Exhibitions - Previous Exhibitions - The annual exhibition of David Hockney

13.01.07 – 04.02.07 View gallery

Arguably Britain’s best known living painter David Hockney is also a very distinguished and prolific printmaker. His earliest lithographs date from 1954 when, aged only seventeen, he made prints of subjects such as a fish and chip shop interior in his native town of Bradford. By 1961-63 he was producing a series of sixteen etchings entitled A Rake’s Progress inspired by Hogarth’s 18th century paintings of the same title.

Hockney’s high reputation as a printmaker is mainly based on etchings and lithographs. Literary themes have often been a fruitful source of inspiration for example Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy (1967), Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm (1969) and ‘The Blue Guitar’ (1977). Of the latter, and the quote could be applied to several of his prints, Hockney said, “The etchings themselves were not conceived as literal illustrations of the poem they are about transformations within art as well as the relation between reality and imagination, so these are pictures within pictures and different styles of representation juxtaposed and reflected and dissolved within the same frame”.

Hockney continued to make prints when he moved to America and typical subject matter included Californian swimming pools and his gay friends. Other well known prints are portraits of his London friends such as the fashion designers Ossie Clark and his wife Celia and the pop artist Richard Hamilton. Overall, Hockney’s prints alone would assure him of an important place in 20th century British art and they have also made a major contribution to the renewal of interest in book illustration. 

You and your friends are cordially invited to the opening of this exhibition on 

Saturday 13th January

11.00 – 17.00 

Canapés – Yorkshire Puds & Roast Beef, Sausages & mash,  Yorkshire Tea Loaf

Yorkshire Tea