Lot Essay
Charles Baudelaire observed that there are basically two types of portraiture: either as history or as fiction. "The first is to set forth the contours and the modeling of the subject faithfully, severely and minutely . . . The second method, which is the special province of the colorists, is to transform the portrait into a picture--a poem with all its accessories, a poem full of space and reverie. This is more difficult art, because it is a more ambitious one" (M. Auping, Howard Hodgkin: Paintings, New York 1995. pp. 22-23).
Howard Hodgkin's portraits undoubtedly belong to the latter category. These works evolve over months, sometimes years, working and reworking the image until it has reached his criteria of completion. In an interview with David Sylvester, Hodgkin states the following:
"My pictures are finished when the subject comes back. I start out with the subject and naturally I have to remember first of all what it looked like, but it would also perhaps contain a great deal of feeling and sentiment. All of that has got to be somehow transmuted, transformed or made into a physical object, and when that happens, when that's finally been done, when the last physical marks have been put on and the subject comes back,--which, after all, is usually the moment when the painting is at long last a coherent physical object--well, then the picture's finished and there is no question of doing anything more to it. My pictures really finish themselves." (ed. N. Serota, Howard Hodgkin: Forty Paintings 1973-84, London 1984, p. 97)
First Portrait of Terence McInerney belongs to a set of two paintings executed in 1981, showing the artist's close friend and dealer of Indian miniatures. Hodgkin has always harbored a fascination for India, a country he travelled extensively over the past years, and whose art he avidly collects. The warm oranges and reds Hodgkin uses here, contrasting with the dark greens and purples, suggest a recollection of times spent in the tropical lushness of India, transposed onto the persona of the dealer of its art. McInerney glances back at us here, his orange-red torso bracketed by the black of his jacket. The figure leans at an acute angle which is subtly mirrored by the perspectival lines of the sofa where he is seated.
Interestingly, Hodgkin stated that both First Portrait of Terence McInerney and the second version of this painting were initially "incredibly representational" (M. Auping, Howard Hodgkin Paintings, London 1995. p. 23), but that during the process of their making became increasingly incorporeal, each implying the hint of a different relationship between the sitter and the artist. Hodgkin is a virtuoso at substituting the illusionistic for the indexical, and these two paintings provide, in their different approaches, a fascinating insight into Hodgkin's working practice.
Howard Hodgkin's portraits undoubtedly belong to the latter category. These works evolve over months, sometimes years, working and reworking the image until it has reached his criteria of completion. In an interview with David Sylvester, Hodgkin states the following:
"My pictures are finished when the subject comes back. I start out with the subject and naturally I have to remember first of all what it looked like, but it would also perhaps contain a great deal of feeling and sentiment. All of that has got to be somehow transmuted, transformed or made into a physical object, and when that happens, when that's finally been done, when the last physical marks have been put on and the subject comes back,--which, after all, is usually the moment when the painting is at long last a coherent physical object--well, then the picture's finished and there is no question of doing anything more to it. My pictures really finish themselves." (ed. N. Serota, Howard Hodgkin: Forty Paintings 1973-84, London 1984, p. 97)
First Portrait of Terence McInerney belongs to a set of two paintings executed in 1981, showing the artist's close friend and dealer of Indian miniatures. Hodgkin has always harbored a fascination for India, a country he travelled extensively over the past years, and whose art he avidly collects. The warm oranges and reds Hodgkin uses here, contrasting with the dark greens and purples, suggest a recollection of times spent in the tropical lushness of India, transposed onto the persona of the dealer of its art. McInerney glances back at us here, his orange-red torso bracketed by the black of his jacket. The figure leans at an acute angle which is subtly mirrored by the perspectival lines of the sofa where he is seated.
Interestingly, Hodgkin stated that both First Portrait of Terence McInerney and the second version of this painting were initially "incredibly representational" (M. Auping, Howard Hodgkin Paintings, London 1995. p. 23), but that during the process of their making became increasingly incorporeal, each implying the hint of a different relationship between the sitter and the artist. Hodgkin is a virtuoso at substituting the illusionistic for the indexical, and these two paintings provide, in their different approaches, a fascinating insight into Hodgkin's working practice.