A Room Full Of Straw
Signed Print

A huge pile of straw fills the confines of a small room, waiting to be turned into gold. Stacked haphazardly into a mound, it is made of finely etched lines like scribbles that give movement to this scene; the straw appears almost like a tornado coming towards the viewer. Incongruously placed in this small room the mess of straw is at odds with the neatness of the window frame to the right of the image which shows a glimpse of a tree in a calm landscape. Unlike other prints in the Brothers Grimm series, this interior – a scene from ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ – has been carefully picked out. The floorboards are composed of eye-catching patterns that represent the whorls and knots in the wood and the artist has chosen to include cornicing around the ceiling. This elegant interior is a stark contrast to a closely related print in the series, Straw on the Left, Gold on the Right, where the mounds of straw and gold are shown on a blank background with nothing but their shadows to anchor them in the composition. Published in 1969, David Hockney’s Illustrations For Six Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm are among the artist’s best known and admired work in the medium of print. Produced in an edition of 100 they were also made into a book which has sold over 150,000 copies.