Meeting The Good People (Washington)
Signed Print

Published in 1963 as an edition of 50, Hockney's series of etchings entitled A Rake’s Progress is a 16-part illustration of his first visit to New York as a young man. In Meeting The Good People (Washington) we are presented with a scene where Hockney leaves the city to visit the capital of the US, Washington D.C. Here we see him encountering monuments to the ‘good people’ who played an important role in the country’s history. On the left we have the colossal Lincoln memorial followed by a smaller statue of Jefferson and finally the iconic obelisk that serves as a memorial to the first US president and has become a symbol of the city. The artist himself is shown as a floating head in profile, his expression typically blank as he contemplates these so-called great men. Hockney has chosen to add lines around the monuments, as if to emphasise their glowing reputation, and the aura of sacredness they emit in this otherwise secular land. These and the title can be read another way however, as a wry indictment of the hero worship of figures who are celebrated for their contributions to freedom and democracy while at the same time owning slaves, promoting censorship and oppressing native Americans.