'The interesting thing is that one of David’s best paintings came directly from the final etching in the story, which is a picture of two boys hugging each other having been saved from what is a really monstrous vagina' —Mark Berger
Written by Mark Berger, Gretchen and the Snurl is a gay fairy-tale in which an innocent young boy called Gretchen goes out into the world and meets an alien creature named Snurl. Together, they evade a fearsome monster called the Snatch, which tries to engulf them both. Mark Berger was a student at the Royal College of Art, London, alongside David Hockney. Hockney loved the tale of Gretchen and the Snurl when Berger shared it with him, leading Berger to ask Hockney to create some accompanying illustrations. Hockney produced five etching and aquatints in response. The composition of the final illustration, a depiction of Gretchen and Snurl embracing at the end of the tale, inspired Hockney’s painting of 1961, We Two Boys Together Clinging. The painting lifts its title from a poem by Walt Whitman, often interpreted as a verse about homosexual love. Produced at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in England, the works of Hockney and Berger have an additional poignance.
Provenance
Gifted by the artist to the present owner circa 1965
Literature
Editions Alecto 429 Scottish Arts Council 9 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 9
David Hockney (b. 1937) is one of the most well-known and celebrated artists of the
20th and 21st centuries. He works across many mediums, including painting, collage,
and more recently digitally, by creating print series on iPads. His works show semi-
abstract representations of domestic life, human relationships, floral, fauna, and the
changing of seasons.
Hockney has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Royal
Academy of Arts in London, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, among many
other institutions. On the secondary market, his work has sold for more than $90
million.
Gretchen and the Snurl (E.A. 429, S.A.C. 9, M.C.A.T. 9)
1961 Five etching and aquatints, printed on one sheet of Crisbrook handmade paper, with full margins. overall I. 12 x 57.5 cm (4 3/4 x 22 5/8 in.) S. 25 x 70 cm (9 7/8 x 27 1/2 in.) Signed and dated in pencil, an unnumbered proof aside from the edition of 50 (there were also 16 artist's proofs, S.A.C. and M.C.A.T. call for an edition of 75), published by Editions Alecto, London, 1963, framed.