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Howard Hodgkin

Last Paintings

June 1–July 28, 2018
Grosvenor Hill, London

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Installation video

Installation view Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Works Exhibited

Howard Hodgkin, Over to You, 2015–17 Oil on wood, 9 ¾ × 12 ⅜ inches (24.8 × 31.4 cm)© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Over to You, 2015–17

Oil on wood, 9 ¾ × 12 ⅜ inches (24.8 × 31.4 cm)
© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Don't Tell a Soul, 2016 Oil on wood, 27 ⅝ × 36 ½ inches (70.2 × 92.7 cm)© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Don't Tell a Soul, 2016

Oil on wood, 27 ⅝ × 36 ½ inches (70.2 × 92.7 cm)
© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Elegy, 2014–15 Oil on wood, 16 ⅝ × 20 ½ inches (42.2 × 52.1 cm)© Howard Hodgkin Estate

Howard Hodgkin, Elegy, 2014–15

Oil on wood, 16 ⅝ × 20 ½ inches (42.2 × 52.1 cm)
© Howard Hodgkin Estate

Howard Hodgkin, Knitting Pattern, 2015–16 Oil on wood, 13 ¼ × 15 ¼ inches (33.7 × 38.7 cm)© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Knitting Pattern, 2015–16

Oil on wood, 13 ¼ × 15 ¼ inches (33.7 × 38.7 cm)
© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Through a Glass Darkly, 2015–16 Oil on wood, 10 ¾ × 16 ¼ inches (27.3 × 41.3 cm)© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Through a Glass Darkly, 2015–16

Oil on wood, 10 ¾ × 16 ¼ inches (27.3 × 41.3 cm)
© Howard Hodgkin Estate. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Howard Hodgkin, Portrait of the Artist Listening to Music, 2011–16 Oil on wood, 73 ¼ × 103 ¾ × 5 inches (186.1 × 263.5 × 12.7 cm)© Howard Hodgkin Estate

Howard Hodgkin, Portrait of the Artist Listening to Music, 2011–16

Oil on wood, 73 ¼ × 103 ¾ × 5 inches (186.1 × 263.5 × 12.7 cm)
© Howard Hodgkin Estate

About

For an artist, time can always be regained . . . because by an act of imagination you can always go back.
—Howard Hodgkin

Gagosian is pleased and honored to present Last Paintings, an exhibition of Howard Hodgkin’s final works.

One of Britain’s most celebrated contemporary painters, Hodgkin composed powerful, expressive works that, while nominally abstract, bring representation, gesture, and affect into urgent relation. Last Paintings, presented at the Grosvenor Hill gallery in accordance with the late artist’s wishes, includes the final six paintings that he completed in India prior to his death, in March 2017, five of which will be exhibited for the first time. The exhibition includes more than twenty other paintings, never before exhibited in Europe.

In 1972 Hodgkin renounced working on canvas in favor of wooden panels and frames, some new and others sourced secondhand in India and Europe. The grain of the wood and the scars and scratches of the supports became integral to the paintings, affirming their physical presence and heft. Last Paintings attests to the immediacy of Hodgkin’s methods, as well as his intuitive understanding of the relationship between hand, eye, and memory.

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News

Howard Hodgkin: Last Paintings (New York: Gagosian, 2018)

Online Reading

Howard Hodgkin
Last Paintings

Howard Hodgkin: Last Paintings is available for online reading from September 6 through October 5 as part of the From the Library series. Published on the occasion of his 2018 exhibition at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, the catalogue celebrates Hodgkin’s final works, many of which had never been previously published. His brushstrokes, set against wooden supports, often continue beyond the picture plane and onto the frame, breaking from traditional confines. Embracing time as a compositional element, his work is testament to his immersion in the intangibility of thoughts, feelings, and fleeting private moments. A new essay by Paul Hills is included along with a biography by Antony Peattie and poem by Stevie Smith.

Howard Hodgkin: Last Paintings (New York: Gagosian, 2018)