David Hockney, Yosemite 1, October 16th 2011, 2011

2011

Medium

iPad drawing printed on four sheets of paper, mounted on four sheets of Dibond

Dimensions

2 × 69 cm

Edition

numbered 5/12 from an edition of 12

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-153645

In 2010 and 2011, David Hockney captured the awesome majesty of Yosemite National Park in a series of iPad drawings that highlight his continuing fascination with the epic landscapes of the American West. Featuring El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall and Half Dome, the present work depicts one of the most iconic and sublime views of Yosemite as observed from the ‘Tunnel View’ vantage point. A romantic scene of untrampled wilderness, Hockney’s image is reminiscent of mid-19th century paintings of Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt (1830 – 1902) and the photographs of Carleton Watkins (1829 – 1916). After Hockney’s first trip to Yosemite, new software was released, which meant that his drawings could now be printed out at a much larger scale without pixelating. When he returned in 2011, he made five new iPad drawings with this new possibility in mind. Initially, he printed some of these out at 60 inches tall, which lead him to discover that ‘they were very, very strong, as powerful as paintings actually’ and so he decided to enlarge them further. For his 2012 exhibition A Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, Hockney printed four of the new Yosemite drawings at 144 ⅛ by 108 inches, and this drawing at 143 ½ by 128 ¼ inches. The present work belongs to a select group of drawings that he additionally printed on a more commercially accessible scale in editions of 12. To overcome technical limitations the artist deviseda method of printing the image in four sections and mounting these together on sheets of Dibond. Despite a scheduled run lasting less than three months, A Bigger Picture attracted more than 600,000 visitors, making it one of the most popular museum shows in British history.