Portrait Of Cavafy In Alexandria

Showing a man in a suit and tie, wearing round glasses, against a background of modernist buildings, a series of arches and palm trees, this etching shows the elebrated Greek poet himself. Stiffly posed the work derives from a photograph Hockney found of Cavafy, and while the composition is striking, he was usually preferred working from life, as “Things like weight and volume are very hard to get from a photograph. You don't get the information you need to be able to do the line”.

Here Hockney’s line is as confident and sure as his sketches, however the work does lack some of the spontaneity of his representations of friends and lovers in this series and others. The figure of Cavafy is placed almost awkwardly in the foreground, as if pressed up against the edge of the frame.

The series of prints was published in 1967 along with a new translation of Cavafy's work and they were intended to accompany rather than illustrate the poet’s work. In this way some present a stark contrast to the poems which conceal rather than display their desire which was then considered illicit. While queerness was still not as tolerated as it is now, in 1967 Hockney had the benefit of publishing in a year when homosexuality had finally been legalised by the British government.