David Hockney
Original 1960s etchings from Grimm’s Fairy Tales & Poems of Cavafy goldmark
Later in the decade he produced the two black and white suites, Grimm's Fairy Tales and The Poems of C P Cavafy, offered here.
goldmark january 2012
Economic necessity was a major contributory factor in David Hockney picking up an etching needle. In 1961, whilst a student at the Royal College of Art, he found himself penniless and unable to buy paint. Fortuitously for Hockney the College's graphic department gave out free materials opening up to him a medium in which he has excelled. His first work, entitled Myself and My Heroes, depicted Hockney alongside two of his heroes, Walt Whitman and Mahatma Gandhi. The College recognised his talent awarding him a Gold Medal and the Guiness Award for Etching.
David Hockney David Hockney had always loved Grimm's Fairy Tales and had read all 220 of them and in 1969 he decided to make his own illustrations. He especially enjoyed the elements of magic in the tales, and his images focus on his imaginative response to the descriptions in the text rather than attempting to concentrate on the most important events in the narrative. They are therefore more than simply illustrations: they stand on their own as images, independent of the stories. For instance, Hockney chose Old Rinkrank because it starts with the words ‘A King built a glass mountain’, and he was fascinated by the problem of drawing a glass mountain. He made various attempts, even smashing a sheet of glass and drawing the ragged pieces piled up in a big heap, before finding the solution: he depicted a tree and a house with a glass mountain in front which distorts their reflection. For other images, he turned to earlier artists for inspiration: Uccello for the Prince on horseback in Rapunzel, Bosch for the Enchantress with the Baby Rapunzel and Magritte's surrealist games for the Room Full of Straw in Rumpelstilzchen. Hockney's images are exuberant, inventive and memorable, and he now considers them to be one of his major successes.
Hockney first discovered the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy while a student at the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s and when Paul CornwallJones of Editions Alecto asked him to make a series of etchings relating to Cavafy in 1966, he agreed without hesitation. The prints are not literal illustrations of the poems but visualizations of their nostalgia for fleeting but memorable sexual encounters. The feeling of authenticity generated by the images is due to Hockney's own personal experiences. They were instantly acclaimed. Edward LucieSmith spoke of their 'staggering virtuosity' and described them as 'not only the best work I have seen by the artist but probably the finest prints produced in England since the war'. The Arts Council made a film about the creation of the engravings entitled Love's Presentation. Peter Webb, author of Portrait of David Hockney (Chatto, 1988) and David Hockney, Grimm's Fairy Tales (South Bank Centre National Touring Exhibition, 1993)
1.
He Tore Himself in Two etching & aquatint, 44.5 x 32.5 cm signed ÂŁ2450, unsigned ÂŁ600
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Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
signed & unsigned etchings 1969
2.
Catherina Dorothea Viehmann etching & aquatint, 28 x 25.5 cm signed ÂŁ1750, unsigned ÂŁ450
to order phone 01572 821424
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
3.
Pleading for the Child etching & aquatint, 26.5 x 25.5 cm signed £1950, unsigned £450
4.
Riding Around on a Cooking Spoon etching & aquatint, 16.5 x 25 cm signed £1750, unsigned £400
5.
The Pot Boiling etching & aquatint, 17.5 x 20 cm signed £1750, unsigned £500
6.
The Enchantress with the Baby Rapunzel etching & aquatint, 27 x 23 cm signed £2000, unsigned £450
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
7.
The Sexton Disguised as a Ghost Stood Still as Stone etching & aquatint, 44.5 x 32 cm signed £1950, unsigned £500
8.
Corpses on Fire etching & aquatint, 26 x 25 cm signed £1500, unsigned £350
9.
