Van Gogh Chair (black)
Signed Print

A wooden chair with a wicker seat appears squashed into the corner of a room, its proportions exaggerated to denote the close perspective. The closeness has the effect of making it seem like a child’s chair as the artist’s gaze crowds it – and cows it – into the frame of the print. It sits on a bright red floor, perhaps covered with a carpet given its indistinct pattern and texture, which makes for a sharp contrast with the black of the wood. A black pipe lays on the seat of the chair, marking this as an homage to van Gogh’s famous painting of a wicker chair which can be found in the collection of London’s National Gallery. This was not the first time Hockney had imitated or drawn parallels with the Dutch artist; earlier works such as the 1984 print The Perspective Lessonalso references van Gogh and Hockney had also previously compared his move to LA as being similar to ‘Van Gogh going to Arles’ in terms of the change in light and the effect it had on his painting. In this etching, paired with Van Gogh Chair (White), we find Hockney using the Post-Impressionist’s work as a starting point for a subject he returned to many times over the course of his career, the still life, and for a further exploration of the medium of etching.