Name: DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Brand: Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Price: 14000.00 GBP
Availability: InStock

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
the complete book of 39 etchings, some with aquatint, 1969-70, on Hodgkinson handmade wove paper, watermark DH PP, with title, text and justification, Edition A, signed in pencil on the justification, inscribed Ed A and numbered 62/100 (there were also 15 artist's proofs) published by Petersburg Press, London, with the additional suite of six loose etchings, each signed in pencil recto, inscribed Grimm Ed. A 62/100 in sepia ink verso, within the original blue calf binding, boards and slipcase
Plates 274 x 260 mm. (and smaller)
Sheets 442 x 308 mm.
Portfolio 477 x 323 x 47 mm.

Scottish Arts Council 70-108; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 67-105

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Lot Essay

Hockney’s celebrated Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm comprise a series of 39 etchings illustrating six of the artist’s favourite folk stories collected by the Brothers Grimm. By the late 1960s, as demand for his paintings outstripped supply, Hockney embarked on this ambitious printmaking project to reach a wider audience. Hockney drew on a wide range of art historical sources, referencing works by Hieronymous Bosch and René Magritte as well as Japanese ukiyo-e prints alongside his own drawings and photographs. The tales Hockney chose for the project were ‘The Little Sea Hare’, ‘Fundevogel’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Boy who left Home to learn Fear’, ‘Old Rinkrank’ and ‘Rumpelstilzchen’.
'They’re fascinating, the little stories, told in a 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. My choice of stories was occasionally influenced by how I might illustrate them. For example, Old Rinkrank was included because the story begins with the sentence, “A King built a glass mountain.” I loved the idea of finding how you draw a glass mountain; it was a little graphic problem. I included other stories simply because they were strange.' (David Hockney by David Hockney, Thames & Hudson, London, 1976, p. 195).
The book was issued in four editions of one hundred (Editions A-D), each accompanied by an additional suite of six signed loose etchings, while a separate, deluxe portfolio edition included an additional set of all 39 prints. The suite of six prints which accompanies the present Edition A comprise A wooded landscape (S.A.C. 75), Rapunzel growing in the garden (S.A.C. 81), Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair (S.A.C. 86), The sexton disguised as a ghost (S.A.C. 89), A room full of straw (S.A.C. 104), and Pleading for the child (S.A.C. 106).