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>
Mirror Mirror on Wall
Presented by Jonathan Cheshire and Gareth Marshallsea in memory of Peter Coni 1994
actions: postures and motions
adults
beauty
Cavafy, Constantine Peter, ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’
Cavafy, Constantine Peter, ‘The Mirror at the Entrance’
chair
emotions, concepts and ideas
enchantment
fire
furnishings
homosexuality
inscriptions
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
magic and occultism
male
man
mirror
natural phenomena
nudes
objects
people
phrase
poem
reflection
religion and belief
sex and relationships
smoke
Snow White
society
standing
symbols and personifications
tales, legends and traditional
universal concepts
<p>The quotations in this print are from <span>Snow White</span>, the nineteenth-century fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, and <span>The Mirror in the Entrance</span> 1930 by the Greek poet CP Cavafy. Several of Hockney‘s works are inspired by Cavafy’s writing. He is particularly drawn to the poet’s explorations of male beauty and same-sex love, which appear the primary inspiration for this print. On his choice of quotation from Cavafy’s poem, Hockney explained that 'making a mirror have feelings is a wonderful poetic idea that strongly appeals to me'.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2021</em></p>
paper print etching aquatint
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
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
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
image: 405 × 497 mm
Presented by Jonathan Cheshire and Gareth Marshallsea in memory of Peter Coni 1994
<p>Hockney's early graphic works, made both while he was a student and shortly after he
left the Royal College of Art in the early 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. </p><p>The quotations contained in this <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> are taken from two homoerotic poems by C.P. Cavafy, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' and 'The Mirror at the Entrance'. Hockney explained that 'the idea of making a mirror have
feelings is a wonderful poetic idea that strongly appeals to me' (Stangos, p.64). Other works by Hockney which contain references to Cavafy's writings include <em>A Grand Procession of Dignitaries in the Semi-Egyptian Style</em>, 1961 (private
collection) and his major series of etchings, <em>Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy</em>, 1966 (Tate Gallery <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/P77563" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'P77563');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>P77563</span></a>-77575).</p><p><strong>Further reading:</strong><br/>Nikos Stangos (ed.), <em>David Hockney
by David Hockney</em>, London 1976, pp.14, 64, 65, reproduced p.57</p><p>Terry Riggs<br/>November 1997 <!-- end text --></p>
Summary
2004-08-18T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>The quotations in this print are from <i>Snow White</i>, the nineteenth-century fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, and <i>The Mirror in the Entrance</i> 1930 by the Greek poet CP Cavafy.  Several of Hockney‘s works are inspired by Cavafy’s writing. He is particularly drawn to the poet’s explorations of male beauty and same-sex love, which appear the primary inspiration for this print. On his choice of quotation from Cavafy’s poem, Hockney explained that 'making a mirror have feelings is a wonderful poetic idea that strongly appeals to me'.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2021-08-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults beauty Cavafy, Constantine Peter, ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Cavafy, Constantine Peter, ‘The Mirror at the Entrance’ chair emotions, concepts and ideas enchantment fire furnishings homosexuality inscriptions literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) magic and occultism male man mirror natural phenomena nudes objects people phrase poem reflection religion and belief sex and relationships smoke Snow White society standing symbols and personifications tales, legends and traditional universal concepts