In the dull village
Encyclopedia
In the dull village is an etching
and aquatint
print
made by David Hockney
in 1966, one of series of illustrations for a selection of Greek poems written by Constantine P. Cavafy
. It depicts two men lying next to each other in bed, naked from the waist up, with their lower halves covered by bedclothes.
Cavafy was a Greek poet who was born in Alexandria
in 1863. He spent several years in Liverpool
in his youth, and later in Constantinople
, but spent most of his life in the city of his birth. Many of Cavafy's poems are inspired by the Hellenistic era, and he is one of the earliest modern authors to write openly about homosexuality
. Cavafy died in 1933, four years before Hockney was born.
The young Hockney discovered Cavafy's poetry in the 1950s, and stole a copy of his poems from the local library in Bradford
. Several of Hockney early works are inspired by Cavafy's poems, including the 1961 prints Kaisarion and all his beauty, of Caesarion
, based on Cavafy's poems "Alexandrian Kings" and "Kaisarion",
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, which quotes Cavafy's poems Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 'The Mirror at the Entrance,
and a painting A Grand Procession of Dignitaries in the Semi-Egyptian Style, exhibited at the Young Contemporaries student show in February 1962, sold by Hockney for £110 in 1964, and resold for $2.2 million (£1.3m) in 1989.
Hockney visited Cairo
, Luxor
and Alexandria
in 1963, seeking artistic inspiration, and then Beirut
in January 1966, hoping to discover the liberal cosmopolitan urban milieu that Cavafy had inhabited in Alexandria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hockney made several pen and ink drawings of street life in Beirut. He worked on around 20 plates to illustrate 14 of Cavafy's poems chosen from a new English translation by Nikos Stangos and Stephen Spender
. The engravings use a spare style, with line illustrations etched directly on the copper plates. Editions Alecto published 12 of Hockney's prints in 1967 as a book in a limited edition of 500, and several looseleaf portfolio editions. The first 250 copies of the book included a thirteenth unbound etching, Portrait of Cavafy II. The etchings were printed by Maurice Payne and Danyon Black at the Alecto Studio. The book is are known as Illustrations for Thirteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy or Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy.
The 12 illustrations were:
Although each print is named after and takes its inspiration from one of Cavafy's poems, most of the illustrations are based on drawings of Hockey's friends in London, mainly pairs of partially clothed men in Hockney's bedroom in Notting Hill
. In an old book and One night are inspired by pictures in physique magazines. Only four - the two portraits of Cavafy, To remain (a dry cleaning shop) and The shop window of a tobacco store - are clearly located in the Middle East, while He enquired after the quality is based on a salesman spotted and drawn by Hockney in a bazaar.
The prints measure 57 centimetre by 39.5 inch, from a plate measuring 34.8 centimetre by 22.5 centimetre. The plates were defaced after several limited editions of the etchings were printed, and were given to the Museum of Modern Art
in New York.
These prints were not Hockney's first experiments in printmaking. In 1961-3, he produced a series of 16 etchings as an updated version of Hogarths A Rake's Progress
, and he followed his 1966-7 Cavafy suite with Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
(1969).
In 1968, the Arts Council
made a short documentary film, Loves Presentation on the creation of the prints, directed by James Scott
. The print was selected by British Museum
director Neil MacGregor
as object 97 in the A History of the World in 100 Objects
, a series of radio programmes that started in 2010 as a collaboration between the BBC
and the British Museum.
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
and aquatint
Aquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching.Intaglio printmaking makes marks on the matrix that are capable of holding ink. The inked plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, resulting in a transfer of the ink to the paper...
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
made by David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
in 1966, one of series of illustrations for a selection of Greek poems written by Constantine P. Cavafy
Constantine P. Cavafy
Constantine P. Cavafy, also known as Konstantin or Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, or Kavaphes was a renowned Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant...
. It depicts two men lying next to each other in bed, naked from the waist up, with their lower halves covered by bedclothes.