The Sexton Disguised as a Ghost etching & aquatint, 23 x 26.5 cm signed £1950, unsigned £450
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
10. The Glass Mountain etching, 44 x 32.5 cm signed £1950, unsigned £500
to order phone 01572 821424
11. Old Rinkrank Threatens the Princess etching & aquatint, 23 x 27 cm signed £1750, unsigned £350
12. The Glass Mountain Shattered etching & aquatint, 23 x 27 cm signed £1500, unsigned £350
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
13. The Princess After Many Years in the Glass Mountain etching & aquatint, 45 x 32 cm signed £1950, unsigned £450
14. Gold etching & aquatint, 34 x 26 cm signed ÂŁ1600, unsigned ÂŁ350
to order phone 01572 821424
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
15. A Room Full of Straw etching & aquatint, 25 x 22 cm signed £1750, unsigned £450
16. Straw on the Left, Gold on the Right etching & aquatint, 16 x 24 cm signed £1500, unsigned £375
17. The Enchantress in her Garden etching & aquatint, 23 x 13 cm signed £1750, unsigned £400
18. The Cook etching & aquatint, 18.5 x 20 cm signed £1950, unsigned £400
Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
unsigned etchings 1969
19. The Princess in her Tower etching & aquatint, 44.5 x 32 cm unsigned ÂŁ600
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G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
20. The Princess Searching etching, aquatint & drypoint, 26.5 x 17 cm unsigned ÂŁ500
21. The Older Rapunzel etching & aquatint, 22 x 24.5 cm unsigned £550
22. The Boy Hidden in a Fish etching & aquatint, 23 x 26.5 cm unsigned £950
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
23. The Rose and the Rose Stalk etching, 27.5 x 12 cm unsigned £1200
24. The Church Tower and the Clock etching & aquatint, 28 x 12 cm unsigned £400
25. Rapunzel Growing in the Garden etching & aquatint, 44 x 32.5 cm unsigned ÂŁ850
to order phone 01572 821424
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
26. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair etching & aquatint, 25.5 x 24 cm unsigned ÂŁ850
27. The Tower had One Window etching & aquatint, 33.5 x 15 cm unsigned ÂŁ850
G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
28. The Bell Tower etching & aquatint, 26.5 x 16.5 cm unsigned £850
29. Digging up Glass etching & aquatint, 13 x 11 cm unsigned £400
30. The Haunted Castle etching & aquatint, 34 x 20.5 cm unsigned ÂŁ750
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G RIMM' S FAIRY TALES
31. The Lathe and Fire etching, aquatint & drypoint, 15 x 16.5 cm unsigned £350
32. The Carpenter's Bench, a Knife and Fire etching, aquatint & drypoint, 15 x 17 cm unsigned £350
33. Inside the Castle etching & aquatint, 25.5 x 26 cm unsigned ÂŁ500
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Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C. P. Cavafy
signed & unsigned etchings 1966
34. According to Prescriptions of Ancient Magicians etching, 34.5 x 22 cm signed ÂŁ3000, unsigned ÂŁ750
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PO EMS O F C AVAFY
35. He Enquired after the Quality etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm signed £2500, unsigned £500
36. To Remain etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm signed £1600, unsigned £450
37. The Beginning etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £750
39. The Shop Window of a Tobacco Store etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £500
38. Portrait of Cavafy in Alexandria etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £850
40. In Despair etching & aquatint, 35 x 22.5 cm unsigned £600
PO EMS O F C AVAFY
41. One Night etching & aquatint, 34.5 x 22 cm signed £3000, unsigned £750
to order phone 01572 821424
Six Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm PLATES The etchings were drawn onto copper plates and etched by David Hockney in London between May and November 1969. Proofs were pulled by Maurice Payne and the editions printed by Piet Clement in Amsterdam in 1970. SIGNED PRINTS These prints are from numbered and proof editions and are signed by Hockney. UNSIGNED PRINTS There were 400 unsigned sets, together with an additional 15 artist’s proofs. The unsigned prints will be accompanied by a copy of the justification page which was numbered and signed by the artist. CANCELLATION On completion of these editions, the plates were defaced by diagonal scores and two cancellation proofs pulled. No further impressions can be taken.
Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C. P. Cavafy PLATES The etchings illustrating the poems were drawn directly onto copper plates and etched by David Hockney in London in 1966. The editions were printed by Maurice Payne and Danyon Black at the Alecto Studios in London in 1966/67. UNSIGNED PRINTS The prints were produced in an unsigned edition of 500, with 50 artist’s proofs. The unsigned prints will be accompanied by a copy of the justification page which was numbered and signed by the artist. SIGNED PRINTS A signed and numbered portfolio edition of 100 was produced together with 15 artist’s proofs. CANCELLATION On completion of these editions, the plates were defaced and presented to the Museum of Modern Art, New York. after the pulling of cancellation proofs. No further impressions can be taken.
All prices include frame, vat and uk delivery
front cover:
back cover:
42. Cold Water About to Hit the Prince
43. A Black Cat Leaping
etching & aquatint, 38.5 x 27 cm unsigned £750
etching & aquatint, 23.5 x 27 cm unsigned £950
STOP PRESS Just arrived is this scarce Hockney lithograph, published in 1979 in an edition of 75 on Japon paper.
Ann Putting on Lipstick lithograph, 1979, ed 75, signed 119 x 47 cm, ÂŁ8000
By far the best known British artist of his generation visit davidhockneyprints.com
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