Howard Hodgkin

A Furnished Room Howard Hodgkin, colorful abstract red green interior scene

1977

Abstract red, green and grey interior scene with lines, shapes and hand painted brushstroke texture. Colorful large scale work ideal for display in minimalist, modern and contemporary spaces. While British pop artists such as David Hockney and Patrick Caulfield numbered amongst Howard Hodgkin's circle of friends, Hodgkin's work is painterly, expressionist, and abstract. Paper 21.25 x 27.25 in. / 54 x 69 cm Softground etching and aquatint (from two plates) with hand coloring in watercolor (green and orange). Signed by the artist and dated 77 lower right in pencil; numbered lower left in pencil. This print was proofed by Daniel Levy and printed and hand-colored by Ken Farley at Claes Oldenburg’s studio in New York, which Petersburg Press was using at the time. 1977 heralded a breakthrough in Hodgkin’s prints showing an increase in emotional content and intensity. They are more fluid and lush due to an increased looseness of handling. They show a richness and a surface texture previously lacking – mainly due to the application of gouache or watercolor by hand but also to the more tonal techniques of aquatint and soft-ground etching with its chalk-like lines. This print amongst others of the period was prompted by a visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma and represents an interior scene. Catalogue Reference: Elizabeth Knowles...

Large scale black and white etching depicting an abstracted pool, at David Hockney’s home in Los Angeles. This hand painted Howard Hodgkin work is i...

Sheet from “Rapunzel” story (from Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm) Text printed letterpress and “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your Hair” etching and aquatint on W S Hodgkinson paper watermarked "DH" and "PP" Etching 10.5 × 9.85 in. / 26.7 × 25 cm Paper 17.5 x 12.25 in. / 45 x 31 cm Unsigned: apart from the published edition of 400 books and 100 portfolios. This is one of eleven images recently found in our archive which we have decided to make available. There is one only of each image. Perhaps the most famous story from the Grimm Brothers, Rapunzel spins the tale of a beautiful young princess locked away by an evil sorceress. Captured in this scene is the moment a King's son came across the tower and fell in love with her sweet singing, beseeching her: 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let down your hair to me.' Though the sorcerer banishes Rapunzel and maims the prince, they are of course ultimately reunited to live happily together. Hockney illustrates this scene with incredible texture detail: layers of aquatint defining the soft forest floor, delicate hatching on the horse's haunch, the tower's tight crosshatching, and of course the lyrical gesture of Rapunzel's hair which cascades from the upper right corner. This print from our publisher's archives is one of thirty-nine etchings from David Hockney’s 1969 "Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm". Hockney worked on this series with Paul Cornwall-Jones at Petersburg Press over the course of a year. 400 books and 100 portfolios plus artist’s proofs were printed. The artist illustrated six stories: 'The Little Sea Hare', 'Fundevogel', 'Rapunzel', 'The Boy who left Home to learn Fear', 'Old Rinkrank' and 'Rumpelstilzchen'. According to Hockney, "They're fascinating, the little stories, told in a very, very simple, direct, straightforward language and style, it was this simplicity that attracted me. They cover quite a strange range of experience, from the magical to the moral." He was inspired by earlier illustrators of the tales, including Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, but Hockney reimagined the stories for a modern audience. The frontispiece for the project pictures Catherina Dorothea Viehmann, the elderly German woman who recounted fairy tales to the Grimm brothers when they were in their late twenties. In Hockney's words: “The stories weren’t written by the Brothers Grimm…they came across this woman called Catherina Dorothea Viehmann, who told 20 stories to them in this simple language, and they were so moved by them that they wrote them down word for word as she spoke.” Hockney drew the German woman in the style of Dürer, formally posed yet naturalistic against an impeccably crosshatched swath of grey. Hockney wrote about the surreal plots contained in the Brothers Grimm tales: “…the stories really are quite mad, when you think of it, and quite strange. In modern times, it’s like the story of a couple moving into a house, and in the next door’s garden they see this lettuce growing: and the wife develops this craving for the lettuce that she just must have and climbs over to pinch it, and the old woman who lives in the house next door says well, you can have the lettuce if you give me your child, and they agree to it. And if you put it into terms like this and imagine them in their semi-detached house agreeing to it all, it seems incredible.” Hockney enhanced this unbelievable quality with his illustrations which traverse inky, dense areas of intense crosshatching and minimalist line work. Rather than serving as direct interpretations of the plot, the images capture moments and feelings. Some portray the magic yet mundane -- Rapunzel's tiny face gazing placidly at a well-tended garden, or project danger and unease as in The Haunted Castle, with its citadel perched atop craggy rocks, dramatically lit against a dark sky. Hockney's sense of humor comes through in Cold Water About to Hit the Prince, in which a man tucked into bed stares straight at a rush of water drawn with a splash (this technique is likely Spit Bite, and the resultant bold spattered brushstroke contrasts beautifully with the rest of the carefully crosshatched image). A Wooded Landscape, with its lush textures, conveys the bucolic setting of a fairy tale and the potential danger hidden within the woods -- the viewer is left to wonder who lives on the hilltop in that diminutive cabin. These etchings defy the conventions of beautiful fairy tale illustrations...