Cavafy was a Greek poet who was born in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
in 1863. He spent several years in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in his youth, and later in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, but spent most of his life in the city of his birth. Many of Cavafy's poems are inspired by the Hellenistic era, and he is one of the earliest modern authors to write openly about homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Cavafy died in 1933, four years before Hockney was born.
The young Hockney discovered Cavafy's poetry in the 1950s, and stole a copy of his poems from the local library in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
. Several of Hockney early works are inspired by Cavafy's poems, including the 1961 prints Kaisarion and all his beauty, of Caesarion
Caesarion
Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar , better known by the nicknames Caesarion and Ptolemy Caesar , was the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, who reigned jointly with his mother Cleopatra VII of Egypt, from September 2, 44 BC...
, based on Cavafy's poems "Alexandrian Kings" and "Kaisarion",
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, which quotes Cavafy's poems Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 'The Mirror at the Entrance,
and a painting A Grand Procession of Dignitaries in the Semi-Egyptian Style, exhibited at the Young Contemporaries student show in February 1962, sold by Hockney for £110 in 1964, and resold for $2.2 million (£1.3m) in 1989.
Hockney visited Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Luxor
Luxor
Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The population numbers 487,896 , with an area of approximately . As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as the ruins of the temple...
and Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
in 1963, seeking artistic inspiration, and then Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in January 1966, hoping to discover the liberal cosmopolitan urban milieu that Cavafy had inhabited in Alexandria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hockney made several pen and ink drawings of street life in Beirut. He worked on around 20 plates to illustrate 14 of Cavafy's poems chosen from a new English translation by Nikos Stangos and Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...
. The engravings use a spare style, with line illustrations etched directly on the copper plates. Editions Alecto published 12 of Hockney's prints in 1967 as a book in a limited edition of 500, and several looseleaf portfolio editions. The first 250 copies of the book included a thirteenth unbound etching, Portrait of Cavafy II. The etchings were printed by Maurice Payne and Danyon Black at the Alecto Studio. The book is are known as Illustrations for Thirteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy or Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy.
The 12 illustrations were:
|
|
|
Although each print is named after and takes its inspiration from one of Cavafy's poems, most of the illustrations are based on drawings of Hockey's friends in London, mainly pairs of partially clothed men in Hockney's bedroom in Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
. In an old book and One night are inspired by pictures in physique magazines. Only four - the two portraits of Cavafy, To remain (a dry cleaning shop) and The shop window of a tobacco store - are clearly located in the Middle East, while He enquired after the quality is based on a salesman spotted and drawn by Hockney in a bazaar.
The prints measure 57 centimetre by 39.5 inch, from a plate measuring 34.8 centimetre by 22.5 centimetre. The plates were defaced after several limited editions of the etchings were printed, and were given to the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York.
These prints were not Hockney's first experiments in printmaking. In 1961-3, he produced a series of 16 etchings as an updated version of Hogarths A Rake's Progress
A Rake's Progress
A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by 18th century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–33 then engraved and published in print form in 1735...
, and he followed his 1966-7 Cavafy suite with Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
(1969).
In 1968, the Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
made a short documentary film, Loves Presentation on the creation of the prints, directed by James Scott
James Scott
James Scott may refer to:*James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth , noble recognized by some as James II of England*James Scott , British MP 1710–1711*James Scott , British naval officer...
. The print was selected by British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
director Neil MacGregor
Neil MacGregor
Robert Neil MacGregor, OM, FSA is an art historian and museum director. He was the Editor of the Burlington Magazine from 1981 to 1987, the Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 to 2002, and was appointed Director of the British Museum in 2002...
as object 97 in the A History of the World in 100 Objects
A History of the World in 100 Objects
A History of the World in 100 Objects was a joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum, comprising a 100-part radio series written and presented by British Museum director Neil MacGregor...
, a series of radio programmes that started in 2010 as a collaboration between the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and the British Museum.