Maryhill Museum of Art Hosts the Exhibition
David Hockney: Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Exhibition opens September 15, 2012
(GOLDENDALE, Wash., July 10, 2012) – Maryhill Museum of Art is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition David Hockney: Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm on September 15, 2012. The exhibition will remain view until November 15, 2012.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, the museum will screen the film David Hockney: A Bigger Picture on Saturday, September 15 at 2 p.m. A post-screening discussion will feature the filmmaker Bruno Wollheim.
In 1970 David Hockney, one of the leading artists of the twentieth century, and Petersburg Press released Six Fairy Tales, a compilation of 39 etchings and the texts of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s fairy tales, including:The Little Sea Hare, Fundevogel, Rapunzel, The Boy Who Left Home to Learn Fear, Old Rinkrank and Rumpelstilzchen.
Hockney had always loved Grimm's Fairy Tales and had read all 220 of them. He also admired earlier illustrations to them by Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. In 1969 he decided to make his own images. Rather than illustrating the stories literally, he chose vivid images to encapsulate a mood or detail. Hockney especially enjoyed the elements of magic in the tales, and his images focus on his imaginative response to the descriptions in the text rather than attempting to concentrate on the most important events in the narrative. As a result, the etchings are more than simply illustrations: they stand on their own as images, independent of the stories.
As Hockney points out, the tales are drawn from centuries of folklore. "The stories weren't written by the Brothers Grimm...they came across this woman called Catherina Dorothea Viehmann, who told 20 stories to them in this simple language, and they were so moved by them that they wrote them down word for word as she spoke,” he says.
Hockney’s contemporary and often humorous approach to the tales is reflected in the quirky nature of the images. Of Rapunzel he says "...the stories really are quite mad, when you think of it, and quite strange. In modern times, it's like the story of a couple moving into a house, and in the next door's garden they see this lettuce growing: and the wife develops this craving for the lettuce that she just must have and climbs over to pinch it, and the old woman who lives in the house next door says well, you can have the lettuce if you give me your child, and they agree to it. And if you put it into terms like this and imagine them in their semi-detached house agreeing to it all, it seems incredible."
The 39 etchings were drawn directly onto copper plates by Hockney between May and November 1969. It was a decade in which etching featured strongly for Hockney. As well as Grimms’ Fairy Tales, he made two other important series: A Rake's Progress (1961-63) and Illustrations for Thirteen Poems for CP Cavafy (1966).
Organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles, CA, David Hockney: Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm will tour museums throughout the U.S. through 2013.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS in connection with the exhibition David Hockney: Six Fairy Tales:
Film Screening: David Hockney - A Bigger Picture
Saturday, September 15, 2 p.m.
Celebrate the opening of the exhibition David Hockney: Six Fairy Tales with a riveting look at the artist’s process. In this 2009 film, filmmaker Bruno Wollheim gives dynamic insight into the workings of artist David Hockney, one of the most well-regarded artists of the 20th century. After the screening Wollheim will lead a discussion. Free with museum admission.
Family Fun: Puppet Making
Saturday, September 15, 11 a.m.
Join us from 11 to 11:45 for a hands-on puppet making workshop, then at noon enjoy a puppet show, The Ugliest Duckling, performed by Portland’s renowned Tears of Joy Theater. Cost for puppet making workshop is $10 members / $15 non-members. Pre-registration required. Call (509) 773-3733 or email education@maryhillmuseum.org. On Family Fun days youth 18 and under are admitted to the museum free all day with one paid adult museum admission.
Performance: Tears of Joy Theater
Saturday, September 15, noon
Portland’s renowned Tears of Joy Theater presents the puppet show, The Ugliest Duckling. Free with museum admission. On Family Fun days youth 18 and under are admitted to the museum free all day with one paid adult museum admission.
Image above: David Hockney (British, born 1937), A Black Cat Leaping, from “The Boy Who Left Home to Learn Fear” in Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, 1969, etching. © David Hockney. Used with permission.
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ABOUT MARYHILL MUSEUM OF ART:
Housed in a glorious Beaux Arts mansion on 5,300 acres high above the Columbia River, Maryhill Museum of Art opened to the public May 13, 1940 and today remains one of the Pacific Northwest’s most enchanting cultural destinations. The museum was founded by Northwest entrepreneur and visionary Sam Hill, who purchased the property and began building the house with dreams of establishing a Quaker farming community. When that goal proved untenable, Hill was encouraged by friends Loie Fuller, Queen Marie of Romania, and Alma de Bretteville Spreckles to establish a museum.
Maryhill Museum of Art boasts an outstanding permanent collection, rotating exhibitions of the highest caliber, and dynamic educational programs that provide opportunities for further exploration by visitors of all ages. On view are more than 80 works by Auguste Rodin, European and American paintings, objects d'art from the palaces of the Queen of Romania, Orthodox icons, unique chess sets, and the renowned Théâtre de la Mode, featuring small-scale mannequins attired in designer fashions of post-World War II France. Baskets of the indigenous people of North America were a collecting interest of Hill; today the museum’s Native American collection represents nearly every tradition and style in North America, with works of art from prehistoric through contemporary.
Maryhill’s Outdoor Sculpture Garden features more than a dozen large-scale works by Northwest artists. The Maryhill Overlook is a site-specific sculpture by noted Portland architect Brad Cloepfil; nearby are Lewis and Clark interpretive panels. Four miles east of Maryhill is a life-sized replica of Stonehenge, Stonehenge Memorial, which Sam Hill built to memorialize local men who perished in World War I. Nearby, the Klickitat County War Memorial honors those who have died in the service of their country since World War I.
The museum was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 2001 the museum was listed as an official site of the National Historic Lewis and Clark Trail and in 2002 was accredited by the American Association of Museums.
VISITOR INFORMATION:
Maryhill Museum of Art is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., March 15 to November 15. Admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $3 for youth age 7-18 and free for children 6 and under. Family admission is $25 to admit 2 adults, plus related children under the age of 18. Admission to the Stonehenge Memorial is free; it is open from 7:00 a.m. to dusk daily.
Sandwiches, salads, espresso drinks, cold beverages, and freshly baked desserts and pastries are available at the museum's cafe, Loïe's, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. The Museum Store features art and history books, jewelry, and other mementos.
Maryhill is located off Highway 97, 12 miles south of Goldendale, Washington. Drive times to the museum are 2 hours from Portland/Vancouver, 3.5 hours from Bend, 4 hours from Seattle, and 1.5 hours from Yakima. For further information, visit www.maryhillmuseum.org.
