, he
is
little
squirrel's
perhaps he's not too bod after
all
wise," they lead
calls for his
mother
compassion overcomes him.
paw
All the
They decide he
him
animals wotch is
redeemable
to the great tree where, as
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,
Designing Parade Martin Friedman and David Hockney
As Hockney and John Dexter began working on the French triple bill they realized that strong measures would be required to unify the evening in the eyes of the audience. While it was important that the ballet and two operas retain their identities, they sought to relate
them dramatically and visually In Dexter's mind the three works were redolent of the atmosphere of World
War
I.
Though
Apollinaire had written Les Mamelles de Tiresias as a play
1903, he rewrote
in
it
1917
as a
Francis Poulenc was in the audience for its premiere at a small theater Montmartre, though the opera score was not composed until 1945. Also
the year 1917, Colette wrote the script for what would 1
924 operatic gem, L'Enfant
The problem was how to
in
strong anti-war statement and the young
become
in in
Ravel's
et les Sortileges.
stress their spiritual and stylistic relationships
in
Hockney speculated about ways of using visual themes would carry over from one work to another Before addressing the issue
the Net's production. that
seriously, itself
however, he had to master the cavernous space of the opera house
and understand
its limitations as well as its possibilities. He began by making numerous drawings of the stage from every conceivable area of the auditorium from the side aisles as well as the high tiers. Some were
—
minimal, consisting of a few scrawls and notations, others
were
detailed
renderings that took careful note of the curving balconies. After Glyndebourne,
he found the Metropolitan auditorium to be somewhat intimidating; he
wanted to know
it
what to put behind
thoroughly from the audience's view before deciding its
great curtain.
Obviously, the major difference
between Glyndebourne and the Met
Glyndebourne everyone sees the stage front.
At the Met, the stage
many people The Set oil
for
Parade
on canvas
*° '
^
1
980
look
floor
down from
'''°^^ '" '^^ "^''^- ^^^''
^°^
in
the
same way
—
is
that at
essentially as a flat
has to be taken into consideration because so
the balconies. In fact, the best seats,
I
think, are
°" ^^^ i°^- ' ^°^ '°'<^ ''/ ^°"^^ P^Op/e that One shouldn't do the Ravel or the Poulenc in the Met space, because both '
^°'^^"
operas are far too intimate for
it
I
disagreed.
I
felt
you could do anything you
157
Glyndebourne
Bird
$
Festival
Opera House
eye views of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera House
and the Metropolitan Opera House drawn at the same scale demonstrate the radical shift required of Hockney when he nx>vcd from the picture-book simplicity of the English country theater into
158
New
York's
nrx>st
elaborate space (or musical drama.
Metropolitan Opera House
159
wanted I
in
that theater
if
you didn't think about
must admit, though, every time
whenever
thought about
I
Gathering up
conventional ways.
in
Met
stage.
space. Imnnediately, he constructed a cardboard
"Otherwise," he
says,
speculated about motifs to
from the
stacking the blocks, a
T
Punchmcllo Carried by ink
cpo
at
his friends
1
8th century
children's chorus
on paper
Collection
Museum
of Art,
Rhode
Bequest of George P Metcalf
Island
School of Design
off the stage
spotted a newspaper photograph of
a
suggest "this might be our solution."
whelmed by what he encountered
Hockney took the
at the Frick.
you looked at every single drawing
In that exhibition
show of Sth-century
Italian
I
some and
drawings can be a
Picasso could
His technique was
line
has
now
in
a
They're
so fresh.
is
When
facility.
the
In
in
sepia,
which
18th-century Venetian
Met production, an
stylistically, particularly
idea that
made
since the Parade ballet takes
sideshow atmosphere. Also, there was the precedent of Picasso's dell'arte figures in the
1917 production. For these reasons In
Hockney 's conception
of
bill.
gove the Met wardrobe people the Tiepolo catalogue, pointing out that each
punchinello was different uniform. They
all
have the
ones and
little
with
potbellies"
little
He wanted would the 160
drawn
world, the punchinellos were Everyman. Hockney decided to
the punchinellos assumed increased importance
/
life.
disappeared.
with their breathtaking
commedia
the triple
drawing. Not even
you see those drawings you realize that
use these as characters throughout the
use of
fine
taken with the wit and social content of the Tiepolo
as
sense dramatically and place
A
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you
with a wash to suggest volume, but the formula never
that bit softer
skill
Hockney was
scrutinized them.
boring sometimes
that Those Tiepolos have unbelievable, fantastic
like
bothers you because everything
that particular
and was over-
skip two or three, then you look at something else. But this
draw
makes them just
California to
in
hint
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you
bit
one was stunning. People have forgotten about such
as
A
by the
Tiepolo drawing
then on view at the Frick Collection and phoned Hockney
images
an instant
in
the Ravel opera.
in
bottle-green punchinello attire, complete with ruffled
in
who
by John Dexter,
artist's lusty
cue
a
and masks. Hockney says the punchinello theme was suggested
collars, tall hats
look at
small
Next, he
the beginning of each piece. By rotating and
few simple props could be created
second unifying idea was to have the blocks carried on and
_
scale."
he came up with the idea of alphabet blocks
notably the chairs, fireplace and giant stack of books Giovanni Domcnico
its
together the three productions. Taking
tie
name
nrionumental
its
model equipped with
"you could never sense
child's toys in L'Enfant.
to spell the composer's
grew bigger
Hockney returned to
Los Angeles to think about designing the three events for
figures.
it
it.
of sketches of the
his stacks
space
its
was away from the Met,
I
ones, fat
I
said,
tall hat.
and
"If
thin ones, chic
punchinellos on stage
soloists
you look
closely,
it's
not a complete
every one wore a mask, but there are
in
and dowdy ones, babies
every possible variation.
and the chorus of L'Enfant
et les Sortileges
tall
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some
Not
only
be dressed
In
this
mode, but so would the Nets
Of the
three productions, the ballet
-ndsabout,ts,nterpretat,on
u
.r
7
'"^''
. !
^° '° ^'^h gusto
would be no
Ther?wLi:^^
. e'etl
1°
g
e«us^eventheP,casso-des,gnedprorct::-^
^om the proto-surrealist -«en. Once Picasso
^
narrative about
w, h ^'^h
r"'°"'
"^^
that suited him.
It
h,s
ban
^
o
^ '"adical
departure
''''
^^^
^'''^
i'^^^SX:::^^^^^^^^^^ °'--^e
^^^
^ '
^°-- ^^^ IZ"' T'' ^°-^^-y approval :• : '^^r ^ ""^- -^--^ '"'^ ^ got
.o//e, everyone
..d
Consequently,
^/^^ .e
took whatever
co./.do
liberties
...e^r .e fe,
/oJX :riT °^^ 1
given Parade's erratir ;«'e obligation to follow the
^"''^^"""'^"^'e.
""^"^
^^^-y fe,t --/ o
^"^
CocrL"">'' - eshow characters-the ringma "' ''^'"^'"^^ ste ^CoT" Chinese ''' ""'^ ^'^^'"''^an gentleman-and opted
f
for a fre
5w,*5
T
S-l and a
'
fir"-— -^^^^^^^^ :rr --est
^"^- - ^^:^ -^h^ '
of the program.
'"""^
'
"^"
'hat
^°^^'--its
-^
—1,
action introduce the
;^pr::::—:;-_e^ Punchinello's
Masks
^' ""''
"^ -'" t'T -.s,c suggested
drawing for Parade on paper
^°//et
22'^ X 30
Sortilege^.
ink
"^
^or
. sce.e
yilloin
drawing for Parade
P-cassrwlTootg ''7^e had to be '0 /'o.
;^ ''^"""^
/
ov^his
desalt
felt
cyes^ga
r
1
''^-
'
r^"^"'' ''°'
C . T'^'"'' ^'""te typ,.g ,/,e ,,„,^
T T'
'''''
deeded
to
--
''"'
./, sorts
-«
'"
o'
tJ
^^^'Enfant et les
°"''"^' "-ions, the
w;h:t:/;r^^''r^ «-
about takin, /
.L?;; vv,
spirit
of
Performa^::
^"'^^ P-"oZZtlTV':""'"'^^ '""^^ ° ^-^d co.. ,^07,2;' '/o'e., t/,e.rorgeto6o.t,t.H,scmc,n/b;
161
162
Parade was a charming,
traditional painting of a circus with harlequins, clowns,
winged horse
—
the audience
was supposed
when
everything;
to
it
was
I'd
the theater; every work has to be brought to
cubistic city
which
never thought of reconstructing
the original Parade. As far as I'm concerned, there
bill
was a
raised, there
be shocked by.
life
is
no fixed work of art
by the people doing
in
it.
Well before Hockney came into the picture, John Dexter wanted the triple introduced by an ominous battlefield scene, evocative of World War I.
Hockney duly provided the coils of barbed wire, adding bright searchlights aimed into the audience. From the crowd of soldiers, one emerges and removes his gas mask and uniform to reveal the costume of the harlequin, the protector The set undergoes rapid transformation to the carnival scene whose major element is an old-fashioned French music hall proscenium with a child's
heavy red curtain. Because
Satie's
music," says Hockney, this
seemed the
a real curtain. Though
It's
Parade begins with the famous "red-curtain logical
hod drawn
I
it
flat,
way to
start things
we made
it
off.
up elaborately with
bends, loops and
folds. It could be pulled back for entrances. Above and behind was the suggestion of the big tree that would appear in the Ravel garden scene and some of the sky from the Poulenc opera. The idea was to have some of the characters in the ballet be those the audience would see later
the curtain
we were
that evening. That way,
getting back to the original idea
—
a parade
before the curtain.
Thinking about the
ballet,
Hockney made innumerable drawings and
gouaches based on the Picasso curtain, but favor of the red curtain, a ubiquitous 1
960s. His fantasy
knew no bounds when
to the vivid attire of the
little
for the other performers. gigantic female breasts,
one
—
red,
whirling ballerina
one in
a
blue,
it
decided to drop the idea
in his
came to the costumes.
In
addition
costumes
the memorable characters on stage
man
— with
in
paintings since the early
punchinellos, he invented outlandish
Among
played by a
finally
theme
were
a
an arresting set of polychrome
who was wheeled
French tricolor tutu;
about
in
a baby carriage; a
a pair of giant cats;
the carnival
barker; a scurrying waiter bearing a teapot and cup on a tray.
Hockney offered the audience a few tantalizing clues about what would The top-hatted impresario, huge-bosomed lady and baby buggies
follow.
foreshadowed Les Mamelles: the cats and the tea service would reappear in L'Enfant. However, because the ballet's action and decor were so kaleidoscopic,
were not readily apparent to the audience and, in retrospect, Hockney and Dexter felt they had overloaded it a bit with people and events.
such connections
/
think a problem arose because too
not need that
many
After
all,
there
simply an introduction to
all
that
few people realized Two Dancers oil
on canvas
of the evening, once they linked
To Collection Sir John Sainsbury
this at first.
rectify this, a
December
1
982
number
many
was no
characters were included.
We
story being told in the ballet.
It
did
was
would happen on the stage. Probably, very
Perhaps some were aware of that by the end it
all
together
in their
of sideshow characters
revival of Parade.
Once
memories.
were dropped
in
the
the stage action was simplified, the
163
between the
association
and the rest of the evening's events were
ballet
Hockney
considerably clearer. But even with those changes,
was not wholly
ballet
felt
the brief
what took place on stage
successful, because
did not
truly reflect the introspective quality of Satie's music.
Cocteau wrote about a rather pathetic
good enough There
a sadness
is
pale and,
an audience
to attract in
the music,
the end, you
in
for
and we
who were
troupe of actors
little
what was going on behind the
The music was
couldn't deal with that
were probably looking
much on
at far too
not
curtain.
stage
in
relation to it
According to Joseph Clark, the Metropolitan Opera's technical director, even after Hockney delivered
his
models and gouaches to the
problems to be solved. "The
technical
how
opera to the next,
drawing for Lei Momettes dc
Tiresios
980
the evening would
be settled as the production took form. With Clark and
Hockney and Dexter worked on the problems on
crayon on paper \8V'
1
how
24
were
there
staff,
how you would get from one work
the surround of barbed wire would
context of the whole evening, and Curtain with Curved Stage
specifics of
together" had to
his
crew of wizards.
and error
a trial
within the
fit
basis.
It
would do.
various set elements, hoping these
As John and David put the show together, we found out what was
Sometimes
required.
beginning strain
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
this
director
from what we'd
different
all
up
can also allow them
it
minute.
to the last
It's
to
be a
lot
really
assumed from
system of working, though challenging, can put a
on people. But
creative, right
was
it
was
which the technicians would fabricate
a gradual process. Clark recalls, during
more
bit
flexible
the
of a
and
not locked into something that the
and designer might have decided two years
before, without actually
having had the benefit of a rehearsal. Fortunately,
David was around
all
we
the time, so
could try half a dozen
ways of doing something and asking, "Which one do you one works, what do you think?" Usually he agreed.
was
the challenge
what we
liked
there,
He
think this
no Because
everyone had fun working on the production and he
Les Mamelles, says Clark,
fluidly into
We
did.
was
a perfect
example of such collaborative
problem-solving by the designer, director and technical
The issue was
like?
rarely said
to retain the simplicity
staff.
of David's design, to move the elements
place and to light these effectively.
What you
see looks like very
simple scenery on stage. You have an empty, dark stage, a show curtain, two portals
and backdrop. But appearances are misleading, not
special pipes
hung with
backdrop and an
window
lights
drawing for Lcs Mome//es de gouache, crayon on paper l8'/i
164
X 35 y.
Les
All
it
iron staircase that allows
comes
hypothetical
Now,
all
Therese
to get to the
that scenery
town of
were emphasized
in
liresias
are two
is
flown
in
second the
air,
level
and
you can't see the staircase and you can't see the
you really see are three pieces of scenery
Mamelles de
Tircs/os
into view,
visible
equipment that illuminate the portals and the
to address the audience.
by the time
Zarxzibar
lighting
It's
tricky.
(The Breasts of Tiresias) takes place
somewhere
in
the
Cote d'Azur. Its ironies the Dexter/Hockney production. The great gender
Zanzibar,
along the
166
zealous to serve the Republic, in which the heretofore obedient wife, while her hapless husband is takes on the attributes of a man, beard and all, comic facade of relegated to the breeding and care of endless children, is the
switch,
mordant
this
As
tale.
a narrative,
make
its
an absurdist
It's
full
It's
of
Apollinaire play.
points out, Les Mamelles
makes
blithely turns reality upside
down.
Hockney
anti-war point,
The
play.
mad
it
plot
doesnt
events that together
really follow
make up
sense.
little
To
or\e thing to another.
from
a kind of collage. Probably,
was self-conscious about making what he thought was a cubist do not know. The it. What that means,
Poulenc said he "de-cubified"
I
music certainly took a great deal from the French music hall. of ceremonies standing Les Mamelles opens with a top-hatted master translated this design before an enormous fleur-de-lis curtain. Clark's crew pink crayon from a small Hockney sketch executed in blue crayon over a
background. By
was
created.
incising a design into the blue overlay, the pink
kind of look, but trying to
was
again a trick.
fairly
with that look on a large piece of scenery quality," he says, "we used a piece
To match the drawing's
of dyed blue velour, then
with
come up
flower pattern
a little impasto, a certain
The drawing, Clark remembers, "had
in
heavy paint that
a sort of reverse process, the pink
built
up the same kind of thickness.
was put on
We
got the
effect that David had achieved."
same
goodbye
Once the master of ceremonies makes his departure, waving hole downstage, the with an elegantly gloved hand as he disappears into a fleur-de-lis curtain
design
is
Mediterranean
Dufy
vistas of early
in particular.
