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Lot Essay
'After Dinner at Smith Square evokes the essence of a civilized evening in an English dining room, distinct from but very much like Vuillard's or Pierre Bonnard's table scenes. The same sense of well-being, of cozy romantic yet slightly skeptical intelligence, that makes so many English novels so attractive imbues this painting' (R. Armstrong, 'Howard Hodgkin', in Artforum, vol. 21, February 1983, p. 71).
After Dinner at Smith Square is an intimate portrait of the long-standing friendship between two of the most important figures in modern British art -the painter Howard Hodgkin and the connoisseur and collector Sir Robert Sainsbury. Inspired by a real-life dinner party at the Sainsbury's London home, this painting is Hodgkin's recollection of a pleasurable evening spent with Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury. Painted two years after his larger Dinner at Smith Square, which is in the permanent collection of the Tate in London, this cherished portrait uses his characteristically vibrant composition to recall the convivial atmosphere and good conversations that took place that evening. After Dinner at Smith Square is largely based on Hodgkin's recollections and memories of the event, but unusually for the artist, it was also painted using a number of studies that Hodgkin undertook at the Sainsbury home.
Surrounded by the dark shadows of evening, the centre of the composition is populated by a series of bright turquoise dots set against a warm orange glow. This dense patterning recalls the exquisitely detailed interiors painted by the French Post-Impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard. Indeed the Sainsbury's owned a painting by Bonnard which Hodgkin recalled depicted 'two old friends talking across their table below a small picture by Bonnard... ' (H. Hodgkin, The Artist's Eye, exh. cat., London, 1976, n.p.). This connection with Bonnard is enhanced by the slight variations in colour between this version and the one in the Tate. It could be argued that the vivid pink and turquoise in the present work has replaced the more subdued oranges and greens of the earlier work, furthering the homage to Bonnard's legacy.
Hodgkin uses colour and pattern to create a visual equivalent for his personal impressions of these events and later recalled from memory. Painted over a prolonged period of time, the energetic brushwork and non-representational use of colour incorporates the scene from shifting viewpoints and with the changing perspectives caused by the passing of time. This non-representational depiction is further enhanced by Hodgkin's refusal to contain his reminiscences within the confines of the traditional painted surface. His brushwork escapes the restrictions of the edge of his support (in this case, wood) and advances his gestures out towards and through the traditional painterly boundary of the frame. The result is a total vision, a total picture surface in which he concentrates the effects of the colours at the centre while also allowing the frame and the almost Pointillist dots to add another layer of information to the picture, serving to convey a sense of emotional vibration relating to the scene and to the artist's own memories.
Throughout his career Howard Hodgkin has remained one of the most modern, and yet most timeless, painters of his generation. By committing the reminiscences of his long and fruitful life to paint he has produced an extraordinary legacy of work that has often refused to obey convention. Hodgkin's evocative and expressive works bridge the gap between figuration and abstraction to suggest sensations and memories through a unique form of expression that places him apart from the various movements that have occurred around him and have established him as one of Britain's greatest living painters.
After Dinner at Smith Square is an intimate portrait of the long-standing friendship between two of the most important figures in modern British art -the painter Howard Hodgkin and the connoisseur and collector Sir Robert Sainsbury. Inspired by a real-life dinner party at the Sainsbury's London home, this painting is Hodgkin's recollection of a pleasurable evening spent with Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury. Painted two years after his larger Dinner at Smith Square, which is in the permanent collection of the Tate in London, this cherished portrait uses his characteristically vibrant composition to recall the convivial atmosphere and good conversations that took place that evening. After Dinner at Smith Square is largely based on Hodgkin's recollections and memories of the event, but unusually for the artist, it was also painted using a number of studies that Hodgkin undertook at the Sainsbury home.
Surrounded by the dark shadows of evening, the centre of the composition is populated by a series of bright turquoise dots set against a warm orange glow. This dense patterning recalls the exquisitely detailed interiors painted by the French Post-Impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard. Indeed the Sainsbury's owned a painting by Bonnard which Hodgkin recalled depicted 'two old friends talking across their table below a small picture by Bonnard... ' (H. Hodgkin, The Artist's Eye, exh. cat., London, 1976, n.p.). This connection with Bonnard is enhanced by the slight variations in colour between this version and the one in the Tate. It could be argued that the vivid pink and turquoise in the present work has replaced the more subdued oranges and greens of the earlier work, furthering the homage to Bonnard's legacy.
Hodgkin uses colour and pattern to create a visual equivalent for his personal impressions of these events and later recalled from memory. Painted over a prolonged period of time, the energetic brushwork and non-representational use of colour incorporates the scene from shifting viewpoints and with the changing perspectives caused by the passing of time. This non-representational depiction is further enhanced by Hodgkin's refusal to contain his reminiscences within the confines of the traditional painted surface. His brushwork escapes the restrictions of the edge of his support (in this case, wood) and advances his gestures out towards and through the traditional painterly boundary of the frame. The result is a total vision, a total picture surface in which he concentrates the effects of the colours at the centre while also allowing the frame and the almost Pointillist dots to add another layer of information to the picture, serving to convey a sense of emotional vibration relating to the scene and to the artist's own memories.
Throughout his career Howard Hodgkin has remained one of the most modern, and yet most timeless, painters of his generation. By committing the reminiscences of his long and fruitful life to paint he has produced an extraordinary legacy of work that has often refused to obey convention. Hodgkin's evocative and expressive works bridge the gap between figuration and abstraction to suggest sensations and memories through a unique form of expression that places him apart from the various movements that have occurred around him and have established him as one of Britain's greatest living painters.