Publisher's Synopsis
This volume brings together a substantial selection of the drawings made by David Hockney during visits to Egypt in 1963 and 1978, along with other drawings and prints relating to his interest in Egyptian themes. Hockney was commissioned by "The Sunday Times" to travel to Egypt in order to create a visual diary of his experience there. He saw Cairo and its environs, Alexandria and finally Luxor. He responded to his first experience of the country and its monuments with some of the liveliest and most inventive drawings he had yet made. His contact with the Egyptian civilization left a permanent mark on his subsequent work, encouraging him towards a greater naturalism through direct observation. Just over two years later, in preparation for a set of etchings illustrating the poetry of Constantine Cavafy, he revisited the Middle East, this time traveling to Beirut in search of inspiration for imagery suggestive of eary 20th-century Alexandria. In 1978 he made his second visit, this time with two American friends. On this occasion he travelled to Cairo, Aswan and Luxor, producing sumptuous large-scale views in colour crayon.
