Acquisition News: Hodgkin’s first print, Acquainted with the Night, 1953

Acquainted with the Night was Howard Hodgkin’s first print, made at Corsham School of Art, where he studied and later taught. It is signed and dated 1953, when Howard was 21, and made at the initiative of the school’s first director, Clifford Ellis. The print is inspired by Robert Frost’s poem of the same name and formed part of a portfolio titled Poetry at Night, which included prints by the following four other artists: Thomas Burt, Monica Harman, Elizabeth Sinclair and Carolyn Smith.

Howard did not keep a copy. None could be found to illustrate the entry in the first edition of the catalogue raisonné of his prints (2003). Thanks to the heirs of Derek Pope, a later principal of the Corsham school, it has surfaced in time to be included in the second edition, due to be released next year.

In 2012 Hodgkin revisited the Frost poem and made a collection of prints which he titled Acquainted with the Night. One of the prints in the collection was itself titled Acquainted with the Night, while in the accompanying catalogue the poem was reproduced in full as a preface.

Acquainted with the Night, 1953, has been acquired by the Howard Hodgkin Legacy Trust from the family of Derek Pope, facilitated by Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers, located at Cecil Court, London. The print will be given to a major UK museum, along with a nearly complete set of Hodgkin prints.