Howard Hodgkin

Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1996

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Fort Worth, Modern Art Museum; Dusseldorf, Kunstverein für Rheinland und Westfalen, Howard Hodgkin Paintings, 1995-96, p. 136, illustrated in colour

James Fallon, 'The English Master', W, March 1996, p. 164, illustrated in colour
Marla Price, Howard Hodgkin: The Complete Paintings Catalogue Raisonné, Fort Worth 2006, p. 285, no. 278, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the tonality of the green and orange are brighter in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Executed in 1994-95 and originally entitled In Denbigh Road, David Sylvester's Notting Hill address in West London, Gossip is an exceptional painting by Howard Hodgkin that was completed in the year of the artist's major retrospective organised by the Museum of Fort Worth, which travelled to New York and Dusseldorf, and in which it also featured. In scale, composition, colour and execution this painting is truly outstanding within the artist's canon.

 

Often completed over a period of years that allowed Hodgkin to transform them into coherent physical objects that contain an evanescent and emotional sense of realism, his pictures describe situations and people that are familiar and very close to the artist. Hodgkin's aim is to recover memories and meaning and always carry profound personal import. The titles of Hodgkin's works are highly evocative and give the viewer clues regarding a possible descriptive reading of the painting. However the descriptions the titles convey are simply suggestive and never entirely explanatory. As observed by the artist: "I am a representational painter, but not a painter of appearances. I paint representational pictures of emotional situations (Marla Price, Howard Hodgkin: The Complete Paintings Catalogue Raisonné, Fort Worth 2006, p. 14).

 

In the present work the beautifully painted frame shelters a curious wave of glowing green hues on a horizon of summery shades of orange. The personal and intimate relationship between the artist and his pictures results in a great sense of protection that is embodied in their frames and borders. As Hodgkin observes, his pictures often include a frame that he has painted on as part of the work: "I sometimes go to immense lengths to, as it was, fortify them before they leave the studio. The more evanescent the emotions I want to convey, the thicker the panel, the heavier the framing, the more elaborate the border, so that the delicate thing will remain protected and intact." (Ibid., p. 33).

 

Painted over two years, the present, stunning Gossip beautifully displays Hodgkin's signature technique of illusionistic space and the artist's refusal of the accepted rules of perspective. In this process Hodgkin has been highly influenced by Indian artists, whose work he has been obsessed with while visiting the country regularly for years, and their representational techniques that don't follow Western Art's conventions and more specifically don't break the picture planes with 'false' perspective. Hodgkin magisterially employs this illusionistic approach in his own work and in the present work Gossip.