Fires of Furious Desire

Medium: Etching with aquatint on English handmade paper
Year: 1961
Image: 5 1/2 x 11 inches (14×28 cm)
Sheet: 11 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches (28.5 x 39.2 cm)
Edition: 75
Artist’s Proofs: 16
Publisher: Petersburg Press, London
Printer: Maurice Payne, London
Literature: Scottish Arts Council (5), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (5)

Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil, lower edge

“The Fires of Furious Desire is from William Blake—I think Blake’s title is ‘The Flames of Furious Desire’—and it’s a little self-portrait. When I turned a bit against using literary sources for painting for a while, I never gave them up in the prints much. It seemed to me much easier to respond to them in a graphic way; it probably still is.”

DAVID HOCKNEY, 1976, QUOTED IN DAVID HOCKNEY: THE COMPLETE EARLY ETCHINGS, 2017, P. 14

Auction Results

Sotheby’s London: 15 November 2023
Estimated: GBP 5,000 – 7,000
GBP 4,445 / USD 5,553

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Fires of Furious Desire (S.A.C., MCA Tokyo 5), 1961
Etching and aquatint on Crisbrook handmade paper
Signed in pencil, dated and titled
This impression is one of 16 proofs aside from the numbered edition of 75

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Forum Auctions: 12 December 2022
Estimated: GBP 5,000 – 7,000
GBP 9,840 / USD 12,084

DAVID HOCKNEY (b.1937)
Fires of Furious Desire (Scottish Arts Council 5; MCA Tokyo 5), 1961
Etching with aquatint on Crisbrook handmade paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 75 in pencil

Hindman: 12 May 2022
Estimated: USD 6,000 – 8,000
USD 10,625

DAVID HOCKNEY (British, b. 1937)
The Fires of Furious Desire, 1961
Etching and aquatint
Signed, dated, and numbered 3/75 in pencil

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Sotheby’s London: 16 September 2020
Estimated: GBP 5,000 – 7,000
GBP 10,080 / USD 13,085

DAVID HOCKNEY (b.1937)
FIRES OF FURIOUS DESIRE (S.A.C., MCA TOKYO 5), 1961
Etching with aquatint on English handmade paper
Signed in pencil, dated, titled, numbered 61/75