HOWARD HODGKIN | Back cloth design for ‘Rhymes with Silver’

Aldeburgh, Peter Pears Gallery, Howard Hodgkin Stage Designs, 8th - 23rd June 2002, un-numbered exhibition.

The board appears sound. There is a faint horizontal line of cracking at the centre of the extreme upper edge and two further very faint thin creases in the lower right quadrant. There is a very small imperfection to the extreme lower edge to the right of centre and a slight compression to the centre of the upper edge. There are isolated very fine lines of craquelure to one or two areas of impasto. Subject to the above, the work appears in very good overall condition. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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Rhymes with Silver was performed with original music by Lou Harrison, as part of a series of productions with the cellist Yo Yo Ma and was so-called, rather in jest, because there are no words which rhyme with silver. The present lot reveals Hodgkin’s strikingly simple design for the backdrop: the red and lime green waves, stacked, slightly overlapping, one upon the next.  Intense colour is the overpowering impact and this can also be identified as the theme of the piece which celebrates the diversity of dance traditions.  Starting with delicate Indian hand movements, a spectrum of styles unfold, from martial arts to dervish whirling, via old European court and Balkan folk dance. There are two possible interpretations of Rhymes with Silver. One is that Mark Morris simply intends to display the variety of dance and movement expressions. But within or besides this, he may also have a message about human similarity across cultures, and the co-existence of these cultures. Then, this dance becomes Morris's Utopia, where the world's traditions harmoniously unfold together.  Hodgkin’s backdrop changed dramatically under different lighting conditions, creating a variable environment which altered in harmony with the dance styles.  Rhymes with Silver was first performed by the Mark Morris Dance Group at Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley on 6^th March 1997.