David HOCKNEY (born in 1937)
See also : UK II Groups Cities Los Angeles Landscape Midi
Chronology : 1966 1967 1969 1970-1979 1971 1972 1988 1990-1999 2006
Chronology : 1966 1967 1969 1970-1979 1971 1972 1988 1990-1999 2006
1965 Pipes and Still Lifes
2019 SOLD for £ 2.7M including premium
In his early art David Hockney acted deliberately as a rebel. His exceedingly naive figures are a response to the abstract minimalism of his friends Kenneth Noland and Frank Stella. The use of cylinders, spheres and cones pushes to the absurd the statements by Cézanne on the geometrical construction of still lifes.
Two paintings made in 1965 illustrate this mood.
Coming from the Stella collection, an acrylic on canvas 122 x 122 cm is titled by mockery A realistic still life. It is estimated £ 1.5M for sale by Christie's in London on March 6, lot 37.
On the theme of the Californian swimming pools, the other example is estimated £ 2.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 5, lot 50. Before it passed in the same auction room on March 7, 2018, I narrated it as follows, taking also as a reference an artwork from his earlier Egyptian series.
David Hockney finishes his art studies in London in 1962. He admires the false childishness of Dubuffet's graphics.
Eager for exotic sensations, he got a mission from Sunday Times magazine for a trip to Egypt in 1963. Excited by local solutions to the problem of water, he painted on his return a Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes where the foreground is invaded by a water pipe. This 183 x 183 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 3.5M including premium by Christie's on February 13, 2013.
Until 1967 the homosexual act will remain a crime in the United Kingdom. To become a leading gay artist, Hockney prefers to leave. In 1964 he arrives in New York where he gets imbued with pop art. In Los Angeles he is enchanted by the atmosphere of freedom, the apparent ease of life, and the tanned bodies of half naked young men at the pool and on the beach.
The acrylic on canvas 183 x 152 cm painted in 1965 that comes for sale has a title is the form of a didactic program : Different kinds of water pouring into a swimming pool, Santa Monica. As in the Pyramids the pipe has the main role in this naive composition without people. Its water flows down to the floor of the pool. In the distance a row of trees benefits from the irrigation.
Shortly afterward the idyllic swimming pools under the Californian sun become the main theme of his art, with now the realism required for the contemplation of men.
RESULTS :
Sotheby's : SOLD for £ 2.7M including premium
Christie's : UNSOLD
Two paintings made in 1965 illustrate this mood.
Coming from the Stella collection, an acrylic on canvas 122 x 122 cm is titled by mockery A realistic still life. It is estimated £ 1.5M for sale by Christie's in London on March 6, lot 37.
On the theme of the Californian swimming pools, the other example is estimated £ 2.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 5, lot 50. Before it passed in the same auction room on March 7, 2018, I narrated it as follows, taking also as a reference an artwork from his earlier Egyptian series.
David Hockney finishes his art studies in London in 1962. He admires the false childishness of Dubuffet's graphics.
Eager for exotic sensations, he got a mission from Sunday Times magazine for a trip to Egypt in 1963. Excited by local solutions to the problem of water, he painted on his return a Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes where the foreground is invaded by a water pipe. This 183 x 183 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 3.5M including premium by Christie's on February 13, 2013.
Until 1967 the homosexual act will remain a crime in the United Kingdom. To become a leading gay artist, Hockney prefers to leave. In 1964 he arrives in New York where he gets imbued with pop art. In Los Angeles he is enchanted by the atmosphere of freedom, the apparent ease of life, and the tanned bodies of half naked young men at the pool and on the beach.
The acrylic on canvas 183 x 152 cm painted in 1965 that comes for sale has a title is the form of a didactic program : Different kinds of water pouring into a swimming pool, Santa Monica. As in the Pyramids the pipe has the main role in this naive composition without people. Its water flows down to the floor of the pool. In the distance a row of trees benefits from the irrigation.
Shortly afterward the idyllic swimming pools under the Californian sun become the main theme of his art, with now the realism required for the contemplation of men.
RESULTS :
Sotheby's : SOLD for £ 2.7M including premium
Christie's : UNSOLD
1966 Hidden Hedonism in California
2020 SOLD for £ 24M including premium
In 1964 the young David Hockney searches for a Heaven on earth. His plane flies over San Bernardino. His first vision of California is the pattern of pools hidden behind the bungalows, which allow the residents to discreetly practice all forms of hedonism under the bright sun.
Back in California in 1966, David is very excited by an instantaneous color photo on the cover of a swimming pool construction manual. The foreground is a diving board. The water is agitated by the splash that has just been caused by an invisible diver.
The artist copies the photo into a first painted version, A Little Splash, 40 x 50 cm. The painting liberates the theme from its documentary aspect. This scene where no character is left visible symbolizes with much more power the joy of living. The four edges of the canvas are not painted, in order to imitate the framing of a photo.
The effect is spectacular. David painstakingly executes two large acrylics, The Splash, 183 x 183 cm, before the end of the year, and A Bigger Splash, 242 x 244 cm, in the following year. The artist later had fun reminding that he spent two weeks expressing a splash that could not last more than two seconds.
The Splash was sold for £ 2.9M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2006, a very high price for this artist at that time, and is estimated £ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 11, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Hockney offers in his art an interpretation of his fantasy, without seeking realism. For example, the horizon remains inspired by the photographic model but is extended through the bungalow without it being possible to decide whether it is a perspective or a reflection. A similar surreal illusion appears in a work from the same period, Beverly Hills Housewife, sold for $ 7.9M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2009.