Hockney
forms that make up and "tabac" is
raised to reveal beautiful
is
once confectionary and
at
sign.
downtown
Zanzibar.
sunny style
biting. Its
Hockney 's
recalls the lyrical
20th-century French painting, those of Raoul
has added a dash of
a plausible village square,
Cubism
in
a
complete with
few architectural a striped
awning
His ability to absorb and selectively employ diverse influences approximates the in the Mamelles sets. While he
especially apparent
on Dufy vista, the large stage picture is also a wry commentary well-worn cliches. Thus, the mindless tradition of "village square" art, with its generations Hockney 's set is an affectionate bow to those innocents who for
feeling of a
Under his fluent have painted nothing else but picturesque little vignettes. amazing new vitality. brush these all-but-exhausted forms suddenly assume In
Les Mamelles.
backdrops, one
in
Hockney
has painted his village scenes
front of the other, using the
on
a series of
same portal-within-portal
sets. design that characterizes the Glyndebourne Magic Flute /
made two complete models
for this,
one much more cubist than the other.
Then. John Dexter said he wanted to do in front
Cubistic Bar
drawing for Les Mamelles de crayon on paper isy. X 24
Tir
it
of very simple drops. That's why
with footlights.
like
we
an Edwardian review, basically
did
The characters' entrances and
audience before they actually enter the
it
as three very simple drops exits
can be seen by the
set.
167
/
thought the cubist model was better at
one was much better
The most triple
successful and stylistically consistetit
were those
bill
but John said, no, the other
first,
for his purposes.
the script, with
its
for Les Mamelles.
Of course,
costumes for the French the freewheeling nature of
amorous gendarme,
liberated wife, victimized husband,
newspaper vendor, newspaper reporter and fashionably provided
a
wealth of opportunities. For the town
attired populace,
Hockney
ladies,
alluded to
the sculptural silhouettes of the early 20th-century French couturier, Paul Poiret and, as with the punchinello costumes, he provided the Met's wardrobe staff
some
with an illustration of
patterned material of
The costumes
his
for Les
own
authentic examples to be executed
Mamelles abound
in
references to earlier Hockney
work. The dashing gendarme, for example, was anticipated crayon drawing. Colonial Governor, and Punchtnello with Bobiei
drawing for Les Momellei de
Polish Tirezias
gouache, collage on paper
army
officers
Ubu
in
He may
Roi.
a witty
in
1962
the pompously gotten-up
recalls
be one of the few designers to have
had the distinction of costuming two bearded
Turk
in
design.
ladies,
the beguiling Baba the
The Rake's Progress and Les Mamelles's defiant Therese/Tiresias. As
in
with the pulsatingly optical Rake's Progress designs, the costumes and set
elements
in
Les Mamelles are stylistically of a piece.
the vibrating
In fact,
patterns of the Poulenc opera costumes are virtually units of the set
now merging
motion,
now
with,
in
contrasting with, the boldly patterned
background. In
preparing for the triple
bill,
command
the Metropolitan Opera's high
had wisely invited Manuel Rosenthal, the great interpreter of Ravel's music, to be the conductor As a favorite student of composition of the eminent
how
composer, Rosenthal knew
Ravel
wanted
his
work
to be presented on
stage. /
begon studying the work with Maurice Ravel at the precise moment L'Enfant Sortileges was
et
les
in
1926
first
at the Theatre de
bitter recriminations
done at Monte Carlo and I'Opera-Comique
when
later,
in Paris.
And
I
it
was revived
remember
Ravel's
concerning the visual presentation of the work that was
so dear to him. His unhappiness was so acute that he said over and over again
he wished Walt Disney had
and producers of the
Of the
illustrated his music, so badly
had the designers
theater served him!
lyric
three works, the Ravel opera, L'Enfont et
Sony Walkman, he From what
I
know of
though he were
and
childlike.
Shadow of Mother
drawing for
its I
composer
told
me
in all
little
stereo and child hero.
its
man
It's
as
he was both sophisticated
you, artists are often like that
world constantly interesting. Colette's
with
would have loved the
Manuel Rosenthal
the copocity to delight
as
his
The child
kinds of things
in
and
Picasso
is
to find the
story brought out the child in Ravel,
L'Ejifont ef fcs Sorlifeges
gouache on paper
which wasn't too difficult
168
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
much with
Ravel, I'm positive
still alive.
Mind
obviously there Child wii/i
identified as
was musically
les Sortileges,
the most compelling for Hockney. Listening to the music on
either
difficult,
and
his
music brought
it
out
in
me, which wasn't
!
i^ 1
M
When
they do
L' Enfant
deeply affected by
heard
on the piano at rehearsals, you just don't get
you don't get the color that comes from the
nice, but
When
it.
took
first
I
it
on,
t
know
didn't
once before, but didn't realize how good
it
childlike.
It's
makes
Ravel's music that
it
was
I
the music well,
had
i
not childish,
It's
is.
It's
it.
orchestra.
full
L'Enfant great, not Colette's
it's
little
words, although they're beautiful. If his music had not been so good, the story
would be forgotten. The from fox-trots
how
to bits
wise the child
Ravel.
It
variety
of jazz. it's
is,
in
the story,
used forms of American music
when
the last scene,
a Monteverdi chant.
like
has perfection about
only believe
He
stunning.
is
In
it
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Hockney's realization of L'Enfant
The
evening's nnost dramatic event.
a collage, yet
et les Sortileges little
tells
is
suit;
not
was the French
triple
bill
boy, to that point a passive witness in
replaced on stage by a young soprano. Like him, she
blue and white sailor
I
it.
to the ballet and Les Mamelles, becomes the central figure child
it's all
not one note too many, not one too few.
believe in the music that
I
the animals sing about like
It's
is
The
L'Enfant.
dressed
her close-cropped hair completes the
in
a
illusion.
Working on the opera, Hockney tried to express the troubled vision of a child who, after a spate of unrepentant behavior is confronted by the creatures and objects he has so wickedly abused. From the outset Hockney wanted designs to reflect the
little
The
boy's troubled fantasy
interior of the
his
Norman
farmhouse and the ominous garden outside would be seen from this vantage. For its interior Hockney used exaggerated, hallucinatory perspective. Painted on a huge drop was a great
beamed
ceiling that
seemed to span
the entire stage. The alphabet-block furniture was also large-scale, child
might perceive such objects.
we
has finished his lessons, his
room. After
that
is
little
demon
enacted on stage has
its
falls
as
vengeance
other
asleep.
punchinello and other
in
mimed on in
stage.
room
the
misdeeds. At this point, Hockney's ingenuity
his
he
deployed on randomly stacked
the child has fallen asleep, the objects
him with
if
musical counterpart at the sides.
dell'arte costumes. Picturesquely
alphabet blocks, each rises to sing a role
Once
as a small
asks the boy
a frenzy of destroying books, ripping wallpaper and
Flanking the proscenium are the soloists, dressed
commedia
Mama
the stern
see her enormous shadow on the slanted wall of
misdemeanors, the exhausted All
When
angrily confront is
given
full
rein
nursery begins. The procession of shepherds and shepherdesses descends from the torn wallpaper, the fairy-tale princess tells
her sad
tale
in
and out of the fireplace leaps a yellow-clad figure
pursued by a gray
yowl
at
window
the
ash.
one another is
A
wonderful pair of
first in
anger, then
in
cats,
one
passion.
black, the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
a
Through the bedroom
seen a group of punchinellos seated under a great tree
garden. They are the chorus, the voices of the animals and insects. The Room
backdrop of the room
rises,
/ing for L'Enfant el les Sortileges
gouache on paper
luminous color At
22'^
most awesome image.
its
center
is
flame
other white,
the marvelous garden
is
revealed
in
in
the
As the all
its
an enormous, red-trunked tree, the evening's
171
The sources of the monumental shape came from
Hockney
tree,
photograph he made
a
in
were many.
says,
978 of two
1
Its
friends,
basic
Peter
Schlesinger and Joe MacDonald, standing beneath a gigantic tree along the Nile.
He
says that
to color and In fact,
I
designing the opera, he tried to translate Ravel's music
in
line.
drew the forms of the
tree while listening to the
the cats finish their duet, the music goes
great sweep of beautiful music
model with a brush while
fills
the space
listening to it
much smaller At
garden, the trees were
an intimate garden, but
suddenly
it
garden music.
When
mad, the room disappears and a
drew
i
When first
I
directly
first
I
on the cardboard
began working on the
was thinking about a
dawned on me
child in
that in the child's view,
everything should be gigantic.
Under the
carefully controlled lighting that he and Gil Wechsler. the Met's
lighting designer, devised, the color in
was dense and colored /
it
Onthe banks of Ok
Nile, Luxor,
Lgypl
The garden
m
Part 2 o( L'Eitfont el
as perfornrted at the Metropolitan
172
I
said
1
980
eye.
it
LEnfant took on palpable presence.
It
the garden virtually pulsated under the
showed my model
we should use
interest, yet
the music.
les Sortileges
Opera House.
first
I
directly with white light."
little
in
light illumination.
remember when
When
1977
black and white photograph
The forms
effulgent.
He
I
felt
used
to
that
But
I
said,
to John Dexter,
"No.
I've
blue and red lights on
was how we were going
it
to
I
said,
"We'll light
must admit he showed get visual equivalents of
joke about "your colored lights" and
expresses the music."
he
worked out more than that"
I
said, "Well, to
my
When
you see that
tree foliage,
color, with the blue light
the music. You can do this in theater in a
because the cinema
is
way you
not quite about color,
physical color, pigment, physical
on the huge blue mass of the
think you physically take the color into your body as you take in
I
it's
a different matter,
it's
can't do
about
it
light. B.ut
isn't it^
in
the cinema,
where
A physical
there's
color
a
is
thrill.
Hockney worked out
production ideas for the French triple
his
by
bill
using a complex,
working model of the Metropolitan Opera stage. During process he began giving impromptu performances of the opera for
this
friends
London
in his
The model,
studio.
an intricate
one complete with
fly
gallery and miniature lighting system, had
been sent to him by John Dexter. With this wonderful new toy Hockney began giving visitors to his studio a unique preview of what would happen in a few months on the Met's grand stage.
Never one to
shrink before an audience, he took friendly drop-ins through
the story animatedly.
Once
the lush Ravel tape was running, he was both
commentator and performer,
giving voice to the various roles in his unique along with the chorus and danced about while raising and lowering the painted flats. In his presentation oiL'Enfant he was the
He hummed
Sprechstimme.
incorrigible
little boy, soon destined to see the error of his ways. For the lucky Hockney's one-man opera performances were superb show business. For Hockney, they were rapturous self-hypnosis. Word soon got out about
visitors,
these spontaneous events and a
BBC crew found
thereafter a televised version of
Hockney
in
its
way to
his studio.
Shortly
action brightened the evening
in
thousands of English parlors and pubs. In
addition to using the elaborate stage model,
Hockney made numerous
gouache studies that fixed each scene of the three works in his memory and enabled him to think about transitions from one to the next. Indeed, much of the effectiveness of L'Enfant
room
as the child's
Hockney
transformation, He's
he's safe in the nice big
says, thrills
gardenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but of course
angry That's the moment performance, you could too, felt the
Mr Anthmeljc drawing for L'Enfonl
el les Sonileges
gouache on paper 14
â&#x20AC;˘
In
of the in
the
Garden
drawing for L'Enfanl
gouache on paper 14
17
to still
him and thinks
bad
I
and the animals he had hurt
the music that
is
mean, the earlier get
absolutely fantastic. At the
Nobody moved
first
They,
the child did You shared the experience of the character on it
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
that's
what made
it
work.
dreamlike domain, the animals and Insects are child-size. pads are the dragonflies, moths and bats who mournfully sing
this bizarre,
Perched on (pl75)
in
things are
feel the silence in the audience.
the stage, you really got into
17
Three Bats
way
of the set
the child.
tree he carved initials into gets angry
(p 174)
movement
room where everything had been nasty
this
left
attributable to the fluid
is
dissolves Into a vast, mysterious garden. This marvelous
lily
harm the
child has Inflicted
familiar creatures
et les Sonileges
each with
Hockney
its
own
who
on them and
their brethren.
Among
accost him are a squirrel, a nightingale and a
complaint.
From the time he began working on
visualized this climactic episode as a great
little
the owl,
L'Enfant
panorama that would
fill
173
1
In
Mm M a
K ^^S'aV^fl
iAB^^Bbi
the entire proscenium of the Metropolitan stage.
However,
of revelation.
would be
It
moment
a
at an early rehearsal, the children portraying the
were running about the garden.
animals
SNhen
I
saw
need
don't
that
that
I
was
horrified.
I
said to John Dexter,
movement. The color and the music
decided the scene should be
static
and
will
"Keep them carry
it
still;
you
together."
We
that everyone should just stand
still in
the garden. I
at
it
always so
Once
knew
many
that
times on
moment would be my model.
the child redeems himself
in
magic.
I
had looked
the eyes of the garden creatures by
wounded paw, there
tending the squirrel's
knew, because
I
is
a
sudden
mood
change signaled
by a musical surge and the great tree changes from ominous deep blue to vivid red.
This
lyrical,
highly original interpretation of Ravel's score
was
as stirring
conductor, Manuel Rosenthal, as to the audience that experienced
its
to
this
remarkable fusion of color and music. /
regret with
unable
to
all
my
heart and
all
my
attachment
see for himself the moving and
and David Hockney mystery of
his sets
is
the color
eclat,
Ravel's music.
that he
and
in
was
ofJohn Dexter sharpness and
Hockney missed
an idea that marvelously
the fantastic quality Ravel wanted to achieve
numerous dreams. And
my mentor
The
at the Metropolitan Opera.
and costumes underscore
nothing: using the color red for the trees
child's
to
brilliant collaboration
illustrates
a garden populated by the
style
of the shepherds' bucolic
costumes beautifully conveys the simple way a child imagines a shepherd. Most designers previously charged with representing this work clad them, alas, Louis
XV costumes,
Finally, fifty-six
like
those one finds on
years after the opera's
and Dexter created
1
first
in
8th-century porcelain figurines.
unfortunate realization, Hockney
a fairy-tale-like climate that
would have enchanted the
pure and passionate child that was such an important part of Maurice Ravel's life.
wnb Books. Cup and Teapot dnwing for L'EMfant el lesSorulegei Child
gouache on paper
176
1980
J)
C>
.c^
m
f
Le Sacre du Printemps as told
by David Hockney
Production series from Le Socre du Pnntemps, as
performed
at
the Metropolitan
Opera Chart, p
2 8) 1
Opera House. 98
Chosen One: Linda
1
(I) 1
(Se
Gelinas. Sage:
Christopher Stocker. and the Metropolitan Opera
Stravinsky's
1913 masterpiece had a notorious premiere. His
rhythmic, dissonant music
controversy and
and
Nijinsky's wild
violently
choreography created vehement
performance was one of the high water marks of early 20th-century modernism (The performance shown here is the Metropolitan its first
Ballet.
Opera's 1981 production, with sets and costumes by David Hockney)
(2) Stravinsky's
Elysees
is
own
description of that evening at the Theatre des
entertaining:
the
conductor,
Pierre
Monteux,
apparently impervious and as nerveless as a crocodile
shouted numbers
to the dancers,
". .
.
Nijinsky,
Champs-
stood
on a
there, chair,
which had nothing to do with the music."
179
(3)
Only the set
for
Le Sacre seems
to
hove escaped condemnation. Designed
by the Russian painter Nicholas Roefich,
it
was recalled by Stravinsky as a
"background of steppes and sky." apparently more descriptive than symbolic.
(S) In the current re-creation of Stravinsky's
young
girl is sacrificed to
setting should be bleak
the original production
more
"solemn pagan
the god of spring, John Dexter and
and
northern. In that decision
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an
rite." I
we went back
is
enfolded by a group of swirling dancers
in
180
who watch
in
girl
of
favor of a
chosen
a circle
facts are painted half dark and half light to suggest day and night storKi the tribal elders
which a
to the idea
idea that other people had thrown out
for
Their
To the side
the odo/escents in their feverish dance
In
a
1920 Pans production, the in
Russes revived the work with
6o//ets
which the Chosen One was danced by Lydia
Sokolova.
decided that the
overt sexual treatment that featured near nudity The young
the ritual sacrifice
in
(4)
choreography by Leonide Massine,
(6)
The
virgin
disappears within the circle and emerges
white cloth on which a large red spiral
is
in
the center of a great
painted to suggest blood The colors on
the huge disc behind the dancers, which looks like a stark northern landscape, go
through a number of changes, blue at In
this
wild process the dancers
first
and
bright red at the time of sacrifice.
become a huge orgonism
that
renews
through the ritual murder. These are basically primitive people, peasants
of the power of nature. the sacrifice
In this ballet,
winter
will
change suddenly
in
itself
owe
to spring ofter
Ok
'5^-?
