HOCKNEY, David

Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

1969

etching, aquatint, drypoint

In 1969, David Hockney, a longtime devotee of the Brothers Grimm fairytales, decided to make work in response to his six of his favorite stories. The resulting prints illustrate scenes which personally resonate with the artist and consequently they do not always focus on the most important events in the narrative. The Boy who Left Home to Know Fear is about a young farm boy who is eager to learn only one thing: how to shudder. His father, in exasperation, reveals his sons wish to the local sexton who offers to assist the father by scaring the son. The sexton gives the son a job in the bell tower and then disguises himself as a ghost. Instead of being fearful, the son, pushes the apparition down the stairs injuring the sexton, and resulting in his expulsion from the town. The boy travels far asking others how he might learn to shudder. An innkeeper recommends he speak with the King who has offered money and his daughters hand in marriage to the first man who can spend three nights in a haunted castle. Intrigued, the boy stays at the castle facing enchanted, evil cats and a reanimated corpse. The boy triumphs in the end and is properly rewarded but he is disappointed since he never learned to shudder. But, his wish is eventually granted when a bucket of icy water is poured on him at which point he cries out, My God, why do I shudder so?

1969

HOCKNEY, David

British, b. 1937

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks

1998.75