Rue De Seine

Rue De Seine is a signed intaglio print by British artist, David Hockney, printed on J. Green wove paper. In the year of its production — 1972 — Hockney was unrelentingly concentrated on producing paintings, such as the now iconic Portrait Of An Artist (Pool With Two Figures), which was started when the artist noticed two photographs (one of which included John St Clair Swimming)  lying next to one another on his studio floor. In order to refine this work, Hockney travelled to the south of France to take photographs of Mo McDermott in a similar swimming pool. In Rue De Seine, however, Hockney depicts a Parisian scene. Looking out from the interior of a traditional apartment complete with a wrought-iron balcony rail and a still life setup featuring tulips, we see the faint outlines of the street outside. There is a photographic element to this work: light, economical lines sketch an impression of an exterior scene replete with Haussmannian buildings; creating a sense of overexposure, the work recalls the contrejour effect explored by Hockney in the 1974 piece Contrejour In The French Style, created during the artist’s second year as resident in the French capital. Rue De Seine makes an extended use of Hockney’s signature cross-hatching and features another of his recurrent subjects: the window.