This exquisite etching by Ian Hornak (1944–2002), titled David and Saul, was executed circa 1963 during the artist’s undergraduate studies. Created during the formative years of Hornak’s artistic development, the composition provides a compelling glimpse into the emerging vision of an artist who would later become one of the pioneering figures of American Photorealism and Hyperrealism. Inspired by the biblical relationship between the young David and King Saul, the etching presents a dramatic and imaginative interpretation of the Old Testament narrative. Hornak depicts David seated beside his harp, accompanied by birds in flight, while the anguished figure of Saul reclines nearby in emotional turmoil. Through expressive line work, dense cross-hatching, and striking contrasts of light and shadow, the composition conveys themes of music, spirituality, and psychological tension. Characteristic of Hornak’s student years, the work demonstrates his early fascination with biblical subjects and his growing ability to combine narrative content with powerful emotional expression. Although created decades before the symbolic and allegorical paintings that brought him international recognition, the etching already reveals his appreciation for classical themes, his command of composition, and his lifelong interest in transforming familiar stories into deeply personal visual statements. As a rare surviving example from his undergraduate years, the work offers valuable insight into the artistic foundations that ultimately led to the philosophical and symbolic masterpieces of his mature career.
Executed in etching on velin Canson et Montgolfier paper, the plate measures 10 x 12 inches (25.4 x 30.48 cm). Unsigned; estate stamped, verso.
Artwork Details:
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944–2002)
Title: David and Saul
Medium: Etching on velin Canson et Montgolfier paper
Dimensions: 10 x 12 inches (25.4 x 30.48 cm) (plate size)
Inscription: Unsigned; estate stamped, verso
Edition: Approx. XXV
Date: Circa 1963
Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium
Provenance: Estate of Ian Hornak, East Hampton, New York
About the Artist:
Ian Hornak (1944–2002) was an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and pioneering force in Photorealism and Hyperrealism whose extraordinary technical mastery, visionary imagination, and innovative approach to realism established him as one of the most distinctive and original artists of the late twentieth century. Widely recognized as a founding member of both the Photorealist and Hyperrealist movements, Hornak helped redefine the possibilities of contemporary realism by combining photographic precision with symbolism, romanticism, mythology, environmental awareness, art historical references, and metaphysical inquiry, creating a body of work that stands apart within postwar American art for both its visual brilliance and intellectual ambition. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Michigan before establishing his career in New York and East Hampton, Hornak emerged during one of the most transformative periods in modern art and developed a highly individual visual language that transcended conventional artistic categories. While many of his contemporaries focused on strict photographic transcription, urban imagery, or detached observation, Hornak utilized realism as a foundation for exploring profound themes of memory, beauty, mortality, spirituality, environmental fragility, and humanity’s relationship with nature, producing works that operate simultaneously as visual spectacles and philosophical meditations.
His artistic vision reflects an awareness of the revolutionary innovations introduced by Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray, while simultaneously drawing inspiration from the Hudson River School, particularly Frederic Edwin Church, Martin Johnson Heade, Thomas Cole, and Albert Bierstadt, as well as the spiritual landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich and the botanical precision of Dutch Golden Age masters such as Jan van Huysum and Rachel Ruysch. Through this extraordinary synthesis of influences, Hornak created a visual language that united scientific observation, photographic realism, romantic grandeur, allegorical symbolism, and philosophical reflection into a form entirely his own.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hornak emerged as one of the earliest artists associated with the newly developing Photorealist movement, producing panoramic landscapes of astonishing complexity and technical sophistication that challenged prevailing assumptions regarding realism and representation. These groundbreaking paintings incorporated the visual effects of multiple-exposure photography, allowing Hornak to present numerous viewpoints, shifting perspectives, and compressed moments in time within a single composition. He was also among the first contemporary artists to extend pictorial imagery beyond the edges of the canvas and onto elaborately painted frames, dissolving the boundary between artwork and object and anticipating later developments in installation art and expanded-field painting.
These innovations earned widespread critical acclaim and positioned Hornak alongside major contemporaries such as Chuck Close, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, Robert Bechtle, Malcolm Morley, Richard McLean, and Don Eddy, yet his work remained distinguished by its emotional resonance, romantic sensibility, and deep engagement with both art history and the natural world.
As his career evolved, Hornak increasingly moved beyond the concerns of mainstream Photorealism and developed a more personal and ambitious artistic vision, culminating in the monumental botanical, allegorical, and symbolic masterpieces of the 1980s and 1990s that many scholars regard as the pinnacle of his achievement. Major works such as Raphael’s Stairway, Echo Loses Narcissus, Hannah’s Mirror, Very Baroque Flowerpiece, and the celebrated Last Song series transformed traditional genres into contemporary meditations on beauty, mortality, history, science, religion, and the cosmos.
Throughout his career, Hornak was represented by influential galleries including Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Fischbach Gallery, Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, and Armstrong Gallery, exhibiting extensively in New York and internationally. His work received praise from The New York Times, which described him as being “right at the top of romantically descriptive painters today.” His paintings entered important private, corporate, and institutional collections, and his reputation has continued to grow through significant posthumous exhibitions at institutions including the Forest Lawn Museum, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, the Anton Art Center, and the Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art.
Today, his paintings, drawings, and prints remain highly sought after by collectors who recognize their rarity, beauty, technical excellence, and historical importance, while his personal papers are preserved in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art, affirming his place within the broader narrative of twentieth-century American art. His highest recorded sale was achieved in 2017, when Large Orchid Bouquet (1988) was sold in a private transaction conducted in association with the heir of the Ian Hornak estate to the Van Andel family, co-owners of Amway, for US$165,000 ($219,168.11 USD, calculated for inflation in 2025), underscoring the growing recognition of an artist whose significance within the history of American realism continues to expand.
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