Howard Hodgkin Overview

He is considered a supreme colourist and one of the finest living British painters, but did not achieve any prominence until later on in his career. His painting is intense and richly laden with colour and meaning, performing a dynamic that... [more]

He is considered a supreme colourist and one of the finest living British painters, but did not achieve any prominence until later on in his career. His painting is intense and richly laden with colour and meaning, performing a dynamic that uniquely straddles representation and abstraction and works in a context that demonstrates an awareness of history and an understanding of the relationship between memory, feeling and perception. Hodgkin was born in London, and studied at Camberwell Art School and Corsham, near Bath. His work has affinities with a type of sensual, colourist painting more associated with the post-impressionists, and certainly, the colour field painters of the New York school of abstract expressionism. A tour to India in 1964 was to have a profound effect on the style and choice of medium for his work, most notably in his preference for flat colours and decorative borders. He represented Britain in the Venice Biennale in 1984, and was awarded the Turner Prize in 1985. He was also Knighted in 1992, and his work is well represented at Tate Britain. He has spoken at great length about his creative process, part of which includes an investigation into the dynamic that exists between memory and observation. “What is important”, he says, “is that what I feel, think and see turns into something…it starts off in my head and ends up a thing”. [show less]