David Hockney

DAVID HOCKNEY (United Kingdom, 1937).
"In the dull village", in "Gavafy Suite", 1966.1967.
Aquatint etching, copy 6/75.
Signed and justified by hand.
Reproduced in the Catalogue raisonné published by Editions Alecto Limited, ref. 369.
Measurements: 35 x 22 cm (print); 58 x 41 cm (paper); 62 x 44,5 cm (frame).

This is one of thirteen prints from "Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy" by David Hockney between 1966 and 1967. It is Hockney's first major series of etchings since A Rake's Progress (1961), conceived almost exclusively in terms of line, and contains some of the artist's most accomplished line drawings to that date. Although he originally intended to illustrate a much more ambitious range of poems, in the end he decided to include only those dealing with the theme of homosexual love. The poets Stephen Spender and Nikos Stangos produced a new translation, which was published with the prints in 1967.

In early 1966, Hockney traveled to Beirut, which he considered the contemporary equivalent of Cavafy's Alexandria, to find images for the prints. Although inspired by Cavafy's poetry, Hockney also drew on his own experiences and surroundings. For example, his ink drawing Boys in Bed, Beirut (1966) (actually drawn in London with two of his friends as models) was adapted for one of the prints, According to Prescriptions of Ancient Magicians.

Hockney's etchings, which were intended to be visual equivalents of the mood and theme of all of Cavafy's homoerotic poetry, represent variations on the theme of two men engaged in endless, anonymous dalliances. Certain themes run through both Hockney's and Cavafy's work: fleeting experiences, nostalgia for the erotic, and the desire to be deeply involved in the lives of others while remaining an indifferent spectator.