Pool with cloud reflection (Paper Pool 26)

  • Pool with Cloud Reflection (Paper Pool 26), 1978

    Pool with Cloud Reflection (Paper Pool 26), 1978

    Coloured and pressed paper pulp, 72 x 85.5 inch, Unique work

    ©David Hockney

     

    Back to: Paper Pools

     

    David Hockney's Pool with Cloud Reflection, Paper Pool 26, 1978 is a unique work from the artist's celebrated Paper Pools series, created in collaboration with Kenneth Tyler at Tyler Graphics. Measuring 72 × 85.5 inches, the work is made from coloured, pressed paper pulp, a process in which pigmented paper fibres are layered and pressed to create the image itself. Rather than printing ink onto paper, Hockney used handmade paper as the artistic medium, allowing colour, texture and composition to develop simultaneously.

     

    The composition depicts the surface of a swimming pool with the reflection of clouds drifting across the water, continuing Hockney's long-standing interest in representing light, reflection and changing viewpoints. As with the other large-scale works in the Paper Pools series, Pool with Cloud Reflection combines simplified forms with subtle tonal variation to examine how water alters the appearance of the surrounding landscape. The work demonstrates Hockney's continued experimentation with paper pulp as a medium and his exploration of the relationship between printmaking, papermaking and painting.

  • "I believe that the problem of how to depict something is … an interesting one and it’s a permanent one"

     

    - David Hockney

    The Paper Pools series represents one of David Hockney's most significant technical experiments in printmaking. Created in 1978 during his collaboration with Kenneth Tyler at Tyler Graphics, the series comprises large-scale works made from coloured, pressed paper pulp rather than traditional ink on paper. This innovative process allowed Hockney to create richly textured images in which colour, form and surface became an integral part of the paper itself, blurring the boundaries between printmaking, papermaking and painting.