^3
V
1^ yitt!
^•"J
M
m
S^^y*!^
r^j^ uttim jiy/MI i
) .i^^^^B^I •^^Ki
J^
1/' ^ra
H
^
r
Le Rossignol as told
by David Hockney
Production series from Le Rossigno/, as performed at Metropolitan Opera House.
1
98
1
(See
tl
Opera Chart,
p 218) Fisherman: Anthony Dowel! (sung by Philip
(I
I
The opera takes place
in
ancient China and begins with a fisherman singing
about the beauty of the nightingale's song. Only he and a
works
m
the palace kitchen
know about
this
wonderful
little
servant
who
girl
bird.
Creech). Nightingale: Natalia Makarova (sung by
Gwendolyn
Bradley). Emperor:
Morley Meredith.
(2) IS
The emperor of China
beautiful.
The flowers
are hung on them, just
kingdom
write about
lives in
in
in
how
most beautiful thing of all
a porcelain palace. Everything about the palace
the garden have such a subtle
perfume
cose you don't notice. All the travelers beautiful the palace is
is.
And the
poets
that
little
who come
bells
to the
who come say
the
the nightingale that sings by the seashore
183
(3) So the emperor,
palace
—
kingdom
calls is
the
who
only reads books
m
the palace
chamberlam and asks why
the
— he
doesn't go out of the
most wonderful thing
something he does not know about The emperor's court
out about the nightingale
who washes
—
but the only one
who knows about
it is
m
his
tries to find
the hale girl
{4}
They ask everybody
nightingale
— we
don't
will
the palace, but the response
take them to the nightingale
High Dishwasher and
dishes in the kitchen.
in
know about
it.
yes. the nightingale that sings by the
'W M
to give
"
singing brings
tears
to
his
emperor who
nightingale says. "To a singer, the tears jewels."
is
very, very
pleased
In fact,
eyes and he offers /ewe/s to the songbird. in
your eyes are jewels
I
the
The
do not need the
As o reward, they promise to
P I.
{8) just ot this
moment
a present
mechanical nightingale
"'
delighted
wound up
It
184
It
sings
who
they ask
moke
the
says oh, if
she
her Lady
^r
three ombossodors from the emperor ofjapan arrive with It
isn't
a Sony or a Panasonic,
fashioned clockwork They open the box and wind
away Everyone
and hideous compared
And
her the privilege of watching the emperor eat
K
—o
we never heard
tittle girl
so beautiful
is
..^MaittK..'-^?' (7) So the nightingo/e sings for the
is
Finally they find the
seashore
to the real
thinks
it's
like
it's
old-
up and everybody's quite
quite lovely, but
one But they
always sings the same way
it
n
it's
actually garish
and of course when
it's
(5)
So she takes them to the seashore and on the way they suddenly hear noises
and
say, ah. that's the nightingale
And she
says, no. no. that
/s
a cow mooing. The
nightingale doesn't sound like that Then they hear another noise and say, ah, the nightingale,
how
beautiful
it is.'
And
she says, no. no, those are frogs croaking.
(6) Finally they get to the seashore
discover
IS
The Chinese courtiers
like
what they hear and they think
probably less trouble than the
When
the
emperor
song.
It
it's
bird.
wound up and
it
new
this
new
So the real nightingale
realizes that the real one has
the palace because they have a
every day
little
left,
he banishes
it
nightingale flies
away
forever from
nightingale. So he puts his toy on a post
sings.
But of course one day.
in
just a rather plain
little
speak to the nightingale and ask.
And
me
(9)
it's
the bird replies, "Well. to
come,
I
to visit the old
it's
nightingale, but
a
bit
"Would you come and
when they
disappointing. But they sing for the
do sing better by the seashore, but
if
emperor?"
you really want
will."
(10) They can't repair
his
I
and do hear the
bird in a tree,
it
So
now
there's
no nightingale
to sing
and Deoth comes
emperor's bed and begins to lake away the dying man's things:
first
crown, then his sword of state, then his cloak
and
the middle of a
winds down.
185
(II) Just at that
moment
the real nightingale
begins to sing about the gardens says. "Oh. please
flies in
And even Deotb
do not stop" But the nightingale
sing if you give bock the
crown and sword
to the
is
through the window and
charmed by
says, "I'm
the music
going to slop
I
(12) So Death gives
them back and
pleads. "Please do not stop." but the nightingale says. "Give bock the cloak to the
will
emperor" And
emperor"
they've
you to
Death and
slowly.
token
nightingo/e
and
(13) All the courtiers, expecting to say farewell to their emperor
up
a
in his
arrxaed.
186
when they come back
bed and he greets them
cheerfully.
into his
in
a room of
room The emperor
The room
fills
is
sitting
with light and everyone
all
the ghosts from the post give bock the things
from the emperor says.
stoy," but the
The grateful emperor then turns
"You can be the Lord High Singer little
bird says. "No.
night from the seoshore to sing,
darkness, are startled
Death
the nightingale sings more, then stops
and
it's
better
ond teW you obout
if
I
in
my
the beauties
the
to
court again
go away
I
want
come every of your kingdom" I
will
(14) At the end of the opera, the fisherman sings ogam, telling everyone to listen to the
course,
song of heoven it's
in
shortened a
the voice of the nightingale In the Stravinsky opera, of
bit.
but this
is
Hans Andersen's
version of the story
Oedipus Rex as told by
David Hockney
Production series from Oedipus Rex. as performed at the Metropolitan
Opera House.
1981
(See
Opera
Chart, p 218) Narrator; Anthony Dowell. Oedipus:
Richard Cassilly. Creon: Franz Mazura, Tiresias: John
(I)
When
the lights go on, you see a narrator seated on a chair
orchestra and the stage. Latin
and
that he will
a huge red
circle
tell
He
between the
says this version of Oedipus the King will be sung in
the story in English as
it
goes along. As the music begins,
emerges around which the protagonists are seated They are
Macurdy. Jocasta: Tatiana Troyanos.
Oedipus, his wife (and mother) jocasta. his brother-in-law (and uncle), Creon, Tiresias the seer, a
(2)
messenger and a shepherd.
A plague has descended on
their king, to help get rid of it his birth
the city of Thebes
But the narrator
tells
and the people beg Oedipus, us that from the
moment
of
a snare has been laid for Oedipus: a hint of the tragedy to come.
189
Creon returns from Delphi
(3)
after consulting the oracle
the murderer of the former King of Thebes. Laius, lives
and
that his presence
is
who has in
the
him that
told
city,
the cause of the plague. Oedipus assures
unpunished,
them
that with
(5)
The men's raised voices offend Jocasta, and she says they should not argue
laxe
city
'Oracles deceive,' she says
husband Laius would be
killed
by
his
own
Why, on oracle predicted son.
and
yet he
thieves at the crossroads This revelation horrifies Oedipus
that years
ogo on
three roods
meet
his
way from Corinth
to
Thebes he had
who
whom
Oedipus
Creon and
his ikill in solving riddles he, the king, will find the murderer.
plague striken
The chorus invokes the gods and welcomes
(4)
in
the
that her
was murdered by
explains to Jocasta
killed
on old
rrtan
where
consults.
murderer of the king
(6)
After
his real
some
to tell
Tiresias, the blind soothsayer, with
questioning,
a king. Oedipus
Tiresias of treachery.
A messenger arrives
was not
is
is
Tiresias
reveals
furious at these words
Then the process of self-revelation
Oedipus that King Polybus has died and that Oedipus
verifies the
which has disturbed and frightened jocasta Oedipus thinks she
ashamed of his low the fact that he
narrator relates
the
son but was adopted after he, the messenger, found him abandoned
on a mountainside and brought him to a shepherd. Then the shepherd tale
that
and accuses begins.
birth,
had
but the messenger and the shepherd
killed his
own
how jocasta hanged
father
and married
his
is
merely
make him aware of mother
Finally the
herself and Oedipus gouges out his eyes with
jrKosta's golden brooch The chorus sadly bids farewell to the hapless king, bringing
the t/agedy to an end.
190
/
11
|<Ui bi,
d^ ,»
V'Mj^
..•
Designing Stravinsky Martin Friedman and David Hockney
John
Dexter's
Progress
in
invitation
Hockney
to
irresistible 1
to
work on the
Stravinsky triple
975 had confirmed
his
proved
bill
His Glyndebourne experience with
The Rake's
devotion to the great modernist's music
and, like Dexter, he considered Stravinsky's
works
for the stage to be rich
in
visual possibilities.
They were
writter] as theater rDusic.
are as concert pieces! Stravinsky Early
in
no matter
meant them
how wonderful people to
be presented
the planning stages, the Metropolitan
in
say they
the theater
Opera had decided to
produce the three Stravinsky works, Le Sacre du Printemps. Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex. but then Dexter and James Levine, its music director and principal conductor, wondered whether the opera's corps de ballet should take on so heroic a challenge as Socre. Though he and Dexter agreed on its great importance .
.
is it.
in
Stravinsky's oeuvre, Levine explains,
was always given as a piece de resistance instead of as a prelude, which really what it is. Therefore, the weight of a big ballet was always resting on .
it
When
but
you hear
it
in
when you see
it
as a ballet you realize the music
thought, this?" slot,
"We
concert you wish there were
aren't a full-scale ballet
Then we shopped around
some way
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; how
company
trying to
make
is
are
to visualize
much
we going
to tackle
other Suavinsky pieces
but for various practical and aesthetic reasons, nothing
seemed
it,
We
bigger
fit in
the
right
Hockney concurred, noting that the corps of dancers "does not have the primary mission of being a great company. Normally, they simply dance the slaves in Aida or the gypsies in Carmen. That's their job."
At one point Dexter suggested they substitute a work by Arnold 924 monodrama, Erwartung. as part of the evening, because
Schoenberg, the he thought Raised Stage with Masks.
1
would
offer an interesting contrast of
20th-century music. But even while
Narrator and Auditorium
drawing for Oedipus Rex
this
1981
gouache and tempera on paper 29 - 40
this soul-searching
works by two
giants of
was going
Hockney
and Dexter had begun working on what David assumed would,
on,
in
the end, be
it
didn't
an all-Stravinsky evening. /
didn't
know
the Schoenberg work they
had
in
mind, but doing
make 193
sense to me. At one stage the idea
even canr^e up.
an awful
lot
groaned.
I
I
of Punchinellos
Punchinellos^
I
another Stravinsky
of"
in
Parade. To begin the next
we go
thought God, here
again! Surely
Pulcinella,
ballet,
we had used
couldn't get interested in that because
could
more
with
triple bill
we
come up
with
something better
During
working session with Dexter
his first
New Jersey,
they decided that the theme of
house
in
through
all
at the director's
would
ritual
prevail
three Stravinsky pieces and Hockney considered various ways of symbolizing this notion. /
begon drawing
them.
When we
circles
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; simple
got back to
New
little
sketches, but always with circles in
York, the Metropolitan
there would be an all-Stravinsky program, so
with
my
designs for
Hockney 's
it
or not? You
tell
I
still
hadn't decided if
asked, "Well, do
I
go ahead
me"
definite views helped persuade
their original idea of including Sacre. and
Dexter and Levine to return to
once that was
settled, there
were
animated discussions among the stage director, music director and designer
about the shape and tone of the evening. During those trialogues, according to Levine, a strong argument was advanced for beginning the program with the
ballet.
"We
we
thought
might have
prelude to the evening, because eclat of the piece.
a kind of
With the fairy tale
chance with Socre
a
Rossignol
Oedipus Rex at the end, the evening
if
it
were
a
shock effect would result from the
now
in
the middle and the monolithic
really
seemed representative of
Stravinsky's theatrical variety." In
these early planning sessions, suggestions and strong opinions
were
tossed around with exhilarating abandon by the three men, and as Levine recalls:
I'm not sure
if
any of us could
tell
you exactly how an idea got started.
Some of
our original meetings were fast-going layers of responses to the music, to things
we
liked
and
didn't like in stage presentation,
and
the house could do particularly well. There were even
work on the Stravinsky musical terms,
I
triple bill
in
design terms.
we thought during our
when David would express something
would express something
express something
to things
moments
It
was
in directorial
like three
in
terms, John would
people fusing into a single
creative unit, which almost never happens in such collaborations. Normally, one's functions
and
identity
remain very separate.
Though the composer had left a number of ideas on the staging of his works, Hockney nevertheless wanted his designs to reflect the unique spirit of each.
The three works were kinetic, with
distinctive,
one from the other Sacre was extremely
dancers rushing around. Rossignol was more
like
opera, with people moving about on stage. In contrast to both,
SÂŤ
wit/i
Dancers
II
drawing for Le iacre du Prmicmps
gouache on paper 21
Âť 29'/i
194
conventional
Oedipus was a
static narrative with music. 1
98
But the company's problems with Socre were the French triple
bill,
far
from over, because,
as in
the ballet proved to be the sticking point. Socre, like
r' If'
^ \
196
was
Satle's Parade, in
new
modernist icon and the question was
a
And because
terms.
delayed for so long, a
piece. This delay left
how
ballet.
the
late in
was
disciple,
game when
to present
it
Jean-Pierre Bonnefous,
to choreograph
selected
finally
the
opportunity for Hockney to collaborate with him
little
and he found himself operating
effectively
sure
was
it
George Balanchine
how
the decision to program the ballet had been
something of
in
a
vacuum, never
would work with Bonnefous's conception of the Consequently, the design process was a prolonged one. his
design ideas
me
Parade and Sacre took After
longer to design than the operas, which
crazy.
is
a ballet set doesn't even take up the stage; you leave most of it bare
all,
for dancing.
Some
Hockney 's
of
toward
frustration while designing Socre reflects his attitudes
design
ballet
general
in
Unlike
today.
the
20th-century
early
productions of Serge Diaghilev, designed by such painters as Picasso, Matisse
and Braque, those of such esteemed modernists
as Balanchine are virtually
without decor, the entire focus being on the dance
much about
Balanchine never cared that great
New
number of the
sets,
'York City Ballet's
productions,
me
curtains or black curtains. Lincoln Kirstein told bluntly said he did not stage. That's Eskimo
from
(Inuit)
St,
Mask
Michael.
circa
1880
that the
what he
New
itself.
because he didn't have
that
was
want abstract expressionists putting
said,
and
was
I
is
For a
his doing.
He
work on the
their
quite shocked, actually. There
'York City Ballet's tradition
to.
always been gray
it's
is
an empty stage. Frankly,
no doubt that's all
Norton Sound, right for a while, but personally
wood
I
like
theater a bit richer
Various recordings of Socre offered Hockney inspiration. Collection Lowie
Museum
of Anthropology,
Somehow
I
remembered
the music as being
University of California, Berkeley
A
more pulsating than
actually
it
is.
great deal of it seems to be an impressionistic description of a cold landscape.
At times,
it's
almost
Debussy, and Stravinsky's
like
own
interpretation
is
among
the most impressionistic.
Before Hockney and Dexter had decided that Socre should be bleak and northern, David had explored other approaches. At one point,
theme suggested the use
rite
soon abandoned that notion because such Stravinsky's ideas about the music.
des Champs-Elysees
in
Its
In
As Hockney
our decision,
was inconsistent with
its
The
in
of the original production
favor of a
ballet
more
Mosks
That can only happen
not about a quiet, dear
little
in
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; on
idea
overt sexual treatment
was about the dramatic change of
seasons from desolate, bleak and empty-looking winter
Primitive
Theatre
designer, the Russian painter Nicholas
to the idea
had thrown out
that featured near nudity.
spring.
at the
says,
we went back
that other people
a setting
premiere performance
1913 was given against a background of northern
steppes, an atmosphere created by
Roerich.
its fertility
of African masks and other tribal forms, but he
to
the fullness of
northern countries. No, Stravinsky's music was
springtime.
drawing for Le Socre du Pnnremps
gouache and crayon on paper 22/1 X 30
I
did about twenty-five models for the Sacre set
to see the effect of color
on
it,
and
I
would
while playing the music again
light
and
each one
again.
