Irene Sieberger
Senior Specialist
Lot 18*,AR
Howard Hodgkin(1932-2017)Out of the Window
2000
2000
Amended
15 October 2021, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £1,150,750 inc. premium
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Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017)
Out of the Window
2000
signed three times, titled and dated 2000 on the reverse
oil on wood
97 by 113.6 by 10.6 cm.
38 3/16 by 44 1/2 by 4 3/16 in.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being compiled by The Estate of Howard Hodgkin.
2000
signed three times, titled and dated 2000 on the reverse
oil on wood
97 by 113.6 by 10.6 cm.
38 3/16 by 44 1/2 by 4 3/16 in.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being compiled by The Estate of Howard Hodgkin.
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by the present owner in 2001
Exhibited
London, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Howard Hodgkin at Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2001, p. 25, illustrated in colour
Literature
Paul Levy, 'Hanging it Howard's way' in Evening Standard, 28 June 2001, p. 38, illustrated in colour
M. Price (ed.), Howard Hodgkin: The Complete Paintings Catalogue Raisonné, London 2006, p. 336, no. 357, illustrated in colour
Fresh to the market, after remaining in the same collection since its acquisition from the artist in 2001, Out of the Window from 2000 is a dazzling and vibrant display of Howard Hodgkin's masterful practice. Hodgkin's virtuosic brushwork is exquisite and expressive, his choice of colour bold and unapologetic. Emerging from the Bath Academy of Art at Corsham in 1954 under the pupillage of William Scott, Hodgkin's early inspiration came in The New American Painting exhibition of Abstract Expressionist artists at the Tate Gallery in 1959: one cannot help but draw comparisons with Rothko's serene planes of colour or De Kooning's exaggerated brushstrokes. Yet he rejected the flatness of American Modernism, pushing the painting out of its frame and creating abstract depths of field that translate as windows onto a vivid and luscious landscape.
Abstract at first glance, Hodgkin's paintings consistently deal with memory and psychic landscapes that are often exposed to the viewer most opaquely in their titles, such as Goodbye to the Bay of Naples, A Rainbow or Night Thoughts. He captures and transforms moments of intimacy, memories of travels, relationships, both erotic and platonic, the recollection of a beautiful view or sunset, shifting weather or the feeling of the first days of a new season. Hodgkin's close friend and writer Julian Barnes wrote: "H.H.'s paintings are not narratives. Mostly, they are memories. But it is not a case of emotion recollected in tranquillity. Rather, it is emotion recollected in intensity. In that sense his pictures are operatic" (Julian Barnes, Keeping an Eye Open, London 2015, p. 260). Hodgkin was given his first solo show in 1962 at Arthur Tooth & Sons and his international appeal and career grew steadily from there. In 1984, he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, and the next year he was awarded the Turner Prize. In 1992, Hodgkin was knighted. A retrospective in 1995-96, organized by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, travelled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Dusseldorf, Germany.
In 2000, Hodgkin was invited to exhibit ten recent works, the present painting included, alongside the permanent display in South London's Dulwich Picture Gallery. The exhibition sought to centre Hodgkin's practice as part of a longstanding history of painting. Influences in Hodgkin's work can be seen across centuries, including Henri Matisse, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Ellsworth Kelly, Pierre Bonnard and Les Nabis, as well as painterly dialogues with contemporaries such as David Hockney. At Dulwich Picture Gallery, the artist searched for roots and qualities in the works of the predominantly 17th Century museum collection that inspired him and nurtured his own practice. What Hodgkin was able to do, however, was establish a timelessness to abstract painting that emphasised the nature of painting – drawing attention to composition, colour, speed and execution, even the traditional moulded and gilt framing. Here, the pieces were not selected to highlight difference and encourage comparisons, but rather to show Hodgkin's in a renewed context and cast them in a deeply historical light. Out of the Window was placed between The Locksmith by a follower of Ribera and Guernico's St Cecilia. The work was also reproduced alongside a poem by James Fenton for a Tate poster to mark the opening of the Tate Modern in May 2000.
In the present work, a rapturous rainbow of colour is composed in broad orchestral brushstrokes and confident strokes of vibrant jewel like paint, reminiscent of the colours of India, a country he would adore and return to throughout his life. The pigments intermingle, push, and pull on each other, instilling a sense of vivacity in its boisterous movement and energy. The size and shape of the antique oval picture frame – a less common format in Hodgkin's oeuvre – adds to the sense of a real window, transporting the work to a third dimension. Hodgkin made frames integral to his practice. He would fit the wooden panels to found old frames and treat them as one joint painting surface.
With paintings residing in museums internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Sao Paulo, Brazil; and the Centro de Arte Moderna, Lisbon, this represents an opportunity to acquire a work of exceptional quality with wonderful provenance, by one of the most prominent and celebrated British painters of the modern era.
Saleroom notices
Please note that the provenance should read:
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2001
