Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy | |||||||||||||||||
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Artist | David Hockney | ||||||||||||||||
Year | 1966 (printed) 1967 (published) | ||||||||||||||||
Catalogue | |||||||||||||||||
Medium | 13 Etchings (9 with aquatint) | ||||||||||||||||
Subject |
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Location | ≥31 public collections worldwide | ||||||||||||||||
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Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy is a series of etchings by David Hockney in response to fourteen poems by Constantine P. Cavafy (1863–1933).[1]
The set is also known as "Fourteen Poems",[2] "Fourteen Poems by C P Cavafy",[3] "The Cavafy Suite",[4] "The Cavafy Series", "Cavafy Portfolio", and "Cavafy Book"; and is sometimes erroneously referred to as "Thirteen Poems".
Drawn in 1966 and published in 1967 in London, just as parliament passed the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which finally decriminalised male homosexuality in England and Wales, this was Hockney's second major series of etchings after A Rake’s Progress (1961–3), and an important example of his pioneering representation of gay identity and sexuality in the early to mid-1960s. His artwork, intimate and personal rather than declamatory, broke taboos in a period when male homosexuality was illegal and such images were often deemed obscene.
Although Hockney never saw himself as a gay activist, or even a gay artist, he visually challenged the legal and social repression of gay and bisexual men and asserted the importance of the human rights principle of freedom of expression:[5]
Of course Cavafy’s poems are about gay love, and I was quite boldly using that subject then. I was aware that it was illegal, but I didn’t really think much about that at the time. I was living in a bohemian world, where we just did what we pleased. I wasn’t speaking for anybody else. I was defending my way of living. — David Hockney[6]
No. | Etching Title | View online at AIC | Description | Medium | Cavafy Poem | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Portrait of Cavafy in Alexandria | View | Portrait of C.P. Cavafy | Etching with aquatint in black ink on white wove paper | The mirror at the entrance | [7] |
2 | Two boys aged 23 or 24 | View | [8] | |||
3 | He enquired after the quality | View | [9] | |||
4 | To Remain | View | ||||
5 | According to Prescriptions of Ancient Magicians | View | ||||
6 | In an old book | View | ||||
7 | The shop window of a tobacco store | View | ||||
8 | In the dull village | View | ||||
9 | The Beginning | View | The beginning | |||
10 | One night | View | ||||
11 | In despair | View | ||||
12 | Beautiful and white flowers | View |
No. | Etching Title | View online at AIC | Description | Medium | Dimensions | Cavafy Poem | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | Portrait of Cavafy II | View | Etching with aquatint in black ink on white wove paper | 35.0 × 22.5 cm (image and plate)
56.8 × 40.8 cm irreg. (sheet) |
[10] |
"The fourteen selected for this book are, with the exception of Caesarian, poems of homosexual love: short, unrhymed, deeply felt but totally unsentimental. They appear in a new, hitherto unpublished translation by Nikos Stangos and Stephen Spender ... For several years Hockney has admired the work of Cavafy’" -- Prospectus
Printmakers: Editions Alecto Limited — Proofed by Master printmaker Maurice Payne and printed by Danyon Black at the Alecto Studios, London.
Publisher: Editions Alecto Limited.
Binding, publisher's, by Tillotsons (Bolton) Limited, of magenta cotton silk, in black cotton silk slipcase, made by Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne.
Presented as a bound book of etchings with the supplementary signed etching Portrait of Cavafy II.
Supplementary etching inscribed in pencil l.r.: "David Hockney 66", stamped in ink on reverse l.l.: "Edition A ea 431".[11]
300 copies: 250 numbered 1–250 + 50 Artist's Proofs.
Presented as a bound book of 12 etchings, with title page, poems by C. P. Cavafy, and justification. Signed and numbered in pencil, published by Editions Alecto, London, on Crisbrook handmade paper, contained in a lilac cloth-covered boards and black slipcase.
overall: 47.3 by 33.5cm.; 18¾ by 13¼in.
Illustrated book: 35 folios with 12 etchings, letterpress text. (NGV)
250 copies: numbered 251–500.
Presented as a portfolio.
50 copies numbered 1/75 – 50/75.
e.g. NGV:
inscribed in pencil l.l.: 19/75
inscribed in pencil l.r.: David Hockney '66
stamped in ink on reverse l.r.: ea 368
Presented as a portfolio.
40 copies: 25 numbered 51/75 – 75/75 + 15 artist's proofs, with text on folders containing etchings.
Presented as a portfolio.
30 copies: 25 numbered I–XXV + 5 artist's proofs on Vellum Royal paper, with supplementary etching.
