Illustrations for 'Six Fairy Tales' from the Brothers Grimm

Hockney’s celebrated Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm comprise a series of 39 etchings illustrating six of the artist’s favourite folk stories collected by the Brothers Grimm. By the late 1960s, as demand for his paintings outstripped supply, Hockney embarked on this ambitious printmaking project to reach a wider audience. Hockney drew on a wide range of art historical sources, referencing works by Hieronymous Bosch and René Magritte as well as Japanese ukiyo-e prints alongside his own drawings and photographs. The tales Hockney chose for the project were ‘The Little Sea Hare’, ‘Fundevogel’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Boy who left Home to learn Fear’, ‘Old Rinkrank’ and ‘Rumpelstilzchen’.
'They’re fascinating, the little stories, told in a very simple, direct, straightforward language and style; it was this simplicity that attracted me. They cover quite a strange range of experience, from the magical to the moral. My choice of stories was occasionally influenced by how I might illustrate them. For example, Old Rinkrank was included because the story begins with the sentence, “A King built a glass mountain.” I loved the idea of finding how you draw a glass mountain; it was a little graphic problem. I included other stories simply because they were strange.' (David Hockney by David Hockney, Thames & Hudson, London, 1976, p. 195).
The book was issued in four editions of one hundred (Editions A-D), each accompanied by an additional suite of six loose etchings, while a separate, deluxe portfolio edition included an additional set of all 39 prints. The suite of six prints which accompanies the present Edition B comprise The tower had one window; Inside the castle; Cold water about to hit the prince; Old Rinkrank threatens the princess; Gold; He tore himself in two. The cancelled printing plates are now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.