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Signed by the artist with initials and dated 1980 lower center in red crayon; numbered 32/100 lower left in red crayon. Soft-ground etching and aquatint with hand-coloring in gouache, on buff Velin Arches mould-made paper, the full sheet. Published by Petersburg Press, 1980.
This print depicts a figure in front of a shuttered window, in Hodgkin’s signature painterly style. The expressive mark-making in this print is an example of the artist’s movement in the late 70s towards pronounced gestures. Beside bold black strokes, his fingerprints form areas of texture. Always seeking greater richness, Hodgkin layered ink and hand coloring in this print.
Howard Hodgkin was introduced to the etching technique used in After Lunch at Petersburg Press, where this print was produced, and where he would become a long-time collaborator. This technique allowed him to work fluidly and spontaneously, creating the moody interior scenes that mark Hodgkin’s work from the late 70s and early 80s.
Catalogue reference:
Elizabeth Knowles, Howard Hodgkin: Prints 1977 to 1983, Tate Gallery, London 1985, no. 2 illustrated.
Liesbeth Heenk, Howard Hodgkin Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames and Hudson, London 2003, no. 57 illustrated.
Copies of this etching are in the collections of MoMA, New York; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; British Arts Council, London; and the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge.
