Catherine's Walk
Signed Print

A wash of aquamarine ink frames the left hand corner of the composition, contrasting sharply with drips of black that hang down like a dessicated vine over the scene below. Abstract shapes, layered and collaged, dominate, their planes converging, their range of colours and textures creating a kind of playground for the eye. Here the medium of lithography is pushed to its limits; the artist applies ink with a brush, scratches it away and then incorporates elements of screen printing to give the effect of swimming pool tiles. Catherine’s Walk belongs to the 1993 series Some More New Prints, which Hockney embarked upon after his series Some New Paintings and Some New Prints. Each series shows his continuing fascination with abstract forms and mixing of bright colours in lithography, drawing on the influence of Cubism as well as his own experimentation with photographic collages. The works also recall the artist’s stage sets for the opera Die Frau Ohne Schatte; remarking upon these commissioned works he said, “These started simply and grew more and more complex. I soon realized that what I was doing was making internal landscapes, using different marks and textures to create space, so that the viewer wanders around.”