Gerrish Fine Art asked me to create a piece to accompany their display of David Hockney’s Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Hockney decided to illustrate a selection of the curious folk stories in 1968 and selected six from the 239 tales. These were ‘The Little Sea Hare’, ‘Fundevogel’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Boy who left Home to learn Fear’, ‘Old Rinkrank’ and ‘Rumpelstilzchen’.
‘They’re fascinating, the little stories, told in a very very simple, direct, straightforward language and style; it was this simplicity that attracted me. They cover quite a strange range of experience, from the magical to the moral. My choice of stories was occasionally influenced by how I might illustrate them ... I included other stories simply because they were strange’, he explained.
The series comprises thirty-nine plates making it his largest print project at the time. The editions were published by the Petersburg Press, in association with the Kasmin Gallery, in 1970.
The etchings are in a variety of sizes and were printed on papers of differing sizes. The design shows the complete set and was driven by a self-imposed limitation to show them in proportion to each other.
© David Hockney, Rapunzel growing in the Garden, Etching & Aquatint Image: 44 × 32.7 cm
Hockney decided to illustrate a selection of the curious folk stories in 1968 and selected six from the 239 tales. These were ‘The Little Sea Hare’, ‘Fundevogel’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Boy who left Home to learn Fear’, ‘Old Rinkrank’ and ‘Rumpelstilzchen’.
‘They’re fascinating, the little stories, told in a very very simple, direct, straightforward language and style; it was this simplicity that attracted me. They cover quite a strange range of experience, from the magical to the moral. My choice of stories was occasionally influenced by how I might illustrate them ... I included other stories simply because they were strange’, he explained.
The series comprises thirty-nine plates making it his largest print project at the time. The editions were published by the Petersburg Press, in association with the Kasmin Gallery, in 1970.
The etchings are in a variety of sizes and were printed on papers of differing sizes. The design shows the complete set and was driven by a self-imposed limitation to show them in proportion to each other.
© David Hockney, Rapunzel growing in the Garden, Etching & Aquatint Image: 44 × 32.7 cm