Notes.
670 sets of etchings (620 with text) printed in Editions A–E, including 500 and 50 artist's proofs issued in book form (Editions A–B):
Book (42 p., [12] leaves of plates : ill. ; 47 cm.): 550 copies. (Edition A, B). Numbered and signed in pencil by the artist on the colophon.
Portfolio: 120 copies. (Edition C, D, E).
Loose: 50 copies.
Institution | Edition | Notes | External Links to Images | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Art Institute of Chicago | D | Copy 51/75
[Accession Numbers: 1968.198.1–12] + Portrait of Cavafy II (Artist's Proof, signed l.r.: 'David Hockney 66') [Accession Number: 1968.198.13] |
View All on AIC website | [12] |
Arts Council Collection | C* | Composed from various incomplete copies in Edition C (without supplementary signed etching):
|
View All on ACC website | [13] |
Bibliothèque nationale de France | A | One copy from Edition A + Portrait of Cavafy II (supplementary signed etching)
[Notice n°: FRBNF46552236] |
View at the BnF | [14] |
Bodleian Library | B | Copy 494/500 | View at the Bodleian | [15] |
British Council | D | Copy 72/75 (without supplementary signed etching)
[Accession Number: P1179 – P1190] |
View All at the British Council | [16] |
British Library | A | One copy from Edition A + Portrait of Cavafy II
(Signed by the illustrator. Including “Portrait of Cavafy II”) [UIN: BLL01001917537] |
View at the BL | [17] |
British Museum | B | Copy 366/500
"This copy is signed and numbered 366/500 and has been disbound with the colophon, title-page and list of editions kept separately in a folder. The letterpress with Cavafy's poems is not included". [Accession Numbers: 1981,1212.8.1–12] |
View All at the British Museum | |
Cartwright Hall Art Gallery | ||||
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco | One copy [Accession Number: 1994.188.1]
+ In despair [Accession Number: 2020.31] |
[18][19] | ||
Fitzwilliam Museum | A | Copy 18/500 + Portrait of Cavafy II
[Accession Number: P.56-1968] |
[20][21] | |
Frankfurt University Library | A | Copy 5/500 | [22] | |
Getty Research Institute | A | Copy 82/500 | [23] | |
Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery | B | Copy 305/500
+ Two boys aged 23 or 24 (Artist's Proof, signed l.r.: 'David Hockney 66') |
||
Los Angeles County Museum of Art | A | Gift of R. B. Kitaj
[M.2002.198.27.1a-l] |
View Edition A at LACMA | [24] |
Minneapolis Institute of Art | View at MIA | [25] | ||
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo | A | AP | View at MOT | [26] |
Portrait of Cavafy Ⅱ | View at MOT | [27] | ||
Museum of Modern Art | C | Copy 30/75
[Object Numbers: 45.1967.1-12] |
View Edition C at MoMA | [2] |
A? (A/Ps) | "artist's proof before the edition of 500"
[Object Numbers: 1043.1969.1-13] |
View Artist Proofs at MoMa | [28] | |
National Art Library | Copy 411/500
(National Art LIbrary's copy lacks slip case). [Accession Numbers: L.3614-1971] |
View at the NAL | [29] | |
National Gallery of Art | B | Copy 335/500
"Inscription on colophon page, across bottom in graphite: David Hockney / 335/500; on colophon page, lower left printed text: London, 1967" [Accession Number: 1991.116.218] |
View Edition B at the NGA | |
National Gallery of Canada | B | Copy 393/500 held in NGC Library.
+ Portrait of C.P. Cavafy |
[30][31] | |
National Gallery of Victoria | B | Copy 410/500
[Accession Number: P13-1983] |
View Edition B at NGV | |
C** | + The shop window of a tobacco store (19/75)
(inscribed in pencil l.l.: 19/75. inscribed in pencil l.r.: David Hockney '66. stamped in ink on reverse l.r.: ea 368) [Accession Number: P43-1969] |
View The shop window of a tobacco store at NGV | ||
A** | + Portrait of Cavafy II (unnumbered, signed l.r.: 'David Hockney 66' stamped in ink on reverse l.l.: Edition A ea 431)
[Accession Number 2013.453] |
View Portrait of Cavafy II at NGV | ||
National Library of Scotland | B | Copy 487/500. | [32] | |
New York Public Library | A | Copy 165/500
[Call Number: Spencer Coll. Eng. 1967 81-31] [39] p., [13] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; 48 cm. "Purchased at California Book Auction Galleries, 1/28/81, for $990. plus 10%."[33] |
View Edition A at NYPL | [34] |
Royal Academy of Arts | B | Copy 350/500.
