£7,000
Modern British and Contemporary Art | 517
Auction: 18 April 2018 at 12:00 BST
A.P., signed with initials and dated in pencil, numbered 3/18, screenprint on wovepaper
Note: Considered to be one the most important British artists of the twentieth century, Sir Howard Hodgkin was a central figure in the country's modern art movement. Born in 1932 in Hammersmith London, Hodgkin was determined to become a painter from the young age of five. During the Second World War Hodgkin, along with his sister and mother, were evacuated to Long Island, USA. There his ambitions to paint were reinforced after seeing pictures by Matisse, and Picasso at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. After returning to England he attended Eton College where he first began to collect Indian miniatures. After running away from school twice, Hodgkin was transferred to Bryanston School in Dorset however he soon ran away again to pursue his ambition of becoming a painter. Hodgkin first trained at Camberwell School of Art followed by four years studying at Bath Academy of Art. In the mid-1950s a wave of Abstract Expressionism exhibitions in London had an important impact on the development of his style, and to extent liberated him as an artist. Hodgkin has exhibited at numerous notable institutions including the Hayward Gallery and Gagosian. He was also granted numerous major shows including exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Tate Britain as well as representing Britain at the 1984 Venice Biennale. In 1976 Hodgkin's first retrospective was curated by Nicolas Serota at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford and in 1992 he was knighted for his services to the arts.
Hodgkin's work is characterised by his sensitivity to colour and ability to stimulate an emotive response in the viewer. His rich and complex paintings are rooted in an everyday reality and his own private experiences. Despite the sweeping energetic brush strokes conveying a sense of spontaneity, they are a result of an extensive process of careful layering and over painting. In Bamboo Hodgkin infuses his understanding of late nineteenth century French painting, especially work by Edouard Vuillard, with his own personal experiences of travelling to exotic locations. The impact of the vivid colour is intensified by his habit of incorporating the frame as part of the picture. Usually his titles seem opaque to the viewer, but for the artist they are the clue to the image.