David Hockney is considered one of the most influential artists of this era. In 2020, when the new crown epidemic was raging around the world, he used a paintbrush to suggest that "the epidemic cannot isolate spring", watching everything grow and change seasons in the blossoming of flowers.
Observing and depicting nature has always been one of Hockney's painting themes. The Paper has been exhibiting from April 9 to The Paper, the Berlin Gallery has been exhibiting Hokney's "Three Trees Near Thiksondale" from 2007 to 2008 alongside landscape paintings by Rembrandt, Johann Constable and Van Gogh, reflecting on the contemporary inspiration of classical works under the theme of "David Hockney: Landscapes in Dialogue".
"David Hockney: Landscapes in Dialogue" exhibition scene
Three Trees Near Ticsondale is one of Hockney's masterpieces of British nature. Arguing that photography could not fully capture the beauty of his hometown of Yorkshire, Hockney declared war on photography, but at the same time used it as an aid to realize his ideas, and his recent landscape paintings, which blend traditional vocabulary and digital techniques, expressed his heritage of ancient landscape painting and the observation and depiction of natural landscapes.
In the exhibition, Hockney is a dialoguer on landscape paintings, centuries apart from the Renaissance, baroque, and impressionist works that are close to each other for the first time. They not only demonstrate the continued influence of landscape painting, but also reveal the complexity and multifaceted nature of landscape painting.
David Hockney, Three Trees Near Ticsondale, Fall 2008
A landscape painting rambling conversation
David Hockney takes viewers through Three Trees Near Thiksondale as they snake through the North Yorkshire country lanes to see the seasons change. From the summer of 2007 until the following autumn (the order of painting is summer, winter, spring and autumn), he painted not only a cycle of nature, but also a dream.
At the Berlin Gallery, four widescreen paintings hang in the order of spring, summer, autumn and winter. It can be said that when the landscape is presented on the picture, nature has been defined, and it has been reclassified in the museum until it conforms to the reading and viewing habits of the public. However, when you stand in the Berlin Gallery hall, the huge works give an unusually overwhelming experience.
Exhibition scene, David Hockney, "Three Trees Near Ticsondale"
Landscape paintings of such a large scale are a slice of the development of painting, and the exhibition traces the origins of landscape painting from the early Italian Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca's The Penance of St Jerome (c. 1450), whose landscape as a background has a symbolic nature, especially the way the tree trunk is expressed to the present day.
Francesca, The Confession of St. Jerome, c. 1450
Following the exhibition line to the 17th century, the baroque landscape painter Claude Lorraine's superb depiction of trees makes people see the breaking of the perspective of the focus at that time; recently attributed to Rembrandt's work "Arch Bridge Landscape", which shows the alder that is blown by the wind and caressed by the light, with a turbulent atmosphere.
Delt Hobema, Country Streets Under the Trees, c. 1663
The exhibition also focuses on less dramatic works, such as Philips Koninck's 1660 Dutch Landscape, in which the artist has used the perspective of a drone to paint chapels and windmills in villages at the foot of the mountain, as well as swamps that blend in with the sky in the distance.
Philip Konnick, Dutch Landscapes, circa 1655-1660
Then to Hockney's work, whose artistic lineage began in England and was passed down to Thomas Gainsborough and Constable. The painter from Yorkshire learned from his predecessors that landscape was a construct of reality; by Van Gogh, he had transformed landscape into a brushstroke of reality. Van Gogh's Harvest of Provence in the exhibition is a sketch of his famous work Harvest. But van Gogh's wheat fields are scenes of humans busy with a good harvest, but the wheat fields in Hockney's paintings are empty, and no farmers or passers-by disturb the withering of flowers and plants. This provocation to the idyllic style created by the Barbizon School became the key to Hockney's success.
Constable, The Village of Heim on the Stol, circa 1804
Van Gogh, The Harvest of Provence, 1888
Scenery never exists in isolation. With the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution, constable and Gainsborough's land gave way to steam machines, and factories grew along the banks of the river. David Hockney's nature is threatened by global climate and environment, and its beauty has always been in a virtual state.
David Hockney, Three Trees Near Ticsondale, Winter 2007
But his brushes more eagerly trace the structure of the branches, and his palette follows the midday light. In this way, he satisfied the longing of his contemporaries for an unchanging world.
David Hockney, Three Trees Near Thiksondale, Summer 2007
Rediscovery of Rembrandt's work
Another important discovery of the exhibition is that the Berlin Gallery's collection, View of the Arch Bridge, is confirmed to have been written by Rembrandt, which has been attributed to Rembrandt's student Govert Flinck for decades.
Rembrandt, "View of the Arch Bridge", as early as 1638
Before this conclusion was made public, there was speculation about the author of the controversial work for years. The Rembrandt Research Project noted in 1989 that the Berlin Gallery's Arch Bridge Landscape and the Rijksmuseum's Stone Bridge Landscape were "strikingly similar" in style, technology, and theme, concluding at the time that Flinck must have been a brilliant copy of Rembrandt's work. Although some experts have long questioned attribution and believed that the author is Rembrandt, there is no further basis.
In recent years, after several scientific and technical analyses of this small work measuring only 28.5 x 39.5 centimeters, it has been confirmed that it should have been created earlier than the known year of 1638.
Rembrandt, Landscape of the Stone Bridge, collection of the Rijksmuseum (not exhibited in this exhibition)
"We often see works that appear in pairs, and it's usually the impression that the painter is trying to reinterpret it in another style, or to optimize what he's already done, so he paints another similar piece." Dagmar Hirschfeld, director of the Berlin Gallery and an expert on Rembrandt studies, said, "In 1924, 'Arch Bridge Landscape' was included in the Berlin Gallery. After analyzing it, it was revealed that Rembrandt made radical changes to the painting during the creative process, including changing the position of the storm clouds, changing the size of the mountain, and adjusting a group of trees, which made the painting more compact. ”
After an in-depth study of the work, the way the composition changes began to be clear, and each adjustment tended to be more familiar to the rembrandt light and shadow contrast style. The survey also determined that, contrary to previous understanding, the Berlin Gallery's Arch Bridge Landscape preceded Amsterdam's Stone Bridge Landscape, while Stone Bridge Scenery was more precise and more transparent in color.
Two rembrandt works at the exhibition site, the left is "Arch Bridge Landscape"
Rembrandt is known for his figures, and only 7 of his surviving landscapes are known. The upgrade from Flint to Rembrandt means that its price rises to more than 10 million euros, not that the work will be sold. "It only makes sense if the work appears in the exhibition and is seen by more people."
Rembrandt etching, 1643
In addition to the above works, the classical painters who spoke to Hockney also included Jacob van Ruisdae, Richard Wilson, etc., and the reason why Hockney's work is called "Three Trees Near Ticxondale", the answer may be found in a etching of Rembrandt in 1643, Rembrandt also painted three trees, Hockney's imagination of Yorkshire is also integrated into the three trees, the atmosphere of the work, Emotions also have similarities.
David Hockney, Three Trees Near Ticsondale, Fall 2008
The exhibition will run until 10 July, and this article is compiled from Andrew Kilbur's "The Dream of the Eye" ("Faz.com") and Kate Connolly's "Works Attributed to Students Confirmed to Be By Rembrandt Himself" (The Guardian)
Exhibition site