When 197
,
thought
had
I
fin-shed,
I
off to a
went
l,ttle
spo
,n
Germany, supposedly
to
Wallonon. As l.stened to ,t on wy Sony took the tape along and re/ox but only stayed wasn't qu.te right. In the end, des,gn my realized kept play,ng -t, went back to London rela. really couldn't away four days because found I
I
I
I
I
I
I
ond worked on
eye and
my
satisfactory to
eventually gettmg
some more,
,t
somethmg
that
was more
ear.
Te Metropolitan's opening night audience for the
Stravinsky tnple
curtain on which Stravinsky's greeted by an expansive drop
name and
vÂŤs
b.
b.rthdate
segments: green consisting of three color
tere emblazoned in a large circle Socre set v.as and red (for Oed,pus). The ^or Sacre). blue for (Ross.gnol), floor^wh ch suspended, and the other on the one discs, giant two omposed of ndhn thecurtain, which gradually materialized through fose.
Hockney intended these monumental
became transparent
circles
to function symbolically,
the cosmos. Miapestine images of the earth and
^The
;ofo:s on the hang.ng d,sc
were
v,r,d,an green,
altermg a few and ultran.ar,ne. By s,mply
whole mood. Under
;:ted
sl,ghtly blue l.ght the
l,ghts,
"^clt b.e^purp e
we were
o^^^^
able to change the
suspended crcle w,th the landscape
treesweredeeppurple, they turnedawarm on ,twentcold. Because the was e rth,tse projected on the d,sc. The stage
brown when red
l-ght
was
,ce or a lake.
Under yellow
the floor could represent tonld and the blue orcle on suggested vegetation. ,uâ&#x20AC;&#x17E; light it turned green and ^ the suggested pagan Russia orcled of roughfabric that â&#x20AC;˘
,
Dancer incostumes painted faces of thed.^^^^^^^^^^^^^ .a^Twh: was about to be sacnficed. The frenetic exotic attire and their
movements were reminiscent
of Sacre s
^tt;rH:i:'::::s---ifuiKoss.gnoiaren..^ related to the French triple
evening Although
it
bill
than to
its
companion pieces
in
^he St
character of ancient reflects the ceremonial
a-n ky
China
,t is
o.-gr-ois a
Instead in Sacre and Oed,pus. devoid of the wf ighty symbolism nature message is the superiority of fairy tale whose
s
creations
elaborate
of truth over artifice. over man-made imitations, and elegance shimmering music embodies the Hockney's view, Stravinsky's transpare emperor's court. The music s Chinese the of re^nement an to emulate glazes, a quality he sought quality brings to '"
^tr
mind delicate porcelain
Strownsky began the piece
abandoned
,t
and
in
didn't start writing
1909. before
on
it
again
- ;- Fireb^^then until
1913
after Sacre.
sounds a bit disconnect gap, the Rossignol score Be a of tbis vast a simple seen from gone you've ,s way Another r ason it sounds that by Anthony Dowell) lashore, with the fisherman (danced
Study for Costumes on the Stoge
drawing for
U Socre du Pnntemps
gouache on paper ll'A X 30
1981
.
ah
stylistic
telling
you
abou^^^^^^^
Chinese court v.th its b za e elaborate setting ofthe nightingale's song, to the undulating music suddenly goes from soft^ the happens, that antics When music, so the gagged lines ofthe capture to wanted to Harsh angles. the palace. represent to how quite a while to figure out
rhytL it
I
took
199
His research
chlnolserle
In
inevitably
led
to the Victoria and Albert
Museum. remembered those
/
actually visited
my
collections from
them
some
for
and though
art school days
fifteen years.
I
went
they were installed and took about one hundred and
fifty
photographs
started scrutinizing those pieces, something I'd never done before
Chinese porcelain comes
in all
seem
19th-century pieces
hadn't
I
where
stroight to the gallery I
really
Of course,
kinds of colors from different periods. The late
excessive, like Victorian England, whereas earlier
ones were more beautiful.
I
eventually settled on the early
1
8th-century blue-
and-white pieces, because they were covered with wonderful representations of
and
the sea, mountains
Hockney painted to capture the
The
buildings.
directly and freely
onto
his
cardboard set models, trying
of Chinese brushwork on the blue-and-white porcelain.
spirit
resulting design featured a large, elaborately decorated platter shape,
which was the floor of the emperor's
palace. In the
Met production,
this disc
rested on a sharply raked stage painted black. Intersecting this circle was a rectangular
tali,
of palace walls.
on which appeared
flat In
a
highly stylized representation
the scene outside the palace, distant mountains
suggested by cutout silhouettes placed behind one another on the
were
tilted stage.
Hockney s recent trip to China with Stephen Spender and Gregory Evans may have provided the source of these fantastic shapes. They had visited the Kui Lin Mountains, where Hockney made numerous sketches and photographs.
Consistent with the tonality of the overall design, the emperor and
his
wore sumptuous blue-and-white robes and Hockney, possibly by the elaborate makeup of the classical Chinese opera, adorned the
courtiers inspired
faces of these lofty personages with abstract designs. Their attendants, the
chorus, carried indicated by a
flat,
painted masks on long poles.
few quickly brushed, curving
lines;
The masks' features were both sides of the lollipop
shapes were painted, one with white brush strokes on a blue
with blue marks on
a
field,
the other
white background. Despite the profusion of forms and
textures on stage, Hockney kept
his
design monochromatic.
The only other colors you see are the red and gold costumes of the Japanese Models for the
silk
drop (top) and the Chinese cooa
for the Metropolitan
in
ambassadors who bring
in
costumes were intended
to
the gaudy mechanical nightingale.
Their flashy
Le Ro$$Âťgno(.
Open. 98 1
considered them and
all
Hockney
hand
also had a
make them
look like the barbarians the Chinese
other foreigners to be. in
programming the movement on
stage.
One
challenge he and John Dexter faced was to devise an elaborate procession that
Down
with Orchestra
dnwng for le Rossignol
would culminate
producing the opera to 1
be
M
Chinese court, and
200
fill
this
march, he
left it
up to those
the time on stage as best they could. This would
98
crayon on paper < 17
the arrival of the emperor. Though Stravinsky had
in
provided some four minutes of music for
(opposite)
a fine
opportunity,
Hockney thought, to emphasize the opulence of the
how
better than with a parade featuring the fantastic
201
n\
\\
were
animals that
He
part of the emperor's collection.
Chinese history and
consulted books on
painting.
an in which people were carrying all sorts of decided that our procession should include porcelain animals, porcelain
found examples of Chinese
/
things.
I
and two porcelain
flowers
fact,
among
giraffes,
Chinese animals but, after
all,
realize giraffes aren't
I
In
even found a picture of giraffes that had been sent to China. Also,
I
elephants were sent to the emperor as
them and they
look after
we decided
China,
died.
know how
to
Because dragons have special meaning
in
have a blue one
to
that the Chinese emperor's court
was easy
why
to see
the people
but his people didn't
gifts,
our procession. All the animals were
in
We
carried around in a circle by attendants.
show
other things.
emperor could have anything he wanted.
the
decided to use
this
was a very ceremonial
who
occasion to
place,
lived there preferred the
and so
it
mechanical
nightingale to the real one. The book Chinese Opera and Painted Face was the source for the mask patterns
in
Hockney's ie Rossignol
represents a specific
In
During the Chinese
trip
Hockney made drawings of stone animals
Chinese opera each mask
mood of one of the
major character types.
camels and dragon-headed creatures
tombs.
In
— along
Way
the Spirit
—
lions,
of the Ming
transmuted form, some of these images found their way into
Rossignol's procession. In
contrast to the richly attired mandarins, the true nightingale, danced by
the elegant ballerina Natalia Makarova, was a subdued-looking creature
in
a
gray-toned leotard. The costume Hockney provided was too bland for the
dancer /
who
asked him to embellish
painted a few marks on
more because she was
it
it
a
the suggestion will be is
In
its
Of
/
It
but the choreography told me, no,
through the dancer's movements
when she was
Rossignol.
Nevertheless, the
was.
it
was
light years
a
Chinese
strongly attracted to
artist,
had a recording
of"
Oedipus
has an amazing feeling of in
in
London which
solidity
—
it's
the theater, only in a concert fit
this
I
its
hadn't played for a long time.
like granite.
hall.
My
actionless,
its
raised slightly
seated on a
plot
is
I
had never seen
problem was
to
it
make one
spoken drama.
opportunities for Hockney to exercise his
and Masks
— and
out of the tree,
which had the elusive quality of
Based on the Sophocles tragedy, Oedipus Rex at
Courtiers
lifted
like wings.
sensibilities.
strong image
gouache on paper
much
story and powerful music, rose to the challenge.
performed
drawing for ie Rossignot
she didn't need
had sketched costumes
the three Stravinsky pieces, Oedipus was the most foreign to
Hockney's fateful
I
relentless gravity, the opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex
from the evanescent scroll.
made
unbelievably beautiful, and
her arms fluttered
glad to oblige.
so convincing on stage. Earlier,
for the nightingale that included wings,
Makarova
He was
bit.
to suggest bird feathers, but
intoned by a seated narrator
above the orchestra.
dais, rise in
On
first
lyrical
seemed to
offer
few
inventiveness. Virtually
whose
throne-like chair
stage, the protagonists,
who
is
are
turn to sing Cocteau's portentous words.
1981
Consistent with the intent of Stravinsky and Cocteau, Hockney decided to
emphasize Oedipus's monolithic quality and to present
it
as a heroic tableau.
203
To heighten
aspect, he
its ritualistic
expanded
it
beyond the confines of the
Met's great stage, attempting to dissolve the boundaries between performers
and audience.
he determined to transform the Met house into
In fact,
Greek theater and to make the In his
and auditorium, Hockney thought
efforts to unite the stage
of a giant circle that would continue the sweep of the tiers
backdrop. His
initial
at rear stage
and
row
in
show two columns rather than
designs also
a
a vast
entire auditorium part of the setting.
of masks
on the curving
walls.
In
terms
in
the curved
one
a single
the premiere
production the curved background was retained, but the masks painted on
were too
faintly
work
these the next time the
One
presented.
is
of the biggest problems
Among
large chorus.
designing Oedipus was
in
a giant, crate-like structure
in
the protagonists. This was abandoned
In
where to
In
favor of seating
Its
members
For
quality, as
design.
all
of
Hockney 's theater
much the
result of
The music began
in
designs.
It
was not
had
final
level,
a collection of
a definite
even lighting
stark,
its
set
the
heavy
two-dimensional
as its simple, frontal
darkness, with a single spotlight focused on the
Anthony Dowell. Suddenly, the whole
narrator,
front
step, then the chorus and finally the principals.
monumental form, the Oedipus
all Its
masses. Like
level of in
the
In effect,
design formed a monumental staircase: the orchestra on the ground first
its
which the chorus would
downstage and below the
of the high dais from which the leads sang their roles.
narrator on the
place
was one reminiscent of Hockney 's
solutions considered
design for the Bedlam scene of The Rake's Progress
be "housed"
it
defined for Hockney 's taste, and he plans to strengthen
stage
was
Illuminated.
In
contrast to the dramatic coloration of Socre and the hazy blue tonality of
was intense and unvarying, the only addition
Rossignol. the lighting of Oedipus
being the circles of
light
projected on the ponderous white masks held over
the singers' heads by Immobile attendants. /
was constantly thinking about
actors
and audiences shared
large that
masks with
in
the
Greek drama and the great space that
those old stone amphitheaters. They were so
various facial expressions were
needed so everyone
knew where you were
could see the actors from a distance. You always
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; on
stone steps looking at performers, because the Metropolitan Opera House
made up of
certain elements
shape of the auditorium
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
on
its
sides so they
was the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
the proscenium
made them
thought of the simple device of projecting lines of
would look in
like
port of the design. Because
was engulfed Roman
architectural decorations at
Herculaneum and Pompeii,
drawn by Giovanni Battisu Casanova,
204
circa
1
760.
In as
in
block
tie.
wanted
Greek columns. The shapes and
color of the carpet: the chorus in black tie
in
I
colors
the auditorium; the large red circle on the
black and white pattern of the orchestra below
audience was also
is
and curving
I
on stage echoed what you saw dais
couldn't alter
/
to destroy the proscenium, light
I
it.
so everything blended
becomes part of the
On opening
night,
the
and the whole theater
the work
addition to Joseph Clark,
who helped Hockney give large-scale form to his
conceptions, the artist had the enthusiastic counsel of Gil Wechsler, the
Studies for Mechanical Nightingale
drawing for Le Rossignol
1981
gouache and tempera on paper
Study of Masks
for
Chorus
drawing for Oedipus Rex
gouache on paper
205
Chorus with Masks abort their Heods
drawing for Oedipus Rei
1981
gouache ind tempera on paper W'fy *
Blind
JO
Mask
for
Oedipus
drawing (or Oedipus Rex
gouache on paper
206
1
98
company's resident
lighting designer.
was predicated on
a fusion of color
beginning to have realized.
The
which the
artist
some had
Because so much of Hockney's design and light, it was necessary from the
clear ideas about
come
illumination
a long
of
painted
his
how
these objectives would be
way from the Glyndebourne experience was handled almost
sets
afterthought. Thanks to the elaborate model of the miniature lighting system, which was sent to his
as
Met stage, coupled with
in
an its
London studio byjohn Dexter,
Hockney could
build color changes into his designs. Because his
work was depending more on painted illusion than actual volume dynamism was achieved through the interaction of light and color.
essentially posteresque,
much
of
its
This was certainly true of the epic garden scene
which the great red tree
metamorphoses was
as
in
UEnfant
et les Sortileges in
at center stage
underwent extraordinary color the opera's mood changed from menace to warmth; and it
certainly the case with Socre
in
which
startling seasonal
changes were
effected by colors projected
alchemy was light,
Gil
on the huge landscape disc. The wizard of this Wechsler who, sympathetic to Hockney's desire to paint with
came up with ingenious
solutions that fully utilized the
technology of the Met's lighting system. For the Stravinsky production, Wechsler fiddled with the intricate
model of the Met
recalls,
complex
Hockney constantly
stage, listening to the music and
trying out lighting ideas. Hockney's approach to opera design was equal parts enthusiasm and innocence, and, as Wechsler puts it, he saw things on stage with a painter's eye.
David designed sets to be seen from edge to edge, like a painting, and created atmosphere with color rather than with other theatrical techniques, such as texture, light or shadow. David doesn't talk in theatrical termsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; he doesn't use the jargon of the theater but always talks about the way he sees. He has a certain naivete that never changes. That means he can always .
.
look at things with a fresh eye and doesn't lose sight of what he's set out to do.
The images created by Hockney on the Met's clearly affected
stage, says Wechsler, have
opera audiences.
They're not used to looking at things on stage that
way The techniques that David has used are very oldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;paint on canvas and, aside from the props, flat scenery But the way he's used color has been re-thought completely It's as if David had said, "Okay, I don't want to think about the last 300 years. I'm doing this particular
opera,
how
will
I
make
it
live
on stage?"
207
Curtain Call
Hockney's work design
Is
In
painting, drawing, printmaking,
photography and theater
of a piece, but his periods of concentration
In
one area are
When
occasions for developing Ideas that carry over into others. a project
It
total
Its
shift
his
work on
of his career. While
seem
filling
Not
The of his In
In his
In
the studio.
monumental
an isolated aspect
In his
same
case the
own
and
public arena of the opera, but the in his
opera designs periodically
from Glyndebourne and the Metropolitan resulted
was ready
creative work. In both instances he
each case
Is
proscenium with changing Images would
reverse. Images that evolve
in
However
commonality of form, color
paintings.
