The Tall Tree

The black outline of a tree trunk rises up against a grey sky. Heart shaped leaves hang from invisible branches, and its roots spread across a mound that at first glance looks like the top of a thumbprint. Printed across two sheets the work is striking for its verticality and stands out among the other pieces in the series known as Home Made Prints.

While it has echoes of Japanese woodblock printing the work was produced on an office photocopying machine, its various elements pierced together by the artist through a process of layering which allowed him to recreate elements of lithography and screen printing from the comfort of his own home and without the assistance of a workshop. This newfound technique left much room for experimentation and here we see Hockney combining various elements of scale, texture and colour to create a composite image that is constantly surprising in its play of surface and depth.

While Hockney loved depicting natural elements in his work, he preferred to depict vases of flowers and potted plants in this series which is characterised by a number of still lifes and interiors. Here instead the tree is shown alone, and with its dark palette it offers a sense of foreboding that is in stark contrast to the vibrant tones of the other works in Home Made Prints.