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Lot Essay
It is too easy to divide John Hoyland’s oeuvre into neat decades, taking each one in isolation as though he himself chronologically cleaved his ideas and developments. In fact there is a natural progression in his work as he experiments with colour, form, texture and surface. From the 1964 New Generation exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery to the Serpentine retrospective in 1979 and the Royal Academy show in 1999, one can trace this progression and so understand how his later works relate to his output from the 1960s onwards.
Hoyland’s use of thin translucent washes and floating geometric shapes in his work from the 1960s, which was predominantly driven through an exploration of colour, gave way to a greater concern with the physical nature of the painting. In New York, Clement Greenberg had commented to Hoyland “Don’t you ever think about texture?” and on his return to England in the early 1970s he combined his earlier colourful washes with a more substantive structure and experimentation with surface texture, form and shape. Orlo 14.4.76 (lot 106) explores this more physical technique. Hoyland fills the centre of the work with a horizontally painted gritty impasto. This physically oppressive expanse contrasts with the vertical riot of colour surrounding it. Mel Gooding describes this as 'an unresolved dynamic between formless energy and repressive form – as a moment of dialectical stasis between being and becoming, stasis and kinesis – gives them a disturbingly potent physical presence' (M. Gooding, John Hoyland, London, p. 92).
The present work, Under 1.2.01, combines the subtle translucency found in the earlier works with the more physical and expressive qualities of subsequent paintings. Hoyland travelled extensively throughout his life and these trips helped to shape and influence his work. Bali and the Caribbean were particularly important. These vibrant paradises; the landscapes, sunsets, oceans, people, food and music were distilled into these later works. The shimmering, exotic blue and bright dappled yellow conjure up the pure, crystal clear waters of the Caribbean. The title invites the onlooker to dive into this luxuriant abyss, sharing this space with the mysterious figure in the lower right corner. However this illusion of depth is halted by the vibrant red lines of paint running vertically down the canvas. Their thick opacity contrasts to the shimmering translucency of the blue, drawing attention to the physical nature of the painting as an object in its own right. Although figurative elements start to become loosely referenced in these later works Hoyland combines them with his ongoing fascination in the colour, form and texture that physically make up the painting itself. Indeed Bryan Robertson’s appraisal of John Hoyland in Private View is as relevant to the paintings that he did in 2000 as it is to his works from 1965:
'[He] tends to work on a series of ideas which then flow into a subsequent development: each phase explored to the hilt with great resourcefulness and invention. Hoyland’s concern is for the ambiguity which can exist between the figure or motif and its enveloping ground: both invariably stated in terms of strong, resonant colour which cuts out tonality. The paly between the all-over space and those shapes, are dramatic and highly subtle. Hoyland is a true inventor' (B. Robertson quoted in Private View, London, 1965, p. 272).
Hoyland’s use of thin translucent washes and floating geometric shapes in his work from the 1960s, which was predominantly driven through an exploration of colour, gave way to a greater concern with the physical nature of the painting. In New York, Clement Greenberg had commented to Hoyland “Don’t you ever think about texture?” and on his return to England in the early 1970s he combined his earlier colourful washes with a more substantive structure and experimentation with surface texture, form and shape. Orlo 14.4.76 (lot 106) explores this more physical technique. Hoyland fills the centre of the work with a horizontally painted gritty impasto. This physically oppressive expanse contrasts with the vertical riot of colour surrounding it. Mel Gooding describes this as 'an unresolved dynamic between formless energy and repressive form – as a moment of dialectical stasis between being and becoming, stasis and kinesis – gives them a disturbingly potent physical presence' (M. Gooding, John Hoyland, London, p. 92).
The present work, Under 1.2.01, combines the subtle translucency found in the earlier works with the more physical and expressive qualities of subsequent paintings. Hoyland travelled extensively throughout his life and these trips helped to shape and influence his work. Bali and the Caribbean were particularly important. These vibrant paradises; the landscapes, sunsets, oceans, people, food and music were distilled into these later works. The shimmering, exotic blue and bright dappled yellow conjure up the pure, crystal clear waters of the Caribbean. The title invites the onlooker to dive into this luxuriant abyss, sharing this space with the mysterious figure in the lower right corner. However this illusion of depth is halted by the vibrant red lines of paint running vertically down the canvas. Their thick opacity contrasts to the shimmering translucency of the blue, drawing attention to the physical nature of the painting as an object in its own right. Although figurative elements start to become loosely referenced in these later works Hoyland combines them with his ongoing fascination in the colour, form and texture that physically make up the painting itself. Indeed Bryan Robertson’s appraisal of John Hoyland in Private View is as relevant to the paintings that he did in 2000 as it is to his works from 1965:
'[He] tends to work on a series of ideas which then flow into a subsequent development: each phase explored to the hilt with great resourcefulness and invention. Hoyland’s concern is for the ambiguity which can exist between the figure or motif and its enveloping ground: both invariably stated in terms of strong, resonant colour which cuts out tonality. The paly between the all-over space and those shapes, are dramatic and highly subtle. Hoyland is a true inventor' (B. Robertson quoted in Private View, London, 1965, p. 272).