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Lot Essay
Dramatically lit in a palette of opulent tones, David Hockney’s Isolde and Brangäne is a sumptuous vision from his celebrated body of operatic set designs. An excellent expression of his rich multi-media outlook, Hockney’s theatrical collaborations reached their pinnacle in his production of Richard Wagner’s nineteenth-century masterwork Tristan and Isolde, directed by Jonathan Miller at the Los Angeles Music Center in 1987.
Within a practice grounded in themes of illusionism – curtains, screens, lenses and warped perspectives – Hockney’s theatrical commissions speak to the very core of his art. Glowing differently under varying light conditions, Isolde and Brangäne’s extraordinarily vivid hues witness the master colorist at the height of his powers. The deep shadows and subtle tonal variation of the painting were translated to stage via pioneering use of Vari-Lite: moving colored beams used in stadium rock concerts. Indeed, the critic Gerald Larner applauded it as ‘one of the most beautiful and original [sets] ever inspired by a Wagner opera’, whilst John Russell described the finale as being ‘as awesome a moment as we shall ever see on a stage’ (G. Larner, Guardian, 18 December 1987; J. Russell, New York Times, 8 December 1987). With its near-Fauvist palette, intuitive brushwork and hints of geometric abstraction, Isolde and Brangäne resonates with Hockney’s mountainous landscapes and seascapes of this period: themselves Wagnerian hymns to the grandeur of nature. In Isolde and Brangäne, the viewer is made witness to the visionary artistic process that brought the opera to life in glowing, technicolor splendor.
Within a practice grounded in themes of illusionism – curtains, screens, lenses and warped perspectives – Hockney’s theatrical commissions speak to the very core of his art. Glowing differently under varying light conditions, Isolde and Brangäne’s extraordinarily vivid hues witness the master colorist at the height of his powers. The deep shadows and subtle tonal variation of the painting were translated to stage via pioneering use of Vari-Lite: moving colored beams used in stadium rock concerts. Indeed, the critic Gerald Larner applauded it as ‘one of the most beautiful and original [sets] ever inspired by a Wagner opera’, whilst John Russell described the finale as being ‘as awesome a moment as we shall ever see on a stage’ (G. Larner, Guardian, 18 December 1987; J. Russell, New York Times, 8 December 1987). With its near-Fauvist palette, intuitive brushwork and hints of geometric abstraction, Isolde and Brangäne resonates with Hockney’s mountainous landscapes and seascapes of this period: themselves Wagnerian hymns to the grandeur of nature. In Isolde and Brangäne, the viewer is made witness to the visionary artistic process that brought the opera to life in glowing, technicolor splendor.