Howard Hodgkin prints at Burton Gallery, Bideford

The first large scale exhibition spanning the printmaking career of painter Howard Hodgkin comes to the Burton Art Gallery & Museum in Bideford from March to June. Turner Prize winner and subject of a major retrospective at Tate Britain, Howard Hodgkin is one of the UK’s most celebrated and best loved living artists.

Over the past 40 years Hodgkin has produced 130 editions of striking prints, large and small, using a variety of media and techniques, 43 of which will be on display at the Burton.

On tour from the Barbican, London, these works take printmaking to a new level of intensity, with remarkable effects of colour and surface. Although painting dominates Hodgkin’s creative output, he has explored the possibilities of printmaking throughout his career, producing a substantial body of work, which is as accomplished as his oils.

“My subject matter,” Howard Hodgkin has said, “is simple and straightforward. It ranges from views through windows, landscapes, occasional still lifes, to memories of holidays, encounters with interiors and art collections, other people, other bodies, love affairs, sexual encounters and emotional situations of all kinds even including eating”. (Interview with John Tusa, Radio 3)

Howard Hodgkin was born in London in 1932. His works are in the collection of the Tate Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Over four decades Howard Hodgkin has searched for a way of making prints that possess all the poetry and energy of his paintings. His pictures have been compared to passionate love songs in a foreign language: evocative, moving, with a heart of enigmatic mystery.

Miranda Clarke, Visual Arts Manager, Burton Art Gallery and Museum said: “This is an exceptional exhibition for the Burton to host and demonstrates our commitment to bringing high quality contemporary work to the region. To our knowledge it is the first time Howard Hodgkin’s work has been shown in the South West and we are extremely pleased to be working with the Barbican. We hope our audiences and visitors to the area will relish the opportunity to engage with the prints and accompanying events and activities.”

• Howard Hodgkin Prints will be at the Burton Art Gallery & Museum from Sunday, March 27 to Monday, June 6

(from a press release)