Invitations
most
a giant
The same
only do his two-dimensional Ideas hold their
translate admirably to the
process works
a
bill.
of Hockney's work.
other extreme from painting
at the
sensibility prevails.
surface
all
little else.
where theater design
well past the point
Is
on
the Stravinsky triple
from one medium to another,
and attitude about space underlies
Hockney
the design of Parade began he was so
resolution that he could focus
Immersion describes
abrupt the
Once
can be all-consuming.
preoccupied with
usually
he takes on
It
meant
leaving the sanctuary of the studio
control and subordinating narrative with music.
It
for
new
in
some
challenges.
where he had
total
impulses to the requirements of a
his creative
meant an interaction with other strong egos,
knowledgeable about music and theater
meant frequent compromise and the
as he
was about
realization that
painting.
some
designs
It
as
also
work
better on paper than on the stage. While he accepted these conditions readily,
he by no means confined
his
contributions at Glyndebourne and the
Metropolitan to costume and scenic design. While open to the suggestions of others for the look of a particular set element, he regarded himself as an equal partner
in
determining the overall
spirit
Parade was especially important, because
of a production. it
offered him an opportunity
to apply a spontaneous, painterly approach to theater design. fantasy
208
was expressed on stage
in
The music's
large areas of high-intensity hues. Similar
qualities characterize the vibrant California landscape paintings that followed Parade. The Stravinsky triple bill generated an entirely different fallout. This
time, instead of continuing those images
in paintings, Hockney took another with making large, photomosaic compositions consisting of figures in interiors and panoramic landscapes. Though these do not have direct associations with his theater sets, some relationship does exist. These faceted images, composed of dozens of overlapping Kodak prints, like his theater sets, are centralized and symmetrical. As in his theater
tack.
He became obsessed
designs,
we
are conscious of layers of
indeterminate space. There
in
is
flat
systematic photo analysis of a subject and 1970s. Just painting
is
how
far
the hyper-realism of
from
photographs might
clear.
It
his
exist
between Hockney 's
compulsive academicism of the
current photography
his
could even have a reverse
satisfy his craving for
move toward Hockney 's set designs
could well
planes that, cubist fashion
also a relationship
complex
effect.
will affect his
Because making
description, his painting
a greater informality.
are gigantic paintings with movable parts. His forms
are a subtle fusion of innocence and wisdom; his line
is fluent and effortless, but arriving at this appearance of insouciance can be a rocky process. He makes
endless sketches and cardboard models, waxing enthusiastic about an idea it out the next. He thinks on paper, and in the middle of a conversation is quite apt to begin drawing, sometimes oblivious of the fact
one day and tossing that
someone
across
the table is waiting for an answer He always travels with a heavy portmanteau stuffed with sketch pads, Japanese brushes, colored pencils and tubes of gouache, not to mention endless rolls of film. When he is tired of drawing, Hockney begins clicking away with his
armed, he
is
Except for
a simple set, designed for Sir Frederick Ashton's ballet Varii
Capnca which had
its
New
York debut
at the
spring of 1983, and sets and costumes for
which opened
in
New
W.
possibility that
he
will
Metropolitan Opera
in
the
H. Auden's Paid on Both Sides.
York on 12 May 1983, Hockney has for the present'
taken a leave from theater design but, given
on the
Pentax. Thus, well
ready for any eventuality.
his
passion for
desert the studio again for
a
it,
there
is
every
few exhilarating months
stage.
209
Hockney Biography
1937-57
Bom
in
Bradford
in
Taught
Yorkshire. England on 9 July 1937
American
at various
between 1964 and 1967:
universities
the University of Iowa. Iowa City; the University of Colorado.
Studied at the Bradford School of Art from 1953-57.
Boulder; the University of California, Los Angeles and Berkeley.
1957-59
As
a conscientious ob|ector did hospital
two
service for
work
instead of national
Extensive travel
One-man 1959-62
Studied at the Royal College of Art where the American
Art
Ron Kita| and other founding members of the Pop Art movement were classmates
In
painter
A
large exhibition of
work by
draftsmanship and the scope of
a
in
New
to
York City
a series of etchings.
of his experiences
in
in
RBA
1961
New
Upon
Progress, a
exhibition of prints at
in
brilliant
Galleries.
the early
1
In
return, began
meuphonc
work
account
in
1961
Awarded in
1
1966. five
one-man exhibitions at the Stedeli|k
the Gold
increasingly
paintings at
Museum. Amsterdam. Also in Court Theatre to design
Ubu
Roi
1
in artifice
One-man
exhibitions of prints at Kasmin Gallery and paintings at Gallery.
New
living
there
a Polaroid
in
Tales
Gallery, Manchester, illustrating Six Foiry
his etchings.
January 1964.
camera and working
with acrylic paints; paint surfaces become thinner and smoother Fascination with southern California landscape reflected
dating from the mid- 960s.
York One-man paintings and
Whitworth Art
Surted work on set of etchings from the Brothers Grimm.
England.
Seven one-man exhibitions to Los Angeles; began
his
paintings
Kasmin Gallery. London,
1963 London's Alecto Gallery showed
Began making photographs with
in
in
1970, including a ma|or
retrospective David Hockney Pointings, Prints at^d Drawings
1960-70
at the
Whitechapel Art Gallery. London, and an
exhibition of paintings at Galerie Springer, Berlin
work Continued work on double-portraits, commuted between California and England Jack Hazan began work on A Bigger Splosh, a film
210
Europe, including an
in 968 With a good 35mm camera, made photographic studies as references for
Andre Emmerich
1
in
1966. commissioned by London's Royal
the production of Alfred Jarry's
ond Don Sachardy
962
960s characterized by interest
one-man exhibition of
First trip
Modern
Co/lectors (Fred
in
Traveled to Egypt at the invitation of London's Sundoy Times
late in
of
Began painting large double-portraits, including Americon ond Morcio Weismon) and Chnslopher Isherwood
Etching at The Graven Image
London; also awarded prize
theatricality.
First
Museum
1965. one-man exhibition of paintings organized by the Kasmin Gallery; among group exhibitions. Hockney represented in London; The New Scene organized by Walker Art Center.
prints exhibition at
1963-68
York's
exhibition of paintings at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Brussels,
Medal upon graduation from the Royal College
and
New
York.
John Moore's Liverpool exhibition
Work from
and Europe
tremendous
his inventions.
A Rokes
Won the Guinness Award for exhibition at
US
1964.
and of drawings First visit
the
British
Picasso at the Tate Gallery
London during the summer of I960 made
impression on Hockney. particularly Picasso's
on
in
years.
about Hockney
s life
and
work
One-man exhibitions at Kasmin Gallery and Emmerich Gallery. Moved to Paris In September 1973 where he remained until November 975. A major one-man exhibition of paintings and
Commissioned by John Dexter of the Metropolitan Opera in New York to design sets and costumes for Parade, a triple bill
drawings. David Hackney. Tableaux et Dessins. organized by the
Metropolitan's production of a Stravinsky triple
Musee des Arts Decoratifs. Palais du Louvre. 974, presented seminal Hockney works made between 1961 and 1974.
following season.
with music by
1
1
One-man
Worked
with Aldo Crommelynck, Picasso's master printer, on
series of etchings in
memory
who
of Picasso,
died
in
a
Gallery.
1974. invited by John
Opera
Cox
the
Emmerich
York, and Knoedler Gallery, London,
in
1980.
1973.
of the Glyndebourne Festival
England to design costumes and sets for Stravinsky's
in
bill
exhibition of Hockney's Paper Pools at
New
May and June 98 traveled to China with Stephen Spender and Gregory Evans. Also in 1981, drawings and paintings made for Parade shown at Emmerich Gallery. In
In
Poulenc and Ravel. Designed the
Satie.
1
1
,
The Soke's Progress. Several exhibitions of photographs held
Produced
a
backdrop for the
Ballet
Petit ballet. Septentrion. staged
in
1
de Marseilles's new Roland
975
before the premiere
just
at the
in
1
982. including Dovid
Centre Georges Pompidou which
made up
of
many
of The Rake's Progress. Invited to collaborate again with
separate Polaroid photographs of a subject from multiple
Glyndebourne on
viewpoints and reflecting
1978 production of Mozart's The Magic
a
Nine one-man exhibitions of Hockney's in
his
long-time fascination with Cubism
and Picasso.
Flute.
1975-78
Hockney Pholographe
featured Hockney's large composite works,
drawings held
prints and
Hockney continues to
paint,
make
prints and photographs, and
to collaborate on theatrical productions.
1975. including print retrospectives at the Gallery d'eendt.
Amsterdam. Galerie Bleue. Stockholm, the Aalborg Museum,
exhibition Hockr^ey Paints the Stage
Denmark and
examination of the
exhibitions of prints and drawings at the Galerie
artist's
work
is
the
Walker Art Center's first
comprehensive
for the theater
Claude Bernard. Pans, and the Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago.
In
1976,
made
a series of large-scale lithographs
which were portraits of with photography. Also
in
Los Angeles
in
Began more extensive work
friends.
1976.
numerous one-man shows
in
Europe, Australia and the U.S. including a print retrospective at
Museum. Copenhagen, an exhibition of drawings
Louisiana
at
Nicholas Wilder Gallery. Los Angeles, an exhibition of prints at the Australian National Gallery. Melbourne, and an exhibition of
drawings and prints
at
both Kasmin and Waddington
galleries,
London.
Between 1976 and Stevens's 1
poem
1977.
The
Man
made
In
1978.
two ma|or one-man
drawings circulated Prints
in
and
dating
Ink,
U.S.:
Dovid Hockney:
DC:
involvement
and Dovid Hockney. Travels with
organized by the Tate Gallery, London.
from the mid- 970s reflected a renewed 1
absorption with invention and
A
of
exhibitions of Hockney's prints and
Europe and the
Foundation, Washington,
1979-83
much
flute.
and Drawings organized by the International Exhibitions
Pen, Pencil
Work
etchings inspired by Wallace
with the 8/ue Guitar. Spent
977 on designs for The Magic
in
artifice, in
part resulting from
stage design.
retrospective of Hockney's complete print oeuvre. from 1954
to 1977, organized by the Midland
Group Gallery
association with the Scottish Arts Council
in
in
England
in
1979.
211
Selected Bibliography
BeeKs
72 Drawings by David Hockney. Chosen by tbe Artist
The Blue Guitar: etchings by David Hockney
New
who was who was
Reproduces
inspired by Wallace Stevens
The Viking
York:
ink
Press. 1971
and crayon drawings dating from
1
963 to
1
97
1
,
No
text-
inspired by Pablo Picasso
London: Petersburg Press.
1
978
from the Brothers
Six Fairy Tales
Etchings by David Hockney. with text by Wallace Stevens. The
Blue Guitar. 20 etchings reproduced
in
Man
\
color
London: Petersburg Press
Grimm
association
in
i
Kasmin Gallery.
ith
1
970.
With etchings by Hockney
Dovid Hockney by Dovid Hockney
Spender. Stephen and Hockney. David
London: Thames and Hudson. 1976;
China Diary.
New York: Harry N Abrams. Inc.. 1979. A revealing and enterummg autobiography,
New iilh
434
illustrations
and
lengthy text by the artist
N
York: Harry
Abrams.
Spender and Hockney in
the spring of
1
98
1
.
s
Inc..
account of
1982. a
three-week
trip to
China taken
with photographs, watercolors and crayon sketches
by Hockney.
David Hockney. photographs
London and
New
Published
conjunction with a 1982 exhibition at Centre Georges
in
York: Petersburg Press. 1982
Stangos. Nikos, ed.
Paper Pools
Pompidou.
New
York: Harry N. Abrams.
Inc..
1980.
how Hockney came upon
Text describes
the idea of the Paper Pool series.
David Hockney. 23 Lithographs 1978-80.
New
York: Tyler Graphics Ltd.. 1980
Stangos. Nikos. ed.
Excellent reproduction quality.
Pictures by
David Hockney
London: Thames and Hudson. 18 Portraits by David
Hockney
Los Angeles: Gemini
GEL.
Details of
Hockney
s large
1
976 and
1
979,
Based largely on Dovid Hockney by David Hockney.
1977.
lithographs of
1
976 are reproduced
No
text
Catalogues Bare. Gene.
Livingstone. Marco.
David Hockney:
David Hockney
Washington. D.
New
York; Holt. Rinehart and Winston.
Stylistic
developments
in
Hockney
literature, music, the theater
s
1
Prints
and Drawings
C The :
International Exhibitions Foundation. 1978.
98
art are
viewed
in
relation to sexuality.
and the history of painting
Brighton.
Andrew,
Dovid Hockney
prints
1954-77
Nottingham. England: Midland Group Gallery
A
Rake's Progress
London: Lion and Unicom Press. Etchings by Hockney.
1
967.
association with the
Hockney up to the Hockney s graphic work
Full-page illustrations of the 2 1 8 prints published by
beginning of
to that date
212
in
Scottish Arts Council and Petersburg Press. 1979
1
977 This
is
the catalogue raisonne of
.
.
David Hockney Drawings,
Geldzahler. Henry.
Minneapolis: Dayton's Gallery
1974.
12.
"Hockney Abroad: Art
David Hockney: Travels with Pen, Penal and
London; Petersburg Press. 1978.
A
A
Slide
Show."
America, February 1981. pp 126-41.
Gosling. Nigel.
produced to accompany an American touring
substantial catalogue
in
Ink.
exhibition of Hockney's prints and drawings. Introduction by
Edmund
"Things Exactly as They Are." Horizon,
November
1
977. pp 46-5
1
Pillsbury.
*Heyworth. Peter Glazebrook. Mark.
"Hockney's dazzling
David Hockney: Paintings, prints and drawings 1960-70.
Flute."
The Observer (London). 4 July 1978.
London: Whitechapel Gallery. 1970. Includes an interview with the artist.
*Hunt. Christopher
From A to The."
"Progress.
Image
in Process.
San Francisco Opera Magazine,
Summer
1982. pp 28-33.
London: Grabowski Gallery, 1962.
group exhibition
Early
which Hockney was represented.
in
*Levin. Bernard.
"Hockney and The Magic Bowness. Alan and Friedman. Martin
New
London: The Minneapolis:
Group
The Times (London).
1
he next be called into The Ring?'
Flute: will
4 July 1978.
Scene.
Walker Art Center. 1965. Pop artists in which Hockney
exhibition of British
'Mann. William. participated.
"Hockney's
Festival Flute in Full Flair"
The Times (London). 29 May 1978.
Uwe
Schneede.
Pop Art
in
M.
England: beginning of a
New Figuration
1947-63.
*McEwen. John.
Hamburg: Kunstverein Hamburg. 1976. Hockney's early work
is
set
in
"David Hockney Sets the Stage."
context.
Portfolio,
Spender. Stephen and Restany. Pierre.
David Hockney, Tableaux
Musee des Arts
Pans:
Text
in
Russell, John.
et Dessins.
"David Hockney
Decoratifs. Palais du Louvre. 1974.
French and English, including an interview with the
Thompson. David.
New
The
March-April 1981. pp 68-70.
The
"The
Generation
New
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;A
Storyteller
Without Words."
York Times, Gallery View. 26 February
1
978.
artist.
The
Spirit of 1917."
New
York Review of Books, 30 April
1
98
1
.
pp 40-43.
London: Whitechapel Gallery. 1964 Early
group show
in
which Hockney was represented.
Shapiro. David.
"David Hockney paints a Portrait."
Articles Bailey.
*
Relates to Hockney's stage designs
New
The
Art News,
May
1969. pp
28-31. 64-66.
Anthony.
"Profiles: Special Effect."
*Smith. Philip.
pp 35-69.
Yorker, 30 July 1979.
"Sets and
Costumes by David Hockney." pp 86-91.
Arts Mogozine. April 1981.
Baro. Gene.
"The
British Scene:
Arts Magazine,
Hockney and
Kitaj."
