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Lithograph (from one plate) with hand coloring in gouache (an orange background wash and red) on cream Velin Arches mould made paper . Edition 100: this impression 29/100. Signed by the artist and dated 77 lower right in pencil, numbered lower right in pencil, verso.
While most Hodgkin works are abstract, the artist usually includes observational gestures: for example, a room viewed from above becomes a grouping of soft shapes. Here, there is a sense of light passing through shades, or a beam of red light flashing in the night. A frame of red – characteristic of Hodgkin’s work – positions the viewer as looking through a window (whether literally or figuratively). The frame motif is an aspect of Hodgkin’s lifelong attempt to capture single moments in time and infuse them with feeling and observation.
Through his extensive collaborations with Petersburg Press, Hodgkin began to use hand coloring as a means to charge his images with urgency, and create a complex play between layers and techniques. The soft, wide hatching in black has been printed over a background wash of light orange, while red gouache applied thickly on the surface produces a rich density of velvety color. Red Eye displays the increase in emotional content and intensity in Hodgkin’s work after the late 1970s. His marks are more fluid and lush due to an increased looseness of handling. These later works show a richness and a surface texture previously lacking – mainly due to the application of gouache or watercolor by hand.
A copy of this print is in the collection of Tate, London.
