Gerrish Fine Art is delighted to present the rare set of all thirteen etchings for Hockney’s Cavafy suite from 1966-67, one of only 25 sets on large sheets of vellum paper. Also included in the collection are two rare unpublished preparatory proofs. This was the first major series of etchings by Hockney since ‘The Rake’s Progress’, they hold a particular social significance given the fact that the UK parliament only passed the Sexual Offences Act, which finally decriminalised homosexuality, in 1967, the year they were published.

‘ILLUSTRATIONS FOR FOURTEEN POEMS FOR CONSTANTINE CAVAFY’ by DAVID HOCKNEY, 1966-67

Hockney was first introduced to the writings of Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933), widely considered to be the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th Century, while at art school. In the Summer of 1960, on a trip home, Hockney tracked down a book of Cavafy’s poems in the Bradford library, “I read it from cover to cover, many times, and I thought it was incredible, marvellous”. The intimate poems of desire and sensual pleasure between men, tender contemplations of love, loss and passion, struck a chord with the young artist; his exposure to writers, such as Whitman and Cavafy, who dealt with explicitly homosexual themes proved instrumental in making Hockney feel more at ease with expressing his own sexuality in his work. Hockney recalled of this fertile period of self-discovery, “I suddenly felt part of a bohemian world, a world about art, poetry and music. I felt a deep part of it rather than any other kind of life. I finally felt I belonged. I met kindred spirits and the first homosexuals who weren’t afraid to admit what they were. Adrian Berg lived in a free world, and fuck the rest of it. I thought, “I like that. That’s the way I want to live. Forget Bradford.” Once I accepted all this, it gave me a great sense of freedom, and I started to paint homosexual subjects.”

A few years later Hockney expressed a desire to create a series of works inspired by Cavafy’s poetry to Paul Cornwall-Jones of Editions Alecto. In the film ‘Love’s Presentation’, which documents Hockney working on this series, Hockney says, “Cavafy in a way wrote two kinds of poem, one sort of poem about historical Alexandria, the ptolemies, which he knew from history, and the other poems are about modern Alexandria life, which he knew in modern Alexandria, and they’re mostly love poems, I suppose because I know more about love than I do about history I chose to do those”. Cornwall Jones encouraged him to start work, and for inspiration Hockney visited Beirut, which he considered the equivalent of a modern day Alexandria - “the Paris of the Middle East” - in January of 1966. On his return he began to work up his plates at his home in Notting Hill, working from his Beirut drawings, photos he had taken or found, or from life, with his acid bath on the balcony. Hockney’s clean lines and use of empty space are very much intended to visually create an equivalent to the clarity and simplicity of Cavafy’s words.

The series was greatly celebrated upon its release, English writer Edward Lucie-Smith declared: “I have just seen the first pulls from some of the (Cavafy) plates, and thought them not only the best work I have seen by the artist, but probably the finest prints seen in England since the war”.

Numbered in roman numerals from the edition of 25 + 5 APs in Edition E. Signed and dated ’66’ by the artist in pencil. Stamped on the reverse with the Editions Alecto publication number. Printed on handmade vellum wove 72 lb Royal paper by J. Barcham Green Ltd. Printed in black ink, from steel-faced copper plates, by Maurice Payne and Danyon Black at the Alecto Studios, London. Published by Editions Alecto in 1967.

Currently only available as part of the complete set of 13 etchings plus two unpublished preparatory proofs, if you would like to register your interest in this single print please email us with your details.