Stadler.
May-June 1964, pp 94-101.
Peter
"Elements of pop
in
Rake's Progress."
The Daily Telegraph (London). 23 July 1975. Bowling. Frank.
"A
Shift in Perspective."
Arts Magazine,
Summer
*Swan. Annalyn. 1969. pp 24-27.
"The Rite of
Stravinsky."
Newsweek, 14 December 1981, p "David Hockney The
New
in
129.
conversation with R.B. Kitai"
Review. January-February 1977. pp 75-77.
Von Bonin. Wibke. "Hockney's Graphic Art."
Davis, Peter G. "Masks, Magic and Myths
New
York. 2
1
December
1
98
1
,
p 7
at
The Met."
Arts
Magazine.
Summer
1969. pp 52-53.
1
213
Selected Opera Bibliography
W
Beaumont. Cyril
L'Opera au Palais Gamier (1875-1962) Pans: L'Entracte
Wolff. Stephane
New
and Present London and
6o//ei Design. Past
(the annals of the Paris Opera), 1962.
York:
Studio. 1946
White. Eric Walter. Strovinsky The Composer ond His Works Berkeley and Buckle. Richard Diaghilev,
.
Nijinsky.
New
New
York Atheneum Pubs
York: Simon
&
Schuster.
1979
.
Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966.
Zenger. Maximillen and Deutsch. Otto Erich. Mozort und seine Welt
1971.
Inc..
in
zeitgenossischen Bildern (Series X: Supplement vol. of the complete edition Chailly. Jacques.
New
The Magic
Flute,
York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Masonic Opera. (Trans Herbert Weinstock)
Inc..
of Mozart's works). Cassel: Barenreiter. 1961,
1971
Selected Discography Cooper. Douglas Picasso Theatre.
New
York: Harry
N
Abrams.
Inc..
Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus
1968.
Die Zouber/Iote (The Magic Flute).
Cooper. Martin. French Music From
London and
New
York:
the death of&erlioz to the death ofFaure.
Oxford University
Lemnitz. Berger. Roswaenge. Husch. Strienz. Tessmer. et
Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, cond.
Press. Inc.. 1961.
LC-6129.
New
Craft. Robert. Strovinsky Chronicle of a Friendship.
Knopf.
of style. Unfortunately,
Editonale.
(
I
I
vols.)
Rome: Le Maschere- Unione
1
1954-68
al.
Berlin
Thomas Beecham (Seraphim
it
in
1937.
it
remains a model
does not contain the dialogue. For more modern
The Seraphim 983 re-release, and has been excellently mastered and the surfaces are
recordings Enciclopedia dello spettacolo
Sir
mono.)
The one and only version! Although made
York: Alfred A.
1972.
Inc..
3 discs,
in
quiet (which
glittering sound, consult current catalogues
was often not the case with
is
a
earlier reissues of this classic
recording).
Gold. Arthur and Fizdale. Robert. Misia. Inc..
New
York: Alfred A. Knopf.
1980.
Poulenc. Francis. Les
Lederman. Minna
New
(ed,). Stravinsky in the Theatre.
York: Pellegrini
&
Mamelles de
Tiresias.
Duval. Giraudeau. et
The only recording Seroff. Victor
al.
Orchestra and Chorus of the Theatre National de
rOpera-Comique. cond, Andre Cluytens (Angel 35090,
Cudahy. 1949.
1.
Ravel.
New
York:
Henry
Holt. 1953
years ago.
it is
Brown & Co
Little.
.
1970
work ever made. Although
I
disc,
mono.)
issued nearly thirty
performance replete with Gallic wit. The original handsome booklet with photographs of the first production, a short essay on Poulenc by Claude Rostand, a statement
a definitive
issue contains a
Stecgmuiler. Francis. Cocteou. Boston:
of the
drawings by Erte.
by the composer and a bilingual libretto with an English prose translation by Stravinsky.
New
Vera and Craft. Robert. Strovinsky
York: Simon
&
Schuster.
in
Pictures
and Documents.
Sherry Mangan.
1978.
Inc..
Ravel. Maurice.
Stravinsky, Igor (ed. and with
Utters. Vol.
I.
New
commentaries by Robert
York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Inc..
Craft). Selected
i'Enfant et les Sortileges.
Wyner. Auger. Berbie. Langndge. Bastm, et
1982
al.
London Symphony
Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers, cond. Andre Previn (Angel Stravinsky, Igor and Craft, Robert. Conversotions with Igor Stravinsky.
NY.: Doubleday & Co.,
City.
Inc.,
Garden
DS 37869
I
disc, stereo/digital.)
Superb sound and
I9S9
a delightful
Lorin Maazel on Deutsche .
Inc..
Memories ond Commentaries. Garden
City.
NY:
Doubleday &
Co
compare to the one
.
performance.
Grammophon
is
A
1961 recording conducted by
also
still
available,
but
it
cannot
listed here,
I960. Satie. Erik. .
Expositions and Developments.
Garden
City.
NY:
Doubleday &
Co
.
Parade.
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Philippe Entremont, (Columbia
M Oiologues and a Diary. Garden City.
Themes ond Episodes
New
NY:
York: Alfred
Doubleday &
A
Knopf. Inc
.
Co
1
Thompson. Kenneth. A Oictionory of Twentieth-Century Composers (191 -197 1). New York: St. Martins Press, Inc.. 1973 1
214
966
30294.
I
disc, stereo.)
Philharmonia Orchestra, cond. Igor Markevitch. album, Angel 3518 C. 3
The Angel album was however,
document
a
Homage
(In
Le Sacre du Prmtemps.
to Diaghilew
The Columbia Symphony Orchestra, cond. the composer. (Columbia
mono.)
discs,
issued
1954 and
in
is
unfortunately out of print.
It
is,
of the Ballets Russes and contains a sumptuously
designed brochure printed by Mercure of Pans. The cover of
reproduces Picasso's drop curtain for the
original
this
production of Parade,
Masterworks
MS
6319,
I
disc, stereo.)
many with made even more
Although there are nearly a dozen
recordings available,
spectacular digital sound, this
to obtain.
valuable by an introductory talk by the
It is
is
the version
composer. Apropos of'Le Sacre." which deals with the history of
and there are scores of black-and-white photographs, color plates and
this musical
landmark.
Kochno (Diaghilev's secretary) and balletomane par excellence, Cyril W. Beaumont. The conductor, the late Igor Markevitch, was Diaghilev's last protege. The more recent Entremont album contains essays by Boris
several other Satie scores, including Relache.
Stravinsky, Igor
Oedipus Rex-
Gramm, Reardon. Watson,
Verett, Driscoll, Shirley,
Colicos. Orchestra and
Chorus of the Opera Society of Washington. D.C., cond. the composer (In Stravinsky. The Recorded Legacy album, Columbia Masterworks LXS 36940. 31
discs, stereo.)
McCowen. London Georg Solti.
Pears, Meyer, Mclntyre, Dean, Ryland Davies, Luxon.
Philharmonic Orchestra and John Alldis Choir, cond.
(London
I
168/5.
The composer's own interpretation blooded, which suits the work. that gathers together
to
commemorate
all
of his
the
in
It is
is
authoritative and curiously cold-
currently only available
works recorded under
the Stravinsky centenary
The
for dedicated Stravinskians.
outstanding
Sir
disc, stereo.)
I
Solti disc
in
is
I
982,
in
a brilliant one;
Pears
and Alec McCowen's narration
title role,
album
a lavish
his supervision. Issued
this collection
is
is
a
must
is
excellent.
Le Rossignol. Grist, Driscoll,
Gramm,
et
al.
Orchestra of the Opera Society of
Washington, D.C., cond. the composer album, Columbia Masterworks
The only recording
available,
collection described above.
(In Stravinsky.
LXS 36940.
and
(at
The Recorded Legacy
31 discs, stereo.)
the present time of writing) only
The performance
is
sung
in
in
the
the original Russian
and may be considered authoritative.
The Rake's Progress. Raskin, Sarfaty, Young. Garrard. Manning. Miller. Reardon. Tracy. Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sadler's Wells Opera Chorus, cond. the
composer (Columbia Masterworks M3S-7I0. This
is
3 discs, stereo.)
the second recording of the opera; the Hrst
was made
at the
time of
American premiere
at the Metropolitan in 1953 and utilized the Met The present recording was made some twelve years or so later, and is far superior to the earlier set. The soloists are uniformly excellent, with Alexander Young outstanding in the title role. Judith Raskin a sweet Its
forces.
Anne, and Rosina Sarfaty outrageously good
as
Baba. Unfortunately. John
memory of Mack Harrell's performance The composer's conducting is lyrical. This
Reardon's Shadow cannot erase the in
the 1953 recording.
performance
is
also available in the 3
1
-disc
album discussed above.
215
Opera Chart
The Rakc*s Progress
Composi
Igor Stravinsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
W.
Emanuel Schtkaneder/Carl Ludwtg Gieseke
I
I
H. Auden/Chester Kallman
September 1951
Teatro
Produced by
The Magic Flute
la
30 September 1791 Theater auf der Wieden. Vienna
Fenice, Venice
Venice Biennale. XIV International Festival of
Contemporary
Emanue! Schikaneder
Music,
v^ith La Scala. Milan
Conductor
Igor Stravinsky
VVolfgang
Stage Director
Amadeus Mozart
Emanuel Schikaneder
Choreographer
Sets and
First
Costumes
Performance with
28 May 1978
21 June 1975
Costumes by David Hockney
Glyndebourne
Conductor
Bernard Haitink
Stage Director
John
Sets and
Festival
Opera
Glyndebourne
Lewes. East Sussex
Cox
Andrevkf Davis
John
Cox
Choreographer
Lighting
216
Robert Bryan
Robert Bryan
Festival
Opera
Les Mamelles de Tiresias
Composer
Francis Poulenc
Jean Cocteau
l8May 1917
Produced by
L'Enfant et les Sortileges
Guillaume Apollinaire
3
21
June 1947
Theatre du Chatelet, Paris
Salle Favart,
Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
Theatre National
Par
March 1925
Theatre du Casino. Monte Carlo
Opera de Monte Carlo
de rOpera-Comique
Conductor
Ernest Ansermet
Victor de Sabata
Stage Director
Leonide Massine
Raoul Gunsbourg
George Balanchine
Choreographer
Sets and
First
Performance with
Sets and
Luchino Visconti
Costumes
Costumes
20 February 1981
20 February 1981
20 February 1981
Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House
by David Hockney
New
Conductor
Manuel Rosenthal
Manuel Rosenthal
Manuel Rosenthal
Stage Director
John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter
Choreographer
Gray Veredon
Stuart Sebastian
Stuart Sebastian
Lighting
Gil
York
Wechsler
217
Daw) Hocknty M WaJker
Composer
Art Center. Jinuary
1
983
Le Sacrc du Printemps
Le Rossignol
Oedipus Rex
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky/Nicholas Roerich
Stepan Mitussov
Jean Cocteau
29Mayl9l3
26Mayl9l4
30Mayl927
Theatre des Champs-Elysees. Paris
Theatre National de I'Opera, Paris
Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, Pans
Produced by
Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
Conductor
Pierre
Stage Director
Vaslav Ni|insky
Alexander Sanine
Choreographer
Vaslav Nijinsky
Boris
Nicholas Roerich
Alexandre Benois
Sets and
First
Costumes
Performance with
3
Monteux
December
1981
Pierre
3
Monteux
Romanov
December 98 1
Igor Stravinsky
(concert performance)
(concert performance)
(concert performance)
3
December
1981
Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House
Conductor
James Levme
James Levme
James Levine
Stage Director
John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter
Choreographer
Jean-Pierre Bonnefous
Frederick Ashton
Lighting
Gil
Sets and
Costumes
by David Hockney
218
Wechsler
-J
i)^:
\
Acknowledgments
In
1965 Walker Art Center presented an overview of recent English painting
New
and sculpture called London: The
who came
work on
to see their
graduation
Among
the young luminaries
was David Hockney who,
since his
1962 from the Royal College of Art, had become something
in
of a minor legend
the English art world.
in
for the theater undertaken for the
Metropolitan Opera, It
Scene.
exhibition
visit
Festival
new
found vivid
his creativity has
was another Hockney
Recently, with his designs
Glyndebourne
Opera and the
expression.
to Minneapolis that provided the idea for
the exhibition, Hockney Paints the Stage.
1980, the
In
Walker Art Center
presented works from the newly formed collection of the Musee Picasso, and it
was David Hockney 's great enthusiasm
to town.
It
was during
his visit
project, the design for the French triple
Opera Company. Once Hockney began was to discuss the design.
It
was
I
learned about
were
a direct
his artistic evolution.
would focus on
outgrowth of
Once
the
exhibition's
and participating and as
New
artist's creative
York.
Its
In
scope
his
theater
his paintings
and
The proposed exhibition would
not only bring together an extraordinary group of works
enthusiastically In
new
describing his ideas for the Met's stage, the next step
clear that the sets
but also document the
his
Parade, for the Metropolitan
bill.
possibility of an exhibition that
therefore intrinsic to
him
for Picasso's art that brought
to Minneapolis that
In
various media
Hockney
collaborated
process.
was
defined,
development, patiently enduring numerous Interviews frequent planning sessions
He approached
in
Minneapolis, Los Angeles
the design of the exhibition as imaginatively
he would a project for the stage. Not only did he lend an important group
of drawings, paintings and models from
his
own
collection, but he
several large-scale paintings as part of the reconstructions of scenes
made from
various opera productions.
As
this exhibition
knowledge of Los Angeles
a
took form,
number
we
it
was necessary to
call
upon the
of individuals familiar with David
talents and
Hockney
had the perceptive counsel of Gregory Evans
s
in
work.
In
locating
important drawings and paintings related to the theater designs. David Graves,
who
had assisted the
artist
with technical aspects of several of
his
theater set designs, helped us develop the exhibition's floor plan.
The
New
York and London
offices of
Petersburg Press were important
sources of information on the locations of Hockney's works.
Its
director, Paul
Cornwall-Jones, endorsed our project from the beginning and provided crucial
220
Hockney abroad,
has
whose
works Of
art,
assistance,
been represented h directors
"""'
resided'
Photographs
o Knoe
iri^r^'^' "
,er/Kasr.in Ltd., London, gallery that initially
HodT
encountered Bot Andre Emr^erich and Nathan
Ko'h'
'
J^e
«o,e
s
pages. Also
commenting
New
in
Hockneys
ab.lity'o
^lyndebourne ^°''
,^-^-/
productions
*" ''^
"P^city as
- try his'hand a" fh»
in
f ^°'-'^
to myth and music
ra^dX-^
" ''""°'- ^P°^^
for or b K both productions.
The Met's musical director
'°"'^ '^^^'lDexter
r^7
with me a^^ the Met. Another revealing
'''"'' '"''
concepts
l.r.,
Th^
.
'ZZ'"'''
X
L Cn::^'^-
Clark and Gil Wechsler, the
Hockneys
-nslated to the Met's g':
°' ^°^^ °' '''
'^''^^^h
^^-'
^--ent French
-^ triple
Hi.
bill
DeZe
vis[
stTe
°'
' ^^^ ^^-sa, °P-a projects at
-^l,:^ '""^'^P^^^^le people as ^ Joseph ^^'^^^ ''"' L'Sht^ng
Nets Terl
lyrical
"^' "°"^
imrress'^'T c!nd ^V'^' '"' '^"
Manuel Rosenthal to Hockney's visuaMn/ ;^-nating. Without reactions
1979
in
"''^^' ^• e^Tan^r '' ' """"" "^^^ e'oquenrof ho! r'°" ^°w °^ they evolved ^ ^ their
talk
-'aestro.
respectively.