Numbered and signed in pencil by the artist on the colophon. |
View Edition B at the RA | [35] |
State Library of New South Wales | B | [36] | ||
Tate | E | Copy XXII/XXV
[Museum Reference: P77563 – P77575] |
View Edition E at the Tate | [37] |
The David Hockney Foundation | "The Foundation owns more than 8,000 works of art by David Hockney. The collection holds the editioned works (lithographs, etchings, screen prints, home made prints, ...) [of David Hockney]" | [38] | ||
University of Melbourne | B | Copy 315/500 | [39] | |
University of Michigan Museum of Art | [Accession Number: 2004/2.10] | View at UMMA | [40] | |
University of South Australia | [41] | |||
Victoria and Albert Museum | C* | Composed from various incomplete copies in Edition C with supplementary signed etching:
|
View All at the V&A |
Institution | Edition | Notes | External Links to Images | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ackland Art Museum | 6. In an old book
[Accession Number: 2010.3.185] |
View at the Ackland | [42] | |
8. In the dull village
[Accession Number: 2010.3.184] |
View at the Ackland | [43] | ||
Brooklyn Museum | 1. Portrait of Cavafy in Alexandria (unnumbered, unsigned)
[Accession Number: 73.62.2] |
View at the Brooklyn Museum | ||
4. To Remain (unnumbered, unsigned)
[Accession Number: 73.62.1] |
View at the Brooklyn Museum | |||
12. Beautiful and white flowers (unnumbered, unsigned) [Accession Number: 73.62.3] | View at the Brooklyn Museum | |||
National Galleries of Scotland | 6. In an Old Book
[Accession Number: GMA 5274] |
View at the NGS | ||
C** | 9. The Beginning (32/75)
[Accession Number: GMA 1270] |
View at the NGS | ||
Princeton University Art Museum | C** | 5. According to Prescriptions of Ancient Magicians (31/75) | View at PUAM | |
9. The Beginning (8/75) | View at PUAM | |||
Worcester Art Museum | 8. In the dull village | View at WAM | [44] |
* A complete example assembled from various different numbers in the same edition.
** An incomplete example from various different numbers in the same edition.
David Hockney: Works from the Tate Collection, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), 2019.
Exhibited in the National Art Library's touring exhibition Inspiration by Design: Word and Image from the National Art Library at the V&A, State Library Victoria, Melbourne. 20 March 2015 – 14 June 2015.[29]
4 prints from the series included in the exhibition 'Etchings Etc.', Museum of Modern Art. October 24, 1972 through January 2, 1973.[45]
'English Prints and Drawings from the Collection of the Brooklyn Museum'. October 03, 1973 through February 17, 1974.[46]
8 prints from the series included in the exhibition 'Selections from the Collection (1997)', Museum of Modern Art. May 30 – August 19.[47][48]
2010–2011, London, British Museum / BBC, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'[49]
2010 September–December, British Museum, History of the World
2014–2015 13 Dec – 15 Mar, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2015 18 Apr – 28 Jun, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2015 14 Jul – 6 Sep, Kyushu National Museum, Dazaifu, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2015–2016 20 Sep – 11 Jan, Kobe City Museum, Kobe, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2016 13 Feb – 18 Jun, National Museum of Western Australia, Perth, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2016–2017 08 Sep – 29 Jan, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
1967 Film: Poems of C.P. Cavafy illustrated by David Hockney. Produced by MAYA Film Productions, Great Britain.
Cavafy Suite, Ahmed Morsi, 1990. (Set of 10 original prints by Ahmed Morsi and 7 translations into Arabic of Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy (1863–1933). With cover and in a box. Printing, etching and aquatint, 1990. Edition of 10, of which 3/10 is held by the British Museum).
A History of the World in 100 Objects (2010), was a joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum, consisting of a 100-part radio series[50] written and presented by British Museum director Neil MacGregor. In the dull village was selected by MacGregor as object 97 and discuses its significance with David Hockney in a dedicated episode. Listen to the episode on the BBC website
Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, British Museum, London, 2013 pp.634-639.
2022 — A complete set from Edition A (bound copy number 173/500, including Portrait of Cavafy II) sold at Christie's for £11,340 on an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000.[51]
2013 — A complete set, hors texte, with title page and justification, from Edition E (loose prints, each signed, dated '66' and annotated 'AP' in pencil (one of 5 artist's proofs, aside from the edition of 25) sold at Phillips for £27,500 on an estimate of £12,000 to £18,000.[52]