SOME VERY NEW PAINTINGS

First edition, first printing. One of only 25 clothbound copies, signed by the author and inscribed by the publisher. Original black cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. With colour reproductions of Hockney's paintings throughout. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the top corners and spine tips slightly bumped, the extremities lightly rubbed. The contents are clean and bright throughout. Complete with the very good, rubbed, nicked and creased,lightly marked dustwrapper that has several closed tears to the edges. Exceptionally scarce in clothbound and signed state.

Signed by David Hockney in black ink on the half title and inscribed in blue ink by William Hardie on the copyright page "One of a clothbound edition of 25 signed by the artist / William Hardie". According to the David Hockney Foundation, in 1992 "in Malibu, over the course of a year, Hockney [was] at work on Very New Paintings, or V.N. Paintings, a bold and colourful series originating in his set designs that invoke abstraction as well as various tropes of depicting space in landscape painting". The series was shown in 1993 in New York, Saltaire, and the William Hardie Gallery in Glasgow, which produced this catalogue. Of Very New Paintings, Hockney said "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". A transcript of a conversation between Hockney and Hardie is included at the start of the book, which goes into particular depth on the influence of Die Frou ohne Schatten, the opera for which Hockney provided set design and which directly preceded Very New Paintings; Hockney's wider work in opera productions; and the general importance of classical music and visual performance to Hockney and his creative process.