David Hockney: The Complete Early Etchings 1961-1964
In February 2017 Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, in collaboration with Lyndsey Ingram, presented the first-ever exhibition of David Hockney’s complete early etchings (1961-1964). The show comprised of an impression of every print Hockney made from 1961, when he began working in this medium, to 1964. Highlights included a complete A Rake's Progress series, as well as the rare, unique self-portrait ECR (1961) on loan from Tate, and In Memory of Cecchino Bracci (1962) which was on loan from a private collection.
Hockney began making prints as an impecunious student at the Royal College of Art in 1961 because he couldn’t afford paint supplies. Soon however, he mastered the medium and made prints with abandon, using the immediacy of printmaking to express, document and reflect upon every aspect of his life as a young art student in London at the time. Taken together, Hockney’s early prints create a kind of portrait of the artist as a young man and exemplify his raw talent and experimental energy.
The exhibition was accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by the art historian, curator and leading Hockney specialist Marco Livingstone. It is the first complete catalogue of Hockney’s early prints.
