A timely screening of Hockney, (2014), last night, as I'd viewed a Salzburg production of Die Meistersinger thrice over the weekend and the exquisite design throughout has a dominating factor, almost a subtext in the telling of Wagner's story, the use of light and texture in its exposition.
I was first attracted by Hockney's work in the mid-60s at the Whitechapel Gallery in London's east-end under the umbrella of 'A New Generation'! I returned for a second appraisal,
Whitechapel 1970, and recall the canvases which took up a complete wall. Subsequently, Hockney moved upstream to Tate Britain with waiting queues down the steps to street level and the posh catalogues rocketed in price from the one pound I paid in the mid 60s, a slightly faded cover still in my collection.
An earlier 70s documentary, A Bigger Splash, covered his emergent years at a time when he was still steeped in 19th century art and Hockney moves forward, too, in the changing world of technology and theatre design at Glyndebourne and the Met. I still find the drama queen element in his personal relationships a bit tiresome, amidst the splendour of Mulholland Drive!
In the main, his analysis of his work and insight into light and texture is so enlightening. The first Whitechapel Gallery catalogue also has a useful q & a session:
q..."It's a pity that Hieronymous Bosch didn't live long enough to illustrate Grimms himself. But of all the many people who've illustrated Grimms in the past is there anyone you feel has influenced your point of view?
a...Well many people have illustrated Grimms' and lots of them marvellously, like
Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. But most people who illustrate Grimms', illustrate on the whole, the drama of the stories and as I said didn't really set out to do that, I set out as it were,
to simply pick the detail of the story and illustrate that. The glass mountain itself seems to be interesting more than the princess falling into it."
"New ways of seeing mean new ways of feeling."
I look forward to transferring both documentaries to a single DVD.
I was first attracted by Hockney's work in the mid-60s at the Whitechapel Gallery in London's east-end under the umbrella of 'A New Generation'! I returned for a second appraisal,
Whitechapel 1970, and recall the canvases which took up a complete wall. Subsequently, Hockney moved upstream to Tate Britain with waiting queues down the steps to street level and the posh catalogues rocketed in price from the one pound I paid in the mid 60s, a slightly faded cover still in my collection.
An earlier 70s documentary, A Bigger Splash, covered his emergent years at a time when he was still steeped in 19th century art and Hockney moves forward, too, in the changing world of technology and theatre design at Glyndebourne and the Met. I still find the drama queen element in his personal relationships a bit tiresome, amidst the splendour of Mulholland Drive!
In the main, his analysis of his work and insight into light and texture is so enlightening. The first Whitechapel Gallery catalogue also has a useful q & a session:
q..."It's a pity that Hieronymous Bosch didn't live long enough to illustrate Grimms himself. But of all the many people who've illustrated Grimms in the past is there anyone you feel has influenced your point of view?
a...Well many people have illustrated Grimms' and lots of them marvellously, like
Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. But most people who illustrate Grimms', illustrate on the whole, the drama of the stories and as I said didn't really set out to do that, I set out as it were,
to simply pick the detail of the story and illustrate that. The glass mountain itself seems to be interesting more than the princess falling into it."
"New ways of seeing mean new ways of feeling."
I look forward to transferring both documentaries to a single DVD.