Theme, concept, intention
Mr
and Mrs Clark and Percy is a painting by David
Hockney between 1970 and 1971. The characters in the painting are the fashion
designer Ossie Clark (the husband), the
textile designer Celia Birtwell (the
wife) and their cat. It was painted shortly after their wedding in 1969 by David
Hockney, who was best man in the wedding, also a good friend of the couple and
sometimes lover of Ossie. Hockney has commented on this work that “my main aim
was to paint the relationship of these two people”.
Hockney love painting portraits and they have
been painted during different periods in his life. From 1968 and for the next
few years he painted friends and lovers and relatives. Marriage seemed to be
one of is favourite subjects, like he had painted imaginary couples in earlier
paintings such as The First Marriage (A
Marriage of Styles) in 1963 and My
Parents in 1977.
 |
| The First Marriage (A Marriage of Styles) 1963 |
 |
| My Parents 1977 |
Hockney had an increasing fascination with
a kind of Realism in his paintings of 1967-74, and this is one of them. His success
in painting the world in the most conventional, Victorian Way was making him
more and more famous and this move him toward a popular Victorian style, which climaxes
in this double portrait, which is the most popular work in the Tate Gallery.
Form, medium, genre
Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy was painted
using acrylics on canvas and
measures 305 by 213 cm (84 x
120 inches), thus making the subjects virtually
life-size. They are portrayed in their home environment in a style which is
both realistic and highly simplified. It is the painting that comes closest to
naturalism, according to Hockney.
Background of the artist and the art work
David Hockney was born in 1937 in Yorkshire ,
England
Hockney is openly gay, and unlike Andy
Warhol, whom he befriended early on, he openly explored the nature of gay love
in his art work. He was fascinated about Picasso and Cubism.
Hockney and Ossie Clark, the husband in Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, had been
friends since the early 1960s. Both of them studied at the Royal College of Art
in London London
 |
| Mr and Mrs Clark, and their cat. |
Process of making the art work
Hockney took photographs, made life
observation and drawings of it. He began to make drawings and take photographs
for the painting in 1969 and began working on the canvas in the spring of 1970,
completing the painting in early 1971. The painting took him years to complete.
The following video shows how Hockney worked on this painting.
Reference to the art history
Both the symbolism and composition in
The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck and A Rake's Progress by William Hogarth can be seen on the painting.
A copy of Hockney's version of A
Rake's Progress is seen on the wall. The positions of the two figures are
reversed from the Arnolfini Portrait with the implication that Birtwell is the
dominant partner. The lilies near Birtwell, a symbol of female purity are also
associated with depictions of the Annunciation (at the time of the portrait
Birtwell was pregnant). The cat on Clark 's lap
is a symbol of infidelity and envy. Ironically, the marriage really lasted for a
few years only, ended in 1974 as Birtwell could no
longer put up with Clark ’s wild-partying,
drug-taking and his affairs with both men and women.
Experience of the art work
SOURCES:
Stephanie Barron, Maurice Tuchman, David Hockney: A Retrospective, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Tate Gallery, London 1988
http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/tag/david-hockney/
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hockney-mr-and-mrs-clark-and-percy-t01269/text-summary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_and_Mrs_Clark_and_Percy
I think “Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy” is a good example to illustrate the modernism of contemporary art. This piece of painting shows the principle of symbolism well. At first I look at this painting. Actually I did not get the same meaning that Hockney wants to say but in totally opposite. I thought the couple are wearing in same cold color tone and have similar hair style which shows they match each other. They are looking at the same direction represents they have the same goal or objective. The white cat sitting on Mr. Clark’s lap represent the baby they are going to have because white represents pure and new. And finally I found I was totally wrong.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the interesting part of painting with symbolism is the imagination and interpretation of every different people looking at it. And knowing the background and the intention of the painting is also an important step to appreciate the art.
I do agree with you that the color and the composition of the picture are beautiful and it's really eye-catching to me as well. And I can also feel the sadness of the picture as their behavior in the picture didn’t seemed like they love each other. The wife of the picture whom is Mrs Clark looked very sorrowful. However, Mr Clark was a little bit like “I don’t care” from the picture. You've mentioned that Ossie Clark is sometimes a lover of the creator- David Hockney and he admits himself as a gay guy. So I would like to know how the actual relationship between David Hockney and Ossie Clark is and what is the actual intention of David Hockney when creating the artwork. I guess you can add these to your report as they are interesting and we could know more about the background information when looking into this piece of art.
ReplyDeleteWell, actually the second world war did not start until 1939 with the declaration of war by Britain against Germany after the invasion of Poland. I wonder what else is inaccurate in the article
ReplyDelete