Howard Hodgkin
September 2004
Hodgkin's distinctive painterly vocabulary of discs, blobs, stripes and loops in bold decorative colours is unmistakable. The prints of this artist strive not to be mere transcriptions of his paintings, but endeavour, through different media, to recapture the intensity of brief recollections and intense emotional encounters which are inherent in all his work.
Hodgkin's first print, entitled Enter Laughing, was the artist's contribution to the ICA portfolio instigated by Richard Hamilton in 1964. This groundbreaking portfolio contained work by many major artists of the day who were introduced to screen printing techniques by Chris Prater of Kelpra.
Between 1966 and 1968 Hodgkin produced several lithographs with Editions Alecto, but it was not until the early seventies that Maurice Payne at Petersburgh Press introduced Hodgkin to intaglio processes of printing such as etching and aquatint.
The technique of having an image ready and complete to print is anathema to Hodgkin. His usual method of working involves severe concentration and contemplation until the image is finally deemed ready for the canvas. In contrast, printmaking requires the artist to have an image in his head from the outset and 'instead of being able to make a mark when he wants (the artist) is constantly forced to imagine what a mark will look like in reverse' (1).
Despite this, Hodgkin's career as a printmaker has succeeded by 'increasingly bending to his will a medium which in his personal terms seemed at first distinctly intractable' (2). As a result he has produced prints with his beautiful and subtle effects through both monochrome and colour by using each printing technique with versatile mastery.
Hodgkin has also made a feature of hand colouring many of his prints. This has become, as Pat Gilmour succinctly explains,
1. Richard Morphet, Howard Hodgkin, Prints 1977-1983, (Tate Gallery, London. September - December 1985), p.11
2. Op. Cit.
3. Pat Gilmour, 'Howard Hodgkin', The Print Collectors' Newsletter, vol. XII, March - April 1981, p.3
Hodgkin's first print, entitled Enter Laughing, was the artist's contribution to the ICA portfolio instigated by Richard Hamilton in 1964. This groundbreaking portfolio contained work by many major artists of the day who were introduced to screen printing techniques by Chris Prater of Kelpra.
Between 1966 and 1968 Hodgkin produced several lithographs with Editions Alecto, but it was not until the early seventies that Maurice Payne at Petersburgh Press introduced Hodgkin to intaglio processes of printing such as etching and aquatint.
The technique of having an image ready and complete to print is anathema to Hodgkin. His usual method of working involves severe concentration and contemplation until the image is finally deemed ready for the canvas. In contrast, printmaking requires the artist to have an image in his head from the outset and 'instead of being able to make a mark when he wants (the artist) is constantly forced to imagine what a mark will look like in reverse' (1).
Despite this, Hodgkin's career as a printmaker has succeeded by 'increasingly bending to his will a medium which in his personal terms seemed at first distinctly intractable' (2). As a result he has produced prints with his beautiful and subtle effects through both monochrome and colour by using each printing technique with versatile mastery.
Hodgkin has also made a feature of hand colouring many of his prints. This has become, as Pat Gilmour succinctly explains,
(an) integral necessity in each work, (it) is a part of Hodgkin's solution for achieving something comparable to the energy, intensity, and saturation of his paintings without imitating them. Editioned hand colouring has since become the leitmotiv of his graphic work. (3)
In the lithograph, Jarid's Porch, the black lithographic ink is heightened by a central yellow arch with grey hand-coloured borders. The four etchings, In the Museum of Modern Art, (Oxford), were printed from sheetbuilder's copper. The billowing curtain and the increasing darkness of the plates (black gauche used to great effect) give an illusion of space and a vivid sense of time passing. Souvenir is a tour-de-force of printmaking. Printed from five screens, this monumental print gives the impression of deftness and lightness of touch that only and artist with a supreme sensitivity to the medium along with the help of a skilled printer could produce. The combines effect is one of seemingly effortless aplomb.1. Richard Morphet, Howard Hodgkin, Prints 1977-1983, (Tate Gallery, London. September - December 1985), p.11
2. Op. Cit.
3. Pat Gilmour, 'Howard Hodgkin', The Print Collectors' Newsletter, vol. XII, March - April 1981, p.3
Jennifer Ramkalawon