“My subject is the living world, which is always changing and never twice the same.”
—David Hockney

David Hockney’s seminal series, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven), is an epic of nature that documents both the subtlety and the drama of winter’s transformation into spring. The present lot, standing at over two metres tall and consisting of four printed sheets, is from the small edition of ten aside from the standard edition. It is a monumental example of Hockney’s indefatigable digital subject that he returned to over a five-year period. The series was conceived in anticipation of the artist’s landmark 2012 retrospective, A Bigger Picture, at the Royal Academy in London. In preparation, the artist returned to his late-mother’s Bridlington home in 2006, so that he could experience and record five Yorkshire springs. Commencing on New Year’s Day, 2011 and culminating in early June, the Arrival of Spring sequence chronicles how winter’s icy roads, violet mists and frosted branches gradually blossom into the luscious greens, clear skies and blossoming flora of late spring. Caught on 16th May at the final moment before the unfolding of the summer, in the present work Hockney captures the intensity and incandescence found in late spring. Immersive in scale and rich in texture, the bright, lively renderings of green, yellow, and brown exude abundance and volume, while the flickers of light dancing between the leaves announce the approaching summer sun.

Vincent van Gogh, The White Orchard, 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Image: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

The arrival of spring in Arles in 1888 spurred Vincent van Gogh into “a fury of work.” As he described in a letter to his brother Theo, "the trees are in blossom and I would like to do a Provençal orchard of tremendous gaiety." Between March and late April, the artist dedicated fourteen canvases to the subject – a small foray compared to Hockney’s sixty-one iPad drawings – in which van Gogh depicted the enchanting spring light and budding foliage. Hockney found a similar appreciation for the transient nature of the seasons, with a direct comparison brough into dialogue in the 2019 exhibition Hockney – Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. That Hockney could harness the digital medium to the same effect as the Dutch master is testament to his innovative artistic approach and observational prowess, inserting him into the canonical lineage of great artists who have paid homage to transient nature of passing time.

“I was looking forward to it. I couldn't wait to get up there. And in a way, I think I had more pleasure looking at the winter, and spring coming, than anything I’ve done.”
—David Hockney

Among this canon of great artists was Claude Monet who similarly embarked on sustained studies of specific landscapes at different times of day, month and year. The artist’s forensic observation of the shifting light and changing atmosphere of the French landscape is mirrored in the digital prints as Hockney pays homage to the Impressionist abilities to depict the ephemeral beauty of nature. Similarly, Hockney’s seasonal sequence recalls John Constable’s sustained focus on the gently rolling hills of the Dedham Vale. Like both Monet and Constable, Hockney worked en plein air. This plays a central part in the key preoccupation underlying all three groups of works: the transience of light, colour, the seasons and the passing of time. This enduring concern causes the fleeting light and seasonal atmosphere to become as much a part of each composition’s subject as the landscape itself.

Left: Claude Monet, Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890/91, Art Institute of Chicago. Image: Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Arthur M. Wood, Sr. in memory of Pauline Palmer Wood
Right: Claude Monet, Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun), 1891, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929, 29.100.109

“I don’t really do, you know, sunsets. I’ve always been more interested in how the sun strikes the ground.”
—David Hockney

Using unorthodox and novel mediums to communicate his vision from the onset of his career, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) - 16 May demonstrates Hockney’s perpetual enthusiasm in approaching new technologies of image-making. The newly-released iPad granted Hockney a distinct sense of immediacy – he worked quickly and intensely, building up layers with a highly saturated palette and a wide variety of paint effects. Despite the digital nature of the medium, the final, physical artwork remained in the forefront of Hockney’s mind. As he created the series, he simultaneously experimented with printing the drawings directly from the iPad in different variations. Once the scale of the printed images was settled, this directly influenced the mark-making and composition of Hockney’s iPad draughtsmanship. The final prints were produced on large-scale paper and arranged as a grand narrative cycle at the 2012 Royal Academy exhibition. Ever the innovator, Hockney used this pioneering technique to reinvent and revitalise one of art history’s most traditional of subjects, reflecting the artist's capacity to enchant, innovate, and surprise.
- Artist Biography
  David Hockney
  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.
  
  View More Works

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David Hockney

The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) - 16 May

2011
iPad drawing in colours, printed on four sheets of wove paper, each mounted to Dibond (as issued), the full sheets.
all S. 118 x 89 cm (46 1/2 x 35 in.)
overall 236.3 x 177.9 cm (93 x 70 in.)
Signed, dated and numbered 5/10 in pencil, published by the artist, framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£280,000 - 400,000 ♠

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