Poremchuk Yulianna

Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy

The picture belongs to the brush of
the fashionable British artist David
Hockney. He is renowned representative
of Royal College of Art. He is considered to
be unrivalled in pop art. This painting was
painted between 1970 and 1971. It is one
of a series of large double portraits which
Hockney began in 1968.
The artist always tries to keep
returning to the same subjects. That’s why
he often depicts his friends. The painting itself is of two of Hockney's friends: a
famous fashion designer called Ossie Clark, and a textile designer who was his then-
wife Cecilia Birtwell. A little bit of background information on this painting would be
that this painting was just painted after the couple's wedding in which Hockney not
only attended but was also the best man to Mr Clark. The painting itself is minimalist
in style, and the setting of the picture seems to be rather informal. The viewer of the
art can tell instantly that both Mr and Mrs Clarke are not poor as the room itself is
filled with fresh colours which give off a rather relaxing feeling. The astist tries to
convey the atmosphere of richness. Cat Percy is the symbol of the family. Percy is a
white cat who in the picture is sitting on the lap of Mr Clark.
To be a genius artist means to be able to find a perfect color balance. Let’s
imagine. You would like to make the greatest painting for the all centuries. What do
you need is a secret, something unknown, like Leonardo’s paintings with the double
senses. It is very simple to realize by using colors. Draw the field in the grey tones
which blendfuse with the background and pay attention to something important,
use bright color and the average viewer will understand your intention. Nowadays,
viewers like carefully balanced compositions with the blurred background and sharp
objects as they have been underlined.
The artist has a fine eye for colours and effects. To achieve the richness of
hues he used the riot of colours. The vivid colours help the couple stand out in the
picture because both Mr and Mrs Clark are wearing rather bright clothing, for
example, the bright red in Mrs Clarke's dress and the light blue jumper that Mr
Clarke is wearing. As the furniture itself is also rather pale, it helps the green vase
with the white lilies stand out which is important because the lilies symbolise purity
and these flowers were added because at the time of the painting Mrs Clarke was
pregnant.
Poremchuk Yulianna

After my first view on this picture I thought this one is about home, family and
home cosiness. Nevertheless, observing with the critical eye their faces we have a
doubt if they are fine. It may seem that she has just told him some bad news. They
are disappointed, so why would the artist who wants to portray family cosiness
show their faces this way? It causes echo in my heart. To be clear at first I thought
that this is just a colorless daub of paint but the more you are looking on the canvas
the more you disclose this wonderful impressive creation.