The Boy Hidden in a Fish

David Hockney had long been enthralled by the Brothers Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The stories are strange and magical, dealing in the mystic and the moral but told in straightforward, simple language. He set about creating 39 etchings that illustrated six stories, including ‘The Little Sea Hare’, from which this work takes its inspiration. In the story, a boy hides from a princess in the belly of a fish to avoid execution. Using his studio assistant as a model, Hockney’s figure exists between peace and fear, an embryonic pose and a sucked thumb bringing his grown body into a childlike pose. In the darkness, the empty stare of a bright white fish and the quietness of a hiding boy seem to speak to eternity, not to death.