Etching and aquatint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/david-hockney-1293" aria-label="More by David Hockney" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">David Hockney</a>
Queen
Presented by Klaus Anschel in memory of his wife Gerty 1997
abstraction
arts and entertainment
defacement
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
gestural
homosexuality
individuals: male
inscriptions
leisure and pastimes
music and entertainment
music, pop
name of sitter
named individuals
non-representational
people
portraits
Richard, Cliff
sex and relationships
singer
society
symbols and personifications
text
work and occupations
<p>Celebrated as a Pop artist in the 1960s, David Hockney remains one of the most admired British painters. In his early career he was better known for his prints than for his paintings. He began to make etchings while a student at the Royal College of Art, when he could not afford paint and the Graphic department gave out free materials. These early prints laid the foundation for much of his subsequent work. They experiment with various styles. Many of them make oblique references to the artist's homosexuality. Here he has juxtaposed the word 'Queen' with the initials 'CR' which refer to pop singer Cliff Richard, whom he admired at this time.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print etching aquatint
26 March 2002 – 19 January 2003
2003-01-19
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2002-03-26
Pin Up: Glamour and Celebrity Since the Sixties
Collection based display
14 November 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
14 November 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
2009-11-14
Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham, UK)
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/
2009-11-14
David Hockney, London and Los Angeles 1960 - 1968
Loan-out
5 February 2014 – 28 September 2014
2014-09-28
5 February 2014 – 11 May 2014
2014-05-11
2014-02-05
Dulwich Picture Gallery (London, UK)
7 June 2014 – 28 September 2014
2014-09-28
2014-06-07
Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle, UK)
http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk
2014-02-05
Hockney, Printmaker
Loan-out
2 February 2017 – 10 March 2017
2017-03-10
2 February 2017 – 10 March 2017
2017-03-10
2017-02-02
Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert (London, UK)
2017-02-02
David Hockney: The Complete Early Etchings, 1961 - 64
Loan-out
21 March 2019 – 28 May 2023
2023-05-28
21 March 2019 – 4 August 2019
2019-08-04
2019-03-21
Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
http://seoulmoa.org/html/eng/menu01/contents05.jsp
1 September 2019 – 1 January 2020
2020-01-01
2019-09-01
M Woods Museum (Beijing, China)
1 February 2020 – 13 September 2020
2020-09-13
2020-02-01
Bucerius Kunst Forum (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.buceriuskunstforum.de
18 October 2021 – 23 January 2022
2022-01-23
2021-10-18
Centre for Fine Arts - BOZAR (Brussels, Belgium)
10 February 2022 – 19 June 2022
2022-06-19
2022-02-10
Kunstforum Wien (Vienna, Austria)
http://www.kunstforum-wien.at
8 July 2022 – 30 October 2022
2022-10-30
2022-07-08
Kunstmuseum (Luzern, Switzerland)
http://www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch
28 January 2023 – 28 May 2023
2023-05-28
2023-01-28
Musée Granet (Aix-en-Provence, France)
Palazzo Reale (Milan, Italy)
2019-03-21
David Hockney
Tate partnerships & programmes
Queen
support: 410 × 330 mm
Presented by Klaus Anschel in memory of his wife Gerty 1997
<p>Hockney's early graphic works, made while he was a student and shortly after he left the
Royal College of Art in the first half of the 1960s, laid the foundations for all his subsequent work. The earliest of these works are full of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/iconography" title="Glossary definition for 'Iconography'"><span>iconographic</span></a> and stylistic experiment and of autobiographical allusions that often refer obliquely to the
artist's homosexuality. In such works, the artist alludes to the people he both admired and desired, often using initials or a simple number code to refer to them. </p><p>In the rare and possibly unique <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etching</span></a> <em>ECR</em>, which dates from
<em>c</em>.1960-2, Hockney juxtaposed the word 'Queen' with the initials 'CR', a reference to the pop singer Cliff Richard, whom he idolised at the time: 'I used to cut out <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photographs</span></a> of him from newspapers and magazines and stick them up around
my little cubicle in the Royal College of Art, partly because other people used to stick up girl pin-ups, and I thought, I'm not going to do that, can't do that, and here's something just as sexy' (Stangos, p.63). Richard was to feature as the
subject of a number of Hockney's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of the period, for example <em>Doll Boy</em>, 1960-1 (private collection), where the singer is shown wearing a dress above the graphic inscription 'Queen'.</p><p><strong>Further reading:</strong><br/>Nikos
Stangos (ed.), <em>David Hockney by David Hockney</em>, London 1976, pp.63, 68</p><p>Terry Riggs<br/>November 1997<!-- end text --></p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Celebrated as a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/pop-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Pop art'"><span>Pop artist</span></a> in the 1960s, David Hockney remains one of the most admired British painters. In his early career he was better known for his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a> than for his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>. He began to make <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etchings</span></a> while a student at the Royal College of Art, when he could not afford paint and the Graphic department gave out free materials. These early prints laid the foundation for much of his  subsequent work. They experiment with various styles. Many of them make oblique references to the artist's homosexuality. Here he has juxtaposed the word 'Queen' with the initials 'CR' which refer to pop singer Cliff Richard, whom he admired  at this time.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-27T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p>An etching with aquatint, possibly made with a soft resist such as sugar lift. Printed in black ink on white wove paper, it is signed in the bottom margin. Structurally the print is in good condition. The paper has discoloured slightly and has water stains along the bottom edge. There is no evidence of previous display.</p><p>Calvin Winner<br/>March 1998<br/>.<br/></p>
Technique and condition
2001-09-05T00:00:00
technique-and-condition
TECHNIQUE_AND_CONDITION_TEXT
abstraction arts and entertainment defacement emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities gestural homosexuality individuals: male inscriptions leisure and pastimes music and entertainment music, pop named individuals name of sitter non-representational people portraits Richard, Cliff sex and relationships singer society symbols and personifications text work and occupations