David Hockney The Gospel Singing (Good People) Madison Square Garden (M.C.A.T 15) For Sale

David Hockney’s The Gospel Singing (Good People) Madison Square Gardens, 1963, is a signed, numbered etching, one of the earliest plates from the artist’s 16 part series of etchings, A Rake’s Progress. The Gospel singer in the artwork is famed American gospel vocalist, Mahalla Jackson, who Hockney went to watch performing on Madison Square Gardens during his trip to New York. Hockney’s starting point was the 1753 engraving series by William Hogarth of a privately wealthy dandy, whose life descends into squalor, yet he re-invents the tale to portray a young gay artist visiting New York for the first time in the early 60’s. Although, Hockney insists his ‘Rake’ character ‘isn’t really me’ the story exactly follows his own trials and travails when he spent a summer in New York, whilst a student at Royal College of Art.

Whilst most of the prints in A Rake’s Progress exude the melancholy, isolation and despair associated with the self-disconnection and disenfranchised identity of those who were prohibited from or potentially criminalised for ‘coming out’ at that time, The Gospel Singing (Good People) Madison Square Gardens is one of the most optimistic and joyful editions.

A female gospel singer is based on a woman called Ma placed on a pedestal, standing on a platform, the words ‘Hallelujah’ are joyfully coming from her vocal chords, to an audience cheerfully consuming the gospel music with the words ‘HEAVEN’ in a bold slogan to the right hand side of the print. As if to heighten the passion of the gospel singer, the harmonious melody, and the joyful, communal spirit that gospel music has brought to many marginalised groups, the familiar red ink bubble of this series, is featured above the ‘hallelujah’ motifs.

For all the joy and jubilation, Hockney imbues the print with cynicism and a sense of foreboding: four shadowy figures appear at the front of the image, three with ‘God is Love’ emblazoned on their striped neckties. The figures appear menacing and one cannot ascertain their place in the narrative, yet the ‘God is Love’ slogan reminds us how gospel music began in the 17^th century, as a way to spread the message of God with lyrics heavily influenced by the ancestral music of Africans.

In The Gospel Singing (Good People) Madison Square Gardens, 1963, Hockney depicts his lost young gay ‘Rake’ as finding some moments of inner peace and liberation, amongst the gospel folk. Hockney enables the viewer to find empathy and insight into this young gay artist’s emotional unravelling, as he begins to experience moments of hope along his life path: it is as if the diverse, ‘outsider’ gospel community can bring him emotional comfort.