NYAB Event - Howard Hodgkin “Views”

Howard Hodgkin “Views”

Bernard Jacobson Gallery

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Bernard Jacobson New York presents Howard Hodgkin: Views from 3 May - 1 June 2013. Following a successful run at the Cork Street gallery in London, the exhibition is now travelling to the New York gallery at 17 East 71st Street. The exhibition focuses on the first two decades of Hodgkin’s printmaking, and shows the artist’s early collaboration with Bernard Jacobson, who published most of the prints on view.

Focusing on the first two decades of Hodgkin’s printmaking and his collaboration with Bernard Jacobson, the exhibition commences with Hodgkin’s early output between 1966 and 1968 when his experimentation with printmaking produced such works as Indian Room and Interior with Figure. In subsequent series the artist introduced the use of hand coloring and enlarged prints to an oversized dimension, finally achieving a sculptural quality and lushness that became a signature component of his printmaking practice.

Howard Hodgkin started his printmaking career using lithography: a process that most closely mimicked the directness of applying paint to canvas. Girl on a Sofa, Bedroom, and Indian Room depict brightly colored interiors with geometric shapes and organic forms that are sometimes recognizable as human figures.

After a voyage to India, Hodgkin’s interest turned towards capturing a variety of views: views from his train window while crossing the country, views through shutters, or views out of a window into a landscape. He also started painting borders around the image, which would function as windows.

Hodgkin’s introduction of hand coloring brought directness and spontaneity to his prints. As a result the texture became much richer with the color bleeding into the printing ink, a chance encounter which he encouraged and accepted. The hand coloring could take place at any stage of the printing process and in the final print the many layers of paint and ink become indistinguishable under the opulence of the final texture. Eventually Hodgkin started to question the autographic mark and decided to take on assistants who would execute the hand coloring following his instructions.

The oversized print Bleeding with its richness of color, shows a development towards bolder prints. It is one of only two prints with preparatory studies. Featuring his New York apartment, it contains decorative designs that are inspired by India as well as Alhambra in Granada. His long lived fascination with Indian culture and the Indian landscape finds here an almost figurative expression.

Later under the guidance of his new printer Jack Shirreff, Hodgkin introduced the use of carborundum to his printing process. It allowed for deeper colors on a slightly embossed paper. As in Red Listening Ear and Blue Listening Ear, the texture becomes bolder and the hand coloring is of increasing importance.

Howard Hodgkin was born in 1932 in London. He started his career as a painter and became a prolific printmaker. He represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1984 and won the Turner Prize in 1985. He has had many important exhibitions in museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1995 and a major touring retrospective at Tate Britain, London, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin and the Reina Sofia, Madrid in 2006. His work can be found in the collections of major museums, including MOMA, New York, Tate, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

[Image: Howard Hodgkin “For Bernard Jacobson” (1979) Lithograph, 105 x 149.9 cm]