^ond Street '^^ -'^-1960
'"'" "'°" P^^^P^-
^^^
-S-,nsky e^eninto::::
-^edule to
'"
" ""adoration appear
bra
Opera persuaded Hockney to take nn ^
-I
::.'^^^
,ve vtll ^ York creative partner.h ^
e Metropolitan
"°^ '^^^
Bo7^""
^ «^— ^
"^^
^
questions about "'"'"^'^ working Ji^h the 'X to artist connments. For ' ' '"'"'^^^ ^° '-'"<^^ their assistance ,n provid ! ,n o operas and for ''''''' '° ''^ providing the -^ous c^scoTr ph Son,no^ Philip ^^"^^'^"^ ^-teful Brunelle also to Michael kindly'ev , ^^^'^wed some of the text ^ °P'^'^^^^^ta'ls. dealing with
"h ,
r""°"
^
•"^Portant contributions. I
""
' P'^^"-"^ to
acknowledge their
particularly
want to thank rh« «-erously responded to our
elu"'
Martin Friedman, Director
o
-w
'" '^'^
^
gh.
-
^^'^"^-
'^°'"'^^"^ary n^aterial.
r. "'^ ;?«!
P
Glyndebou n
Progress and h,s ,ns
essay deals with
The
at
,
"
T" '""'"''
'
Photographs and inforniation related
were provided by Helen O'Nei
'°
^°
gol^T^rr?'' "^ ^°'''
(
D-rector of Production
'""^"'^'^<^ S^"-'«. here and °"^ ^^^^^ ^^
and museums 'J^'^*'^-'^
who
so
Lenders to the Exhibition
Abrams
Family Collection
Katherine Komaroff
The Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Jean Leger
Arts Council of Great
Britain,
London, England
Sydney and Frances Lewis Foundation
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester,
Werner Boeninger
Rochester,
The
British Council,
Goodman
New
York
London, England
Museum Boymans-van John
Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Cox
Andrew Crispo
New York, New
Gallery,
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver,
British
Ludwig, Cologne,
Museum
of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Museum
of Art,
Columbia
Rhode
Island
Mr. and Mrs. Miles Q. Fiterman
Providence, Rhode Island
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hedreen
The Museum
Hirshhorn
Museum and
West Germany
Museum York
Sculpture Garden.
of
Modern
Art,
School of Design,
New
York.
New
York
Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D. C.
Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne, Switzerland
David Hockney
Mr. and Mrs. Morris
Mrs. K.
Hockney
Indiana University
Sir
Art Museum,
S.
Pynoos
John Sainsbury
Walker Art Center. Minneapolis. Minnesota
Bloomington, Indiana
Washington University School of Medicine Edwin Janss
J.
Kasmin
Miriam and Erwin Kelen
222
Rare Books Division,
St.
Five Private Collections
Louis, Missouri
Library.
1
1
Reproduction Credits
All
Walker Art Center Staff for the Exhibition
photographs not otherwise credited are courtesy David Hockney.
Courtesy
Alinari-Scala: p 114
Donald C. Borrman
Registration and Shipping
Carolyn Clark DeCato
Publication Supervision and Editing
Mildred Friedman
(bottom)
Courtesy Arts Council of Great Courtesy The Art
Administration
Britain: p
Institute of Chicago: p
4
63 (bottom)
Courtesy Avery Architecture and Fine Arts Library. Columbia University:
Publication Design
Robert Jensen
Exhibition Assistance
Elizabeth
p6S Courtesy The
British Council: p
8
Courtesy Chang Pe-Chin: p 203 Courtesy Dance Collection, New York Public Library
Armstrong
Marie Cieri* at Lincoln
Trent Myers*
Center:
p 129
Courtesy Andre Emmerich Gallery: cover, frontispiece, pp 6. 39. 42. 44, 46. 47.49.54, 122. 126. l28(top), 131. 132. 156. 161. 162. 164-166. 168-170. 174. 175. 177
Guy
Gravett: pp 62. 74. 80. 90-97. 106-1 I. 120 Glenn Halvorson. courtesy Walker Art Center: dust jacket portrait of
Editorial Assistance
Susan Higgins
Publication Index
William Horrigan
Tape Transcription
Susan
I
Bloom
David Hockney
Courtesy Henry E Huntington Library: pp 63 (top). 85 Courtesy Knoedler Gallery. London: p 22 (top)
Public Relations
Courtesy Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley:
Slide
Tape Production
p 197
Photography
1
Courtesy Museum of Art, Rhode
School of Design: p
Island
Courtesy Museum Ludwig, Cologne: p 51 Courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, New York: pp Courtesy National Gallery. London: p 14 (top)
I
1
60
76.
3.
1
.
57. 60. 69.
70-72. 86. 101. 104,
192, 195. 196. 198. 200, 202. 205.
Courtesy Staatliche Museen.
98
Set Reconstructions
12,
I
22 (bottom), 24, 26. 33. 134, 136, 139, 140, 142-155, 178-
I
Bakkom**
MaryCutshall
5 (top)
Joejanson
Rodney Todd-White & Son. courtesy Waddington Ltd.:
R.
Steve Ecklund I
Lee Stalsworth, courtesy Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian
Walker Art Center: pp
Elliott
Hughjacobson
20,
pp 14 (top), 40 Courtesy Tate Gallery, London: p 3 John Tennant. Courtesy Hirshhorn Museum. Smithsonian
Courtesy Tyler Graphics,
Ron
James
206
Berlin: p
Glenn Halvorson
Donald Neal
I
Courtesy Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo: p 50 Courtesy Petersburg Press: pp 10, 14, (bottom), 4
Helm
Jana Freiband
Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art: p 115 (bottom) Herbert Migdoll, courtesy The Joffrey Ballet: pp 38, 28 (bottom)
36.
Mary Abbe Martin Charles
Mark Kramer
Institution:
David Lee
Cody Institution: p
Galleries,
London: p 27
p 52
6, 34, 56, 57, 66. 67. 79.
Director of the Exhibition
82-84,
1
Riddle
Peter Schwob
28
00. 103.
1
05.
I
1
Martin Friedman
6.
118.219 'former
staff
members
'consultant
223
Index
Chryst. Gary
tions.
bold-face type indicate
illustra-
Hockneys works are listed alphabetically name Hockneys works for the opera are
after his
cross-referenced under the
of each opera and
title
The
Clark. Joseph
The Nighvngate
15,186
Colette
Apollinaire. Guillaume
62. 63.
25.
1
1
29.
I
35.
38.
Von/ Copricc/( 983) 1
W.
Auden.
H.
209
Cox. John
209
115
17. 63. 68. 69. 73. 75. 77. 100.
102
Paid on Both Sides
7.
1
(
209
983)
1
Ballet
7
de Marseilles
Berlioz.
Bi»y Budd Birtwell.
1
1
25.
80,81
Dine. Jim
137. 197
38.63.197
Bruegel. Pieter (the Elder)
1
17
I
2(M
Drawings of Roman architectural decorations 1760)
204
Consuntine
Waning
Chirico. Giorgio de Christie. John
224
b^
Equus
103 23
1
25.
1
1
bill
(
1
25
I
135
960s
1
I
25
art
on The
Marriage and The Second
First
I
25
on Egyptian Marriage
9.
5
I
1
within a Play
Closing Scene
on 27-
30
30
32
Scott
with Unfinished Self-Portrait
35
38
30.
1
33.
I
in style 43 Hollywood house
his
64
98
on The Poke's
1
I
56, 59
opening of The Poke's Progress (1975)
at the
on The Magic
1
115.
64. 65.
Flute
06- 111,114.
1
168
17. 167.
I
with the set of The Magic Flute triple
bill
(
1
1
)
63.127.128.161 1
25,
1
28
135.
I
37.
(
1
88
978)
90—97,
Progress
I
38.
1
4
1
.
1
99.
100. 102.
204
119. 121. 172.
142-145,
173,204
161, 163, 164
Les Mamelles de Tiresias
1
L'Enfant et les Sorvleges
I
4^» 49, 50— 55, 1
I
67
1
1
68-
173, 176
Opera 157-160 on Tiepoli 60 on Le Socre du Printemps
48
1
74, 75
1
79- 181,
1
97-
199
on Le Possigno/
69
on Oedipus Pex
35. 99,
197 200
on Chinese 1
25
art
Biography
182-187 88- 9 1
1
triple
bill
1
94,
1
99, 200,
203
210,211
Hockney, David (works by)
18
74, 75 74, 75
Geldzahler, Henry
on the Stravinsky 203
160
House of the Dead
Don
100. 105
lighting the stage
on Glyndebourne and the Metropolitan
18.48
25
John
on Hogarth
on on on
1
43.63.167
Roger
Garrard,
art of the
onPorode
Gregory
the
on
197.200.207 23- 25. 27-
980)
69
S
1
Fryatt,
I
on childhood experiences of theater
on
25
1
1
Eskimo mask (ca 1880)
From
I
Opera
State
on changes
triple
Frick Collection
23
74,75,80,81
on photography
I
The VVoste Lond
Fry,
1
Chinese opera mask
T
5.
I
I
978)
on Model
18
Dufy. Raoul
Evans.
23
Barbarians
for rhe
Cezanne. Paul
8
1
Domenichino 25 Dowell. Anthony
Ehot. I
14.
I
104
Ehas. Rosalind
29
Opera Company
Casanova. Giovanni Battista
(ca.
78.
975).
1
(
1
I
Hourloupe series
119. 121
Buckle. Richard
100. 102.
on Henry Celdzahler and Christopher
Ian
Dubuffet. Jean
29. 114
Bryan. Robert
4.
38
I
Doboujinsky. Rostislav
25
1
Museum
1
and Documents (with Vera
Dialogues des Carmelites
68
Codounov
I
37
I
e.
Diaghilev. Serge
64,99
Braque. Georges
Cavafy.
84. 85. 87. 88.
138. 141
28
1
Hamburg
37
on the Stravinsky
25
1
Halle Orchestra
130. 133. 135 1
(
Gomez, Jill
1
135. 137. 138. 141. 157. 161. 163. 164. 167.
25
Bonnefous. Jean-Pierre
Carl Rosa
I
1
73
Ceha
6
on Play
Derby Repertory Company 23Dexter. John 2. 5.
61
Cellim
Blake. William
British
.
172. 173. 176. 180. 193. 194.
Blacker. Thetis
Boris
1
on the Porode
Hector
Remenuto
1
Hockney. David
25
Berryman. John
38.
Herbert. Jocelyn
125
1
Berg. Alban
I
12
Pictures
in
1
I
9, 12, 15, 53, 58.
158,207,208
17. 119. 157.
25
Daumier. Honore
see also Porode (1920)
Bates. Alan
35.
/es Sortileges
64. 77. 78. 8
Robert
Cuthbertson.
1
38.63.180
&orber of Seville, The
I
88
Stravinsky)
see also Septentrion Ballets Russes
28.
The/V1ogicF;ute(l978)
cummings. e
197
Opera
on designing for the stage
Stravinsky
George
Balanchine,
1
on collaborating with David Hockney
Craft.
32
Bacon. Francis
27.
see also The Rake's Progress
1
see also The Rake's Progress
Don
I
2.
I
4th century)
Goeke. Leo 74,75.80,81 Gramm. Donald 74, 75. 80, 8
Manus
84. 85. 87.
tetter to lord Byron
Bachardy.
1
151. 157. 161. 168. 171
Covent Garden
I
I
Flute
73.
5.
see also L'Enfant et
Constant.
1
see also The Poke's Progress (1975), The Magic
I
157
Ashton. Frederick
bill
99
see aJso tes Mamelles de Tiresias
(
Festival
61.64.77.78.85.87.99.
triple
164
164.203
38
Aperture
167.204
164.
Egypt
Glyndebourne
see also Parade
5
I
23
1
on producing the Parade (1980)
14
I
Flight into
Straw Hot
Cocteau. Jean
Andersen. Hans Christian
Giotto
1
123
lialian
Clark. Ossie
are listed sequentially.
28, 29
I
Rene
Clair.
m
Page numbers
32, 35,
Actor,
The
(1
964)
26,29
Assembly. An. study (or The Poke's Progress
99
(1975)
76
7
Georges Laws and Wayne Sleep
Baba, Red Pantaloons, sketch for The Rake's
101
Progress (1975)
Bobo
the Turk, sketch for The Rake's Progress
69
(1975)
102
63)
84
Mosk
B/(nd (
98
1
Thebes
83
(1975)
for
Oedipus, drawing for Oedipus Rex
206
1)
Collector
(
16,32
964)
1
Cave, drawing for (Jbu Roi
(
966)
1
and
Cb(7d with Large Chair
177 132
L'Enfontet/esSort//eges(l980)
L'Enfant et les Sonjieges
(
1
980)
1
(
1
Man
980)
(
98
1
206
1
(
1
962)
1
and Masks, drawing for
202
l.e
Rossignol
105
Progress (1975)
(
1
28,
964)
29.
38
Tiresias
(
1
drawing for Les Mamelles de
980)
1
66
Tiresias
(
1
980)
1
64
drawing for Les Mamelles de
Tiresias
(
1
980)
126 1
98
with Orchest/a, drawing for Le Rossignol
20
) 1
Death
in
102 (
1
978)
112 Design for Roland
79)
for
Petit's Ballet,
14
Septentrion (1975)
Drop Curtain
102
1
0)
(
1
98
1
(
1
977)
35.
200
) 1
Mother Goose's
Brothel,
97 S)
103
(\
1
980)
1
Mulholland Drive
model
for The Rake's
(
970-7
(
(
980)
1
55
(
1
975-
60
Fire,
model for The Magic
First
Morrioge. The
(
1
Flute
962)
30.
(
1
977)
3
67
I
for The Rake's Progress
(
1
96
1
)
1
00
(
1
966)
I
3
Hands
Socre du Printemps. Socre Disc
I,
II.
XV
VII,
136
(1981)
drawing for The Magic Flute
(
1
978)
72 Woman
Drinking Tea. Being Served by a
Standing Companion
963)
1
(
(
1
Self-Portrait with Blue Guitar
(1
II.
I
963)
O, 23 30,
32 35
977)
1
(
drawing for Le Sacre du
195
98 1)
Stravinsky Triple
and Curtain
(
1
22,
963)
Study for Curtain
Bill.
(
1
98
Masks
// (
1
98
1
1
)
(
1
40
978)
Studies for Mechanical Nightingale,
1
Le Rossignol
(1
drawing for
205
98 1)
Study for Costumes on the Stoge. drawing for Le
Ordinary Picture
(
1
14
964)
Socre du Printemps (
1
978)
86 1
980)
I
53
and Albert
Museum
98
(
1
(
980)
1
980)
(
I
1
98
1
) 1
98
48.51
966)
in
drawing for L'Enfant
the Garden,
46
et les Sortileges
Victoria
Progress
1
Progress
39
1
205
1)
Three Bats
(
1
980)
1
75
Tom's Room, Auction Scene, model for The Rake's
in
38
Photograph of Peter Schlesinger Picture of a
(1
Sunbother
22
(
Study of Masks for Chorus, drawing for Oedipus
Rex
(
Parade Stoge Monoger
48
Roi
23
Photographs of Chinese porcelain
front and Back of a Painting of a Pike, sketches
Ubu
139
134 for
Parade Curtain After Picasso
The Rake's Progress
Flute
et les Sortileges
Socre du Printemps, Dancers Pushing
Svll Life with Figure
the Banks of the Nile, Luxor. Egypt
Parade
42
980)
1
170
(1980)
Printemps
54, 55
(
118
Set with Dancers
les
74
980)
1
99
) 1
140
(1981)
1
A model for The Magic
Sarastro's Palace,
Second Marriage. The 1
Oedipus Rex. Principal Singers and Chorus
On
in
Seoted
Mr. Arithmetic, drawing for L'Enfant et (
98
model for The Magic
A.
Room, The, drawing for L'Enfant
(1981)
52, 53
978)
drop and the Chinese court
silk (
Paper Pool series for the
(
the
in
Papageno. sketch for The Magic Flute
Drogon. drawing for The Magic Flute
Drawing
Room
34, 35 Wrong Movie)
977)
172
1
Harlem, etching from A Roke's Progress
(1961-63)
1
Sorostro.
