David Hockney British, 1937-2026
The Beginning, from Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy, 1966

£2,500

Etching
Signed in pencil (in the original folio), reproduced (verso))
Edition B (stamped verso), numbered ‘343/500’
Published by Editions Alecto Limited, London, 1967
35cm x 23cm (plate size), (51cm x 36.5cm framed)

Hockney created a series of touching and intimate etchings depicting gay love prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK. At the time, they were daring and groundbreaking. They were made to illustrate a series of erotic poems by the Greek-Egyptian writer C. P. Cavafy. Hockney greatly admired Cavafy’s ability to write openly and unapologetically about gay relationships. Many of Hockney’s illustrations are based on intimate sketches of his friends. Others were drawn from photographs. The backgrounds in the series are based on a trip Hockney took to Beirut, Lebanon, in 1966. He felt that Beirut’s cosmopolitan atmosphere made it the contemporary equivalent of Cavafy’s native Alexandria, Egypt. A full set of these etchings is in the Tate Gallery collection.