HOWARD HODGKIN | Girl at Night

printed by Emil Matthieu, Zurich, published by Editions Alecto Ltd., London, on BFK Rives wove paper

Liesbeth Heenk, Howard Hodgkin Prints, London, 2003, no. 6

The full sheet, printed to the edges, in good condition, with very slight handling creases in the lower left and upper right corners, framed.
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The first stage of Hodgkin’s print-making oeuvre is largely formative and ran closely parallel to his painting. The works are bold in both their style and colour. The large geometric shapes that can be seen in this work are characteristic of Hodgkin’s first prints, as well as the wider cultural context of the 1960s pop art movement.  However, “Hodgkin says that he was very proud to once appear in the index of a book on pop art under the entry: "Howard Hodgkin is not a pop artist."” (Nicholas Wroe, The Guardian, March 2001) Girl at Night was commissioned by Paul Cornwall Jones of Editions Alecto. Working with the printer Emil Matthieu, Hodgkin produced five lithographs, together known as ‘5 Rooms’.  Throughout the portfolio, the artist explores the relationship between people and places, individuals and interiors. The relational aspect of these figures, and the rooms that they occupy, is the driving focus behind the majority of Hodgkin’s early prints. The result is one that is both intimate and impersonal, as the viewers themselves are asked to explore the impact of their own gaze on these moments and memories.