Le Rossignol
1
(
66
Flute {\977)
Oedipus Rex. Study
Down
Garden with Night Glow
Royal Palace, drawing for
Nichols Canyon
Curtain with Squore Stage and Floorboards,
116
(1977)
with Unfinished Self-Portrait
Progress
drawing for Parade
Pyramid and Obelisks, model for The Magic Flute
Ravel's
8
Sortileges
Curtain with Curved Stage, drawing for Les
Mamelles de
57
56.
36 in
131
Rocky Landscape,
Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy
Cubistic Bar.
6,
Hogarth) Useful Knowledge
Models for the
Glyndebourne program of The Rake's
Cubist Boy with Colourful Tree
1
Meeting the Good People (Washington), etching
Model
(198!)
for
980)
25
/Midnight Pool (Paper Pool
68
Courtiers
Cover
1
40
from A Roke's Progress (1961-63)
25.27
C/osmgScene(l963) Colonial Governor
Heads, drawing
their
)
(
38.
a yVluseum (or You're
(1962)
Chorus with Alosks above for Oedipus Rex
168
Auditorium, drawing for Oedipus Rex
98.105
in
47
980)
1
Raised Stage with Masks, Narrator and
Looking ot Pictures on a Screen
44
(
(After
6,
1
(
192
House
Hills
964)
1
(1975)
69
Chinese Conjuror, drawing for Parade
(
Kerby
Shadow of Mother, drawing for
Child with
Hollywood
fowo
53
161
(1977)
49
48.
Hypnotist, The (1963)
drawing for
Fireplace,
118 980)
50,
48.
Punchine//o Changing Blocks, drawing for Parade
Punchinello's Masks,
32.33
(1969)
Child with Books. Cups and Teapot, drawing for
fEnfantet/esSorti/eges (1980)
1
966)
{\980)
Tiresias
evening (1980)
Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott
3
I
(
1
96
1
1
(1980)
F/ute(l977) Harlequin
An
California
Head from
19
Grove with Three Temples, model for The Magic
70
)
(
Punchinello with Babies, drawing for Les
Flute
99
(1974)
98
Mamelles de
963)
(1
1
24,25
963)
(1
drawing for Oedipus Rex
Punchinello on and offStoge
model for The Magic
Gregory Masurovsky and Shirley Goldfarb
Bread Machine, sketch for The Rake's Progress (1975)
A,
116
(1977)
Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken
Bedlam, model for The Rake's Progress
Ploy
(
(1975)
1
P/oy within
Portrait of Nick Wilder
Graveyard, model for The Rake's Progress
Great Hall,
1
99
975)
Primitive Masks,
104 975) ( 6ed/om. etching from A Rake's Progress( 96 1
1
Grand Procession of Dignitaries Painted in the Style, A(I96I) 20,21. 23
Semi-Egyptian
Bobo's Hanging Objects, sketch for The Rake's Progress
(
))
(1
975)
83
Tom's Room (Room I
Hollywood Swimming Pool
(
1
964)
(
1
975)
/),
model
for The Rake's
82
Tom's Room with Babo's Hanging Objects, model for The Rake's Progress
(
1
975)
82
225
Drawings
Hockney. David (works by continued)
Down
Troop of Acton and Acrobats, drawing for Parade
44
(1980)
(
see also Stravinsky triple
1
1
(
1
{
1920 1981
1
78,84, 100, 102, 104, 105 (1
During Divine Service
1
(
Mode
la
Vespri Sicidoni
I
1
747)
00
Study
Jeffrey Ballet
(
1
98
38.
28.
1
1
1
56.
2.
1
L'Enfant 1
25.99
1980
43
Lichtenstein,
Life
15,43,45,55.61.72.75, 123-125.
127. 130. 133. 135. 168. 171-173.
150-155,
160. 161. 163.
for: (
1
980)
Shadow of Mother
The Room
(1
(
1
980)
1
69
170 174 (1 980)
in
the
Child with Books.
Garden
(
1
bill (
1
(
1
980)
77
I
(
1
30,
1
46- 49, 1
980)
1
26
199,203.204
(
1
98
1
)
200
25
1
Mondrian. Piet
37
Monet, Claude
56 179
43
Morandi, Giorgio
Mozart. Wolfgang
Amadeus
(1
bill
168
980) (
1
Musee
triple
bill
(
1
98
) 1
193,
104
1
94
25. 35, 114
National Theatre (London)
125,130
New
125, 130
Ni|insky. Vaslav
York City
I
I
129. 179 1
127. 161
Oedipus Rex
191,
3
194.203.204
193.
Drawings
I
14. 115, 117,
127. 167
fire (1
977)
for
Masks
II
Oedipus Rex. Principal Singers and (1
140
98 1)
Raised Stoge with Masks. Narrator and
66
66 67
AGreotHoÂť(l977) A Room in SorosUo's
116
for:
140
(1981)
Chorus
for;
977)
188-
15.61. 135. 137. 141.
Oedipus Rex. Study
I,
197
Ballet
Nureyev. Rudolf
72
The
Art.
12,15,21,37.53,61-63,65,
(1
-
National Gallery (London)
1981
I
1
37
Picasso
Museum of Modern (New York) 38
980)
100 1
106-1
6
2.
see also The Mogic Flute
115
19, 120,
1
69
Don Giovanni
25
Auditorium
(
1
98
Study of Mosks
1
)
for
1
92
Chorus
(
1
98
1
205
Pyromid and Obelisks
for:
123.124
1978
Models
980).
1
(
43
Novarre. Yves
Mo
62-64,
1
Water
Silkdrop and Chinese court
226
27,
A Rocky Londscope (1977)
980)
15.135.137.138.141,182-187,
193. 194,
79
Milhaud. Darius
1816
I 1
Le Rossignol
Models
1
88
MacDermott,
105,
17$
980)
Cup ond Teopot
see also Porode triple
1981
98
Operos-Minutes
68, 69, 72, 73, 75, 77. 78, 85. 87. 88.
980)
Arithmetic
Luxon, Ben
1
132 Child with
Three Bats
1
) 1
bill
(1981)
1
165 166
18, I
of Galileo. The
MacDonald, Joe Magic Flute. The
176.207
Child with Large Chair and Fireplace
Mr
Roy
Liebermann, Rolf
68
Drawings
98
125. 193
Levine, James
on the Stravinsky
12,
1
bill
65.69,72.73.75.88. 113. 114
see also Porode triple
97
1
1
1
25,
1
Punchine//o with Babies
105
et les Sortileges
926
(
98
126
CubisticBor(l980)
Boheme
1
Monteux, Pierre
Zonzibor(l980)
Leger. Fernand
bill (
for:
102
Kirstein. Lincoln
5
123-125
Misonthrope, The 23.
see also The Rake's Progress
Kirby.John
I I
209
Stravinsky triple
Curtain with Square Stage and Floorboards
(1980)
32, 38, 58,
2,
I
160, 164, 172, 173, 176,204,
Miro, Joan
Curtoin with Curved Stage
63. 68. 69, 73, 75, 77, 100.
9,
see also Parade triple
96
Costumes on the Stage
Drawings
29
43
Kasmin.John
1
)
1
195
163. 164. 167. 168, 171
Kallman. Chester
1.0
980
1
see also Parode( 1973) Johns, Jasper
159,
129.157
1903
of Art
123-125, 127, 128, 133, 135, 157,
see also Stravinsky triple
fioi
63 129. 180
Museum
Metropolitan Opera
XV
VII,
//,
203
43,45,56, 197
Mallarme. Stephane
207, 208,
Masks
for
86 38,
I
Massine. Leonide
Les Mome//es de Tiresias
32
for:
Metropolitan
Primitive
63
9.
178-
199,204,207
85
38
Jerry. Philip
Sketch
for:
SetwithDoncers;/(l98l)
25
isherwocxi, Cfiristopher
112
Matisse, Henri
/,
977)
1
139
(1981)
72
Dragon (1978)
Makarova. Natalia
Church Yard.
Idle 'Prenvce at Play in the
98
Sorostro( 978) 1
1
136
(1981)
63
1
see also Ubu
98
Socre du Printemps. Dancers Pushing Hands
37.63,78
735)
Hudibros6eotjSidrophe/( 725-26)
1
Socre du Printemps, Socre Disc
12,17, 37, 62, 68, 69, 73. 75.
y^Roke's Progress
bill (
1
for:
Popageno(l978)
193. 194. 197.
Drawings
Hogarth. William
Jarry, Alfred
1
15. 129. 135. 137. 138. 141.
181,
65
Marriage a
(
129,179.197 129,180
1913
Zanzibar, drawing for Les Momelles de Tiresias
/
)
1
(
118 Drawings
Le Socre du Printemps
1
(
The
20 1 202
)
1
205
Two Dancers 980) 62 Two Friends and Two Curtains 963) 23, 25 Men mo Shower 22,23 Two (1 963) I 3 Ur Curtain, drawing for Ubu Roi 966) 161 Villain, drawing for Parade 980) (1980)
98
1
(
98
Studies for Mechanical Nightjngale
79
1
1
(
Couruers and Masks
model for The Rake's Progress
Trulove'i Garden,
(1975)
Grove with Three Temples
for:
with Orchestro
(
1
116
977)
116 Poloce
Chorus with Masks obove (1981)
(
1
977)
their
206
Mosk
(1
98 1)
see also Stravinsky triple
bill (
Blind
Heads
for
Oedipus
206 1
98
1
1
Oldenburg. Claes Olivier.
I
Look Bock
25.
Mother Goose's
Anger
in
25
I
Sketches
Boba
Paid on Roth Sides
209
1983
Parade
the Turk
(
975)
128, 129 bill)
55. 56. 58. 62,
1
25,
1
27-1 30.
(
1
Drawing
980)
(
1
(
Rembrandt van
ballet)
I
(
1
2.
Drawings
for:
Chinese Conjuror
(
(
1
(
1
3
I
1
23.
25.
I
I
27-
160. 161. 163. 197
44 (
I
Picasso. Pablo
980)
44
980)
6
1
Ancient Bot/is Plante, David
(
1
65
750)
1
1
68,
1
62, 63,
2,
24,
1
I
30,
57,
1
6
1
1
1
1
I
1
,
24,
74,
61-63, 68, 69, 73,
85, 88,
90-97, 99,
114. IIS, 119, 127, 168.
00.
1
75, 1
05.
193.204
2,
1
27-
1
00,
1
30,
{
1
975-
60
Garden
(
1
1
63,
1
64,
76
975)
35.
I
Study for Curtain
Bill,
Ken
I
37.
(
1
98
1
62-64, 73,
I
1
3,
1
14
25,
62, 63,
1
1
(
1
8th
3
53
9,
12,23,61,63
I,
I
for:
13 966)
(
Ur Curtain
966)
(
1
1
99,
172
17,
I
115
I
3
3
I
85, 114
Maschera
1983
1
27,
1
6
Museum
I
38,
200
63
1
37.
72. 204.
56
207
on Hockney's designs Wilder, Nick 48, 53, 99
63
25,
63
Walker Art Center Wechsler. Gil
63
14
209
Victoria and Albert
The Ring
193
32
I
25
1
Capncci
Wagner, Richard
Yeats, William Butler
30
I
Ballo in
Veredon. Gray
IIS
193
1
160
58
53,
Royo; Palace
Varii
207
72
109
125
Shoemaker's Holiday, The
1
25
Work
12 for:
Design
for the
Sokolova, Lydia
79
82
Stratas.
Teresa
Stravinsky. Igor
Roland
Petit's Ballet,
180
200
Spender, Stephen
Tom 's Room (Room 0(1975) 82 Tom's Room with Baba's Hanging Objects
for
14
Septentrion (1975)
Tom's f^oom. Auction Scene
29.
St Ceorge and the Dragon (ca. 1460)
77
Saint Joan
Drawing
AnAssemb/y(l975) Models for:
1
Septentrion
Studies for:
The Rake's Progress
5,
Domenico
Cove (1966)
25
1
Un
Shakespeare, William
1974 for
1
Roi
Drawings
28
I
Shaw, George Bernard
Rake's Progress, The
80, 84,
Ubu
Uccello, Paolo
Othe//o
see also Les Mamelles de Tiresias
12, 43, 45,
Tyler,
Roi
2, 62. 63,
1
76
168,176
9,
Ubu
The Winter's Tale
Drop Curtoin
37.
I
1966
Scott. Christopher 1
)
1
73
Tyler Graphics
Royal Court Theatre
Erwortung
163, 167
(1975)
29,
Schoenberg, Arnold
68
98
60
1
Thomas, Dylan
37
I
I
Schlesinger, Peter
68
62. 64. 65,
1
Printemps
29,
129, 180, 197
Schinkel, Karl Friedrich
65
Poulenc, Francis
s
1
Tiepolo. Giovanni
Design for The Magic Flute (1816)
Giovanni Battista
Trulove
24,
century)
Schikaneder, Emanuel
24,
(
199.207.209
Theater auf der Wieden
7,11,18, 25
Scarfe, Gerald
see also Parade
79)
1
197
1
and Documents (with
134
see also Parade
37. 38. 43. 45. 48. 62, 63,
bill
Stravinsky Triple
975)
37
Sauguet, Henri
2
Oedipus
37
Punchinello Carried by His Friends
Royal College of Art
Satie, Erik
127-129. 160. 161. 163. 197
77, 78,
(1
43. 56. 62, 63,
et /es Sorti/eges
Rothko, Mark
see also 1
135.163
Roland
1975
04
1
1
Rosenthal, Manuel
980), Les
161
V//;oin(l980)
Poiret, Paul
975)
1
37
I
Roerich, Nicholas
I
on L'Enfant
72, 75,
980)
1
Mosks
Punch/ne//o's
980)
1
980)
ond Acrobats
of" Actors
{
les Sortileges
Tiresias
142-145,
Piranesi.
(
les Sortileges
Rijn
Riefenstahl, Leni
129. 135.
1982
5.
1
People ofKau. The
see also L'Enfont et
Petit.
46
980)
1
for:
Mamelles de
Troop
2.
1
see also L'Enfant et
22
1
): 1
see also Oedipus Rex. Le Rossignol, Le Sacre du
Ravel. Maurice
39
980)
Punchme;/os Changing Blocks
980 (the
(
105
60,
1
1
138. 193. 194.
Glyndebourne program
for
98
1
Work for:
101
975)
1
130, 157, 161, 168, 171-173, 176
Porode Curtain After Picasso
1
57.
I
194.208.209
for:
Parade Stage Manager
Parode
35.
I
161. 163. 164, 168. 171. 173.
Works
Cover
Stravinsky triple
101
Baba's Hanging Objects 23. 37. 38. 43. 45. 48.
2.
I
bill (
37
I
Pictures
in
Robert Craft)
and Back of a Painting of a Pike
(1975)
Vera
Stravinsky
Front
Baba, Red Pantaloons
38.
Stravinsky,
71
1
180
(triple
see also Stravinsky triple
69 70
975)
1
(1
Bed/om( 975)
for
38. 45. 128. 129. 144. 160. 161
980
103
975)
1
Study
1920
1
(
Rex, Le Rossignol, Le Sacre du Printemps
1917
1973
199
Firebird
Brotiie/
for:
Bread Machine
68
Palmer. Samuel
194
Pulcinella
84
Graveyord(l97S)
30
I
25
I
)
1
83
6ed)om(l975)
18
Laurence
Osborne. John
7
,
37
I
2.
1
I
5.
37,
6
1
,
68, 69, 73. 75, 77,
78.88. 100. 125. 129, 137, 138, 179. 180. 186, (
1
975)
83
193, 194, 197,
199,200,203
227
Travel Schedule
Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Minnesota
20 November
1
983 to 22 January
1
984
Museo Tamayo Mexico.
D
F.
19 February to 15 April 1984
Art Gallery of Onuno Toronto. Canada 9 June to
Museum Chicago. 1
1
2 August
of
1
984
Contemporary Art
Illinois
6 September to
I
I
November 984 1
The Fort Worth Art Museum Fort Worth. Texas 6 December 984 to 7 February 985 1
San Francisco
1
Museum
1
of Art
San Francisco. California
24 March to 26 May 1985
1
i