1992

1992

Opera

In January, Turandot opens at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with a lavish, technically innovative production design that consumed Hockney’s life for much of the previous two [NESTED]years. In November, Die Frau ohne Schatten—planned on a tighter schedule, completed in roughly a year—opens at London’s Royal Opera.

Poster Design, Final Version (Covent Garden Production) from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten", 1992

Spirit World Rooftop, 1 1/2" Scale Model, Act I, Scene I, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

Spirit World Rooftop, 1 1/2" Scale Model, Act I, Scene I, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

Spirit World Rooftop, 1 1/2" Scale Model, Act I, Scene I, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 2)

Spirit World Rooftop, 1 1/2" Scale Model, Act I, Scene I, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 3)

Barak's Hovel, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act I/II Scene II/I,III,V, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

Barak's Hovel, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act I/II Scene II/I,III,V, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

Barak's Hovel, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act I/II Scene II/I,III,V, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 2)

Barak's Hovel, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act I/II Scene II/I,III,V, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 3)

Falcon House Exterior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act II, Scene II, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

Falcon House Exterior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act II, Scene II, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

Falcon House Exterior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act II, Scene II, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 2)

Falcon House Exterior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act II, Scene II, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 3)

Falcon House Interior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act II, Scene IV, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

Falcon House Interior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act II, Scene IV, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

Underground Vaults, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene I, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

Underground Vaults, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene I, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

Island, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene II, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

Island, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene II, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

Island, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene II, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 2)

Palace Interior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene III, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

Palace Interior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene III, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

Palace Interior, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene III, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 2)

River Landscape, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene IV, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

River Landscape, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene IV, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

River Landscape, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene IV, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 2)

River Landscape, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene IV, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 3)

River/Faces Scrim, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene V, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten"

River/Faces Scrim, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene V, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 1)

River/Faces Scrim, 1 1/2" Scale Model Act III, Scene V, Final Version from "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" (Alternate Lighting 2)

The last performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten was without doubt the best, the only one when all the cues were correct with the music. The singers, too, were at their best because it was being broadcast. I sat there and I don’t think there was anyone in the theater who enjoyed it more than I did. And then it was gone, disappeared ...

In the end, I spent about twenty years doing about ten operas. I liked it because I was given a reasonably free hand; only I didn’t do anything I didn’t feel I wanted to do. I’m not a professional theater designer. A professional theater designer is a person who in a way takes orders. I wasn’t willing to do that. I was willing to collaborate, but not take orders. If they wanted that, they could go to somebody else.

Very New Paintings

In Malibu, over the course of the year, Hockney is at work on Very New Paintings, or V.N. Paintings, a bold and colorful series originating in his set designs for opera that invoke abstraction as well as various tropes of depicting space in landscape painting.

Someone said that the Very New Paintings are abstract narratives. Certainly a great deal of thought and feeling have gone into them. For example, here at the beach I am between two great forces, the mountains and the sea. The mountains were made by a great force of nature, a thrusting force, which calmed in time, leaving them here, grand and peaceful. While below the other thrust continues, the endless movement of the sea. These forces are present, I believe, in the paintings. They are also quite sexual.... Perhaps these paintings seem a jumble to the viewer at first. They take time to unfold. They’re a bit mind-boggling, but they are meant to be. The viewer can roam freely within them, finding his or her own space. That’s why there are no figures in them. You construct your own space mentally.

The Fourth V.N. Painting

The Eleventh V.N. Painting

Retrospective in Europe

A retrospective of Hockney’s career to date takes place at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and travels on to Spain.

Exhibitions

Solo

Recent Pictures, Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA (Jan 11–Feb 11); catalogue.
Seven Paintings, Tate Gallery, London, UK (Feb 18–Jul 26); catalogue.
New Pictures and Still Video Portraits, Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (Jun 12–Jul 11); catalogue.
David Hockney, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (Jun 13–Jul 26), travels to Fundación Juan March, Madrid (Sep 18–Dec 20) and Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona (Jan 8–Feb 28, 1993); catalogue.

Group

Pop Art, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (1992–93).
Portraits in the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA (Jun 7–Nov 1).
New Acquisitions/New Work/New Directions, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA (Jun 18–Jul 26).

Publications

Publications

David Hockney: New Pictures and Still Video Portraits, Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo: Nishimura Gallery.
Hockney’s Opera, Asai, Takaichi, Bunkamura, Tokyo: Mainichi Newspapers.
David Hockney: A Retrospective, by David Hockney, Madrid: Fundación Juan March.
David Hockney: Grafiek/Prints, by David Hockney, Rotterdam.
David Hockney: Recent Pictures, by David Hockney, Chicago.
David Hockney: Seven Paintings, by David Hockney, London: Tate Gallery Publications.

Honor

Honorary Doctorate, Royal College of Art, London.