Study Of Lightning Medium
Signed Print

Swirls of inky black clouds crowd in from the sides of the image, split by a thread of lightning which appears to be about to strike the fir trees below. The composition is mostly sky and bordering on abstract, the clouds almost expressionist in their movement and transparency. The sky feels like it is laden with water, and about to crash down on the landscape darkened by the thunderstorm. A monochrome lithograph from David Hockney's The Weather series, Study Of Lightning Medium is a stunning work that shows the artist’s unfailing ability to push his medium to the limits and to evocatively capture the sublime. With this series Hockney set out to record the various elements at work, from air in wind to water in snow and rain, and to study the changes in light on the landscape and interiors. With its dark foreboding tones, the present work also recalls his use of weather in series such as Illustrations For Six Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm in which the weather acts almost as an example of a pathetic fallacy, reflecting the darkness in the tales or in the viewer’s own mood. In this way it contrasts strikingly with works such as Sun where all is goodness and light, the violence of the storm forgotten.