Howard Hodgkin

Alan Cristea Gallery is holding a retrospective survey of the prints of Howard Hodgkin.  Approximately 30 hand-painted prints spanning the past fifteen years will fill the gallery space, with each print demonstrating Hodgkin's command of colour and spontaneity as a printmaker. The exhibition will coincide with Hodgkin's major painting retrospective at Tate Britain.

Howard Hodgkin made his first print in 1953 and from the outset has been keen to make these works quite distinct from his paintings. Often the prints have a sense of immediacy and simplicity.  He says of Mango, Indian Tree and Moroccan Door from 1990; "I tried to make them simple and in some way - not charming exactly - but soothing to the eye." 

Each of the works in this exhibition were printed and editioned with the guidance of Jack Shirreff at the 107 Workshop in Wiltshire. The combination of printed mark and hand colouring is characteristic of Hodgkin's printmaking and this labour-intensive process is clearly in evidence in all of his recent graphic works. The exhibition will include his most recent work entitled For Jack, marking fifteen years of collaboration with printmaker Shirreff.