Dog Etching No. 13
Dog Etching No. 13
Signed Print
David Hockney
POA
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Etching, 1998
Signed Print Edition of 35
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Critical Review
Dog Etching No. 13 (1988) is a signed print by David Hockney representing a particular example of the personal subject matter that defines his paintings and portraits. Known for his preference to portray family members, lovers or close friends instead of strangers, Hockney created art that, in many ways, unveils deeply intimate dimensions of his personal experience and lifelong relationships. Dog Etching No. 13 depicts a folded piece of paper with the image of a sausage dog depicted on the front side. The motive of an artwork within an artwork has been used recurrently by Hockney to comment on his own creative identity. Accompanied by a human hand emerging uncannily from the bottom of the print, the image of the folded piece of paper serves as a metaphor of the artist’s act of scrutinising the medium’s capacity to preserve his personal world.
In 1995, Hockney staged an exhibition Dog Days at Yorkshire’s Salts Mill, displaying 45 paintings of his sausage dogs. Although affectionate and lighthearted at first glance, the pet portraits are rooted in the context of personal loss. Hockney started to paint his dogs after the death of his close friend Henry Geldzahler, the American curator of contemporary art. He commented in this context: “I wanted desperately to paint something loving… I felt such a loss of love I wanted to deal with it in some way. I realised I was painting my best friends. [...] They’re like little people to me. The subject wasn’t dogs but my love of the little creatures.”
