David Hockney (b. 1937)
Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes
oil on canvas 72 x 72in. (183 x 183cm.)
Painted in 1963
Estimate: £2,500,000-3,500,000
David Hockney’s Egyptian vision for sale at Christie’s In February 2013 Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art department will offer for sale “Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes” (1963).]]>
January 8th 2013, source: Christie’s
“Egypt is one of the most thrilling countries I’ve ever been to in the sense that these monuments are the oldest known buildings anywhere. After all, when Cleopatra showed Julius Caesar the pyramids, they were already two thousand years old and more. It is quite awe-inspiring; not even in China are there things older, and I think you feel connected with them, whoever you are”
David Hockney, 1993
A unique, landmark painting, it stands as the only canvas to commemorate David Hockney’s first trip to Egypt at the age of 26. Commissioned by art critic David Sylvester and journalist Mark Boxer at the Sunday Times, the trip came shortly after the artist’s graduation from the Royal College of Art. It marks a watershed in his practice in terms of style, scale and composition. Forming part of an important British collection for more than forty years, this is the first time that this painting has ever been seen at auction (Estimate: £2,500,000-3,500,000).
Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes follows on from Hockney’s well-documented obsession with Egypt developed through his encounter with the ancient Egyptian art he encountered at the British Museum and later at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, as well as his deep admiration for the poetry of Greek Alexandrian poet Constantine P. Cavafy. This was also a time of popular fascination with ‘Egyptiana’, culminating in Elizabeth Taylor’s leading role as Cleopatra in 1963. The Egyptian inspiration first began to appear in Hockney’s work as early as 1961 (with A Grand Procession of Dignitaries in semi-Egyptian style), and his trip in 1963 sponsored by the Sunday Times and David Sylvester was the fulfilment of a long-held dream. Whilst in Egypt, Hockney undertook some forty works on paper, but no canvases. This painting is the only surviving work to have been completed upon his return to Britain, standing as the most important monument to his trip.
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