Live Auction 5548Post-War & Contemporary Art
David Hockney (b. 1937)
Lot 92

David Hockney (b. 1937)

Drawings for Ubu Roi

Closed16 September 2010

Price Realised

GBP 31,250

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David Hockney (b. 1937)
Drawings for Ubu Roi
(i) (iii) (iv) pastel and graphite on card
(ii) pastel on card
(i) 4½ x 8in. (11.2 x 20.4cm.)
(ii) 5 x 8in. (12.5 x 20.4cm.)
(iii) 7¼ x 8¾in. (18.2 x 22cm.)
(iv) 7¾ x 8in. (18.5 x 20.4cm.)
Executed in 1966 (4)

Acquired directly from the artist in 1966.

Specialist note

Ubu Roi was the first of the two things that I've designed for the stage... I was asked by the director of Ubu Roi, If I'd design it. I knew Alfred Jarry a little bit; I'd even read the play before, but I didn't really remember too much about it. So I agreed to do it when I read it again. You can invent lots of things because Jarry gives lots of instructions: Don't bother about scenery, just put a sign up saying 'Polish Army'; and that really appealed to me. And some of the sets are just like that.
(Hockney quoted in 'DAVID HOCKNEY by David Hockney', Thames and Hudson, London, 1976, p103).