LONDON.- This October, Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery unveils Howard Hodgkin: In A Public Garden – the largest institutional exhibition of original prints by the acclaimed British artist to date. Curated by renowned art historian Richard Calvocoressi, this landmark show features around 60 vibrant, emotionally charged prints that span five decades of Hodgkin’s career, from 1966 to 2016.

Installed throughout Pitzhanger’s contemporary gallery and the atmospheric rooms of the historic Manor itself, this retrospective-in-print immerses visitors in Hodgkin’s world of colour, memory, and abstraction. His bold, gestural works – full of nuance and feeling – transform the building into a living canvas of moments remembered and reimagined.

As curator Richard Calvocoressi notes, “In the case of Howard Hodgkin, the term ‘prints’ is perhaps misleading. Many of them were hand-coloured by the artist or his collaborators and come close to being one-offs, like paintings; and as such, they make a powerful impact on their environment. Working from memory and imagination, Hodgkin created images of transience, in which ambiguous, dissolving forms are the pictorial equivalent of an autobiographical sensation or perception. I hope visitors will be both moved and exhilarated by this exhibition.”

Highlights include Venetian Views (1995), a rarely united series of lyrical cityscapes, and Swimming (2011), created for the London 2012 Olympics.

This marks the second time Hodgkin’s work has been exhibited at Pitzhanger. He was drawn to the building’s distinctive light and architecture for a 2009 exhibition – before the major restoration and reopening in 2019 – establishing a meaningful connection with the site that continues today.

A setting steeped in art and architecture, Pitzhanger Manor was the country home of visionary architect Sir John Soane, built between 1800 and 1804. Designed as a showcase for his most experimental ideas, the Manor also has a rich artistic legacy – Soane often welcomed leading artists of the day, including frequent guest and kindred spirit J.M.W. Turner.

Sir Howard Hodgkin was one of Britain’s most important painters and printmakers. Born in London, he studied at Camberwell School of Art and Bath Academy of Art. Throughout his career, Hodgkin developed a distinctive visual language – his works evoke personal memories and emotional states through bold colour, sweeping gestures, and complex layering.

Although his paintings appear spontaneous, they are the product of a meticulous, often lengthy process. In printmaking, he pushed the boundaries of traditional techniques, combining etching, aquatint, and carborundum with hand-painting to produce richly textured, resonant works.

Hodgkin’s art has been the subject of major international exhibitions, including retrospectives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Britain; and the Reina Sofía, Madrid. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1985, represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, and was knighted in 1992.

His paintings and prints are held by most major museums including Tate, London; British Museum, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; MoMA, New York; Carnegie Institute, Pennsylvania; and Louisiana, Denmark.

Howard Hodgkin died aged 84 on 9 March 2017 in London, England.