Howard Hodgkin - Evening & Day Editions London Wednesday, January 18, 2023 | Phillips

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  • Howard Hodgkin first started printmaking in the mid-1950s at Corsham Court, where the likes of William Scott had trained, and Clifford Ellis oversaw the printmaking classes. So began a long career of producing editions. However, it was not until Hodgkin encountered the printer Jack Shirreff that he truly embraced the full potential of the medium. Carborundum etching was the catalyst for this change, and Hodgkin set about creating monumental prints under the expert guidance of Shirreff at his 107 Workshop in Wiltshire. Carborundum allowed the artist to paint directly onto plates, giving incredible depth and texture to the results, with surfaces echoing impasto paintings. It was a process that Hodgkin described as “marvellously liberating.” To complete these works, swathes of vibrant hand colours in egg tempera were washed across the surface.

    • Provenance

      Waddington Graphics, London
      Private Collection, London

    • Literature

      Liesbeth Heenk 84

    • Artist Biography

      Howard Hodgkin

      British • 1932 - 2017

      One of the greatest colorists of his generation, Howard Hodgkin explores the very nature of painting as both cultured language and sheer expression. He disregards the classical polarities of abstraction and representation, past and present, canvas and frame, using gestural brushstrokes and a vivid palette to emphasize the picture plane, while simultaneously seeking to convey memories and emotions.

      The seemingly casual, urgent quality of his paintings and prints belies a drawn-out process of making: it could take a year for Hodgkin to prepare to execute a single brushstroke. The resultant maximalist, saturated works on canvas, paper, wood and board can be intimately scaled and jewel-like, or oversized, opulent and theatrical. Whilst his early compositions have a collaged, geometric flatness, Hodgkin's later work (including etching and aquatint prints) increasingly incorporated more lush surface textures and complex, fluid patterns reminiscent of the Pahari miniatures from India, of which he was an avid collector.

      View More Works

151

In An Empty Room (H. 84)

1990-91
Intaglio print with carborundum in colours and hand-colouring in egg tempera, on Arches paper, the full sheet.
S. 120.7 x 149.2 cm (47 1/2 x 58 3/4 in.)
Signed with initials, dated and numbered 'AP 5/15' in pencil (an artist's proof, the edition was 55), published by Waddington Graphics, London, unframed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£3,000 - 5,000 

Sold for £4,788

Contact Specialist

Rebecca Tooby-Desmond
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Anne Schneider-Wilson
Senior International Specialist, Editions
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Evening & Day Editions

London Auction 18 - 19 January 2023