Catherina Dorothea Viehman (from Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm) Etching and aquatint on W S Hodgkinson paper watermarked "DH" and "PP" Paper 1...

This vibrant abstract orange and green print is part of a group of soft-ground etchings (Artist and Model, Artist and Model (in green and yellow), These…Plants) by Howard Hodgkin. The two versions of Artist and Model are printed from the same plates, but in different colors. In this iteration, green watercolor contrasts beautifully with marigold orange, crimson, and terra cotta red. Seen in all three prints is a bust in silhouette before a window. Artist and Model is a surprising name, as Hodgkin never painted or drew from a model. Signed by the artist with initials, dated 1980, and numbered lower center in red crayon. Soft-ground etching with hand coloring in a yellow watercolor wash and green gouache on Stoneridge mould-made etching paper. Edition 100. Howard Hodgkin was introduced to the etching technique used in Artist and Model (in green and yellow) at Petersburg Press, where this print was produced and where he would become a long-time collaborator. This technique allowed him to work fluidly and spontaneously, creating the moody interior scenes that mark Hodgkin’s work from the late 70s and early 80s. Catalogue reference: Elizabeth Knowles...

Large scale black and white abstract interior scene with dots, lines, brushstrokes, and hand painting in grey, to hang in contemporary, modern and minimalist spaces. While British pop artists such as David Hockney and Patrick Caulfield numbered amongst Howard Hodgkin's circle of friends, Hodgkin's work is painterly, emotional, expressionist, and abstract. Early Evening in the Museum of Modern Art, by Howard Hodgkin. Signed by the artist, numbered 47/100, and dated 79 lower center in red crayon. Soft-ground etching printed from the same plate as 'Late Afternoon in the Museum of Modern Art', with hand coloring in black gouache on Grey BFK Rives mould-made paper. This print depicts an abstracted scene, perhaps a sculpture in front of a window in the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, in Hodgkin's signature painterly style. The expressive mark-making in this print is an example of the artist’s movement in the late 70s towards pronounced gestures. Wide areas of deep black pigment contrast urgent swipes of ink. Always seeking greater richness in his prints, Hodgkin layered ink and hand coloring in this print, rendering each impression in the edition unique. Part of a series of four prints reflecting on a visit to...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting on it. Image size: cm 39.5 x 29.5, sheet cm 53 x 39 Italian artist Enrico Baj (1924-2003) was born in Milan into a wealthy family, but left Italy in 1944 having upset the authorities and to avoid conscription. He studied at the Milan University law faculty and the Brera Academy of Art. Italian Surrealist Pop Art. Artist, attorney, ironist, writer, sharp critic, and political dissenter, Enrico Baj brought an urgent, refreshing and unique voice to the art of his time. In 1951 he founded the Movimento d'Arte Nuclear...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting on it. Image size: cm 39.5 x 29.5, sheet cm 53 x 39 Italian artist Enrico Baj (1924-2003) was born in Milan into a wealthy family, but left Italy in 1944 having upset the authorities and to avoid conscription. He studied at the Milan University law faculty and the Brera Academy of Art. Italian Surrealist Pop Art. Artist, attorney, ironist, writer, sharp critic, and political dissenter, Enrico Baj brought an urgent, refreshing and unique voice to the art of his time. In 1951 he founded the Movimento d'Arte Nuclear...