The Gaze of David Hockney: A Window into Artistic Evolution

David Hockney’s legacy as an artist is marked by transformation, and his work often defies categorization. However, in “Contrejour in the French Style,” a print created just before he abandoned traditional representation for more expressive forms, we see a unique blend of formalism and nostalgia.

The Louvre’s window at the Tuileries garden was not merely an aesthetic fascination for Hockney; it was also an intellectual exercise. His encounter with this “picture in itself” marked a moment when his attention turned from capturing the fluidity of modern life to reengaging with the conventions of traditional representation.

In Contrejour, formalism is unmistakable, drawing on Renaissance ideals that Hockney had previously critiqued. Etching techniques – soft mats for the window blind and meticulous linear hatching for the floor – create a sense of depth and layering characteristic of his earlier work.

However, there’s more at play here than mere nostalgia or technical virtuosity. Contrejour represents a moment when Hockney was struggling to reconcile his attraction to the ordered world with his own experience as an artist in flux. His pathways, parterres, and balustrades are streamlined echoes of the Tuileries, reflecting both his admiration for French Style and its strictures.

Hockney’s use of single-point perspective in Contrejour is particularly noteworthy, given that it was about to be abandoned in favor of more fragmented forms. The two receding diagonals intersecting the wall, window, and walkway create a sense of spatial harmony, one that would soon give way to the more expressive brushwork of his later work.

Contrejour often appears as an anomaly in Hockney’s oeuvre, a relic of a bygone era when artists adhered to strict representational norms. However, it can also be viewed as a precursor to the fragmented space and episodic motion that would soon characterize his work.

Hockney’s shift towards more expressive forms was not simply a rejection of traditional representation but rather an attempt to capture the fluidity and complexity of modern life. His use of soft mats, linear hatching, and splotchy color in Contrejour anticipates this new direction, one that would soon render his earlier work seem staid by comparison.

Hockney’s nostalgia for the ordered world of French Style is a recurring theme throughout his oeuvre. His fascination with the conventions of traditional representation – and his occasional lapses into them – speaks to a deep-seated desire to transcend the flux of modern life.

In Contrejour, we see this nostalgia played out in a most unexpected way: through Hockney’s reworking of the Louvre window as a picture-in-itself. This is not merely an artistic exercise but rather a personal and intellectual one, reflecting his ongoing struggle to reconcile his attraction to order with his own experience as an artist.

In many ways, Contrejour represents a turning point in Hockney’s development as an artist. It was the last gasp of his formalist phase before he abandoned traditional representation for more expressive forms. Yet, despite its anomaly status within his oeuvre, Contrejour continues to exert a wistful invitation to bask in quiet emotional weather and notice the pictorial machinery that Hockney was about to dismantle.

As we gaze into the window of Contrejour, we are reminded that artistic evolution is often marked by moments of nostalgia, intellectual curiosity, and formal experimentation. For David Hockney, this was merely the beginning – a window onto a world of endless possibility.