A minimalist architecture better represents Californian homes. The roof in The Splash, still in conformance with the photo from the swimming pool marketing, is indeed too classic. It will be removed in the Bigger Splash and the BH Housewife paintings.
Back in California in 1966, David is very excited by an instantaneous color photo on the cover of a swimming pool construction manual. The foreground is a diving board. The water is agitated by the splash that has just been caused by an invisible diver.
The artist copies the photo into a first painted version, A Little Splash, 40 x 50 cm. The painting liberates the theme from its documentary aspect. This scene where no character is left visible symbolizes with much more power the joy of living. The four edges of the canvas are not painted, in order to imitate the framing of a photo.
The effect is spectacular. David painstakingly executes two large acrylics, The Splash, 183 x 183 cm, before the end of the year, and A Bigger Splash, 242 x 244 cm, in the following year. The artist later had fun reminding that he spent two weeks expressing a splash that could not last more than two seconds.
The Splash was sold for £ 2.9M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2006, a very high price for this artist at that time, and is estimated £ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 11, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Hockney offers in his art an interpretation of his fantasy, without seeking realism. For example, the horizon remains inspired by the photographic model but is extended through the bungalow without it being possible to decide whether it is a perspective or a reflection. A similar surreal illusion appears in a work from the same period, Beverly Hills Housewife, sold for $ 7.9M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2009.
A minimalist architecture better represents Californian homes. The roof in The Splash, still in conformance with the photo from the swimming pool marketing, is indeed too classic. It will be removed in the Bigger Splash and the BH Housewife paintings.
1966-1967 David Hockney meets the Housewife of Beverly Hills
2009 SOLD 7.9 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
David Hockney is known for his paintings of large size that represent the villas and swimming pools in California. He is one of the artists of the Pop Art. His geometric figures make of his work a following of classic architectural drawings, but his purpose is art and not construction.
He thus became a witness to the lifestyle of the owners of Beverly Hills. Incidentally, it was clever from this young British to go there to excite the dream of life of the wealthy Californian establishment. In 1966-1967, he painted as a diptych the "Beverly Hills Housewife," with total dimensions of 3.6 x 1.8 m. The villa is the main topic. The terrace is sunny, an empty lounge chair is waiting for a visitor. An alignment of windows gives an idea of the depth of the building. But the focal point is the lady of the house welcoming us in a long pink dress.
A rare interest in this work is that it demonstrates the meeting between the artist and his collector, Betty Freeman, who kept the painting. It is the top lot of her collection, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, and is estimated $ 7 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
Christie's sold there an artwork that was very important in the career of the artist, and of very large size. The success came, for $ 7.9 million including expenses.
The lower estimate, which I once saw at $ 7 million, had been cautiously confirmed at $ 6 million. The market, much looking for vendors, did not hesitate to exceed this estimate.
David Hockney is known for his paintings of large size that represent the villas and swimming pools in California. He is one of the artists of the Pop Art. His geometric figures make of his work a following of classic architectural drawings, but his purpose is art and not construction.
He thus became a witness to the lifestyle of the owners of Beverly Hills. Incidentally, it was clever from this young British to go there to excite the dream of life of the wealthy Californian establishment. In 1966-1967, he painted as a diptych the "Beverly Hills Housewife," with total dimensions of 3.6 x 1.8 m. The villa is the main topic. The terrace is sunny, an empty lounge chair is waiting for a visitor. An alignment of windows gives an idea of the depth of the building. But the focal point is the lady of the house welcoming us in a long pink dress.
A rare interest in this work is that it demonstrates the meeting between the artist and his collector, Betty Freeman, who kept the painting. It is the top lot of her collection, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, and is estimated $ 7 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
Christie's sold there an artwork that was very important in the career of the artist, and of very large size. The success came, for $ 7.9 million including expenses.
The lower estimate, which I once saw at $ 7 million, had been cautiously confirmed at $ 6 million. The market, much looking for vendors, did not hesitate to exceed this estimate.
1969 Curator and Partner
2019 SOLD for £ 38M including premium
Looking for sexual freedom, David Hockney arrives in California in 1964. The easy life nevertheless does not answer his questioning about communication within a couple.
Between 1968 and 1977 he makes double portraits in very large format, 214 x 305 cm. He alternates between homosexual and heterosexual couples and ends the series with his own parents, clearly assessing that his concern is no longer sex but dialogue. The sitters are most often identified in the title and are very recognizable.
Invariably the two characters are distant from each other with a deliberately orthogonal gazing. In this strange intimacy, the painter is an invisible social voyeur.
Installed again in London in 1968, he does not neglect America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is preparing a major exhibition that will reveal post-war American art to the general public. The curator of this important cultural operation is the highly influential Henry Geldzahler.
Hockney arrives in Geldzahler's living room in Manhattan with his sketchbook, polaroid camera and flu. Back in his studio in London, he paints in 1969 'Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott'. This acrylic on canvas will be sold by Christie's in London on March 6, lot 8. The December 17 press release announces an estimate in excess of £ 30M.
The two men could not be more dissimilar and yet their life as a couple is sustainable. Robust and confident in himself, Geldzahler is comfortably seated in the middle of a beautiful sofa worthy of the greatest Art Deco collections. On the right, his young partner is standing, dressed in a raincoat too big for him and as stiff as the floor lamp. The scene is located by the skyscrapers beyond the small window.
Between 1968 and 1977 he makes double portraits in very large format, 214 x 305 cm. He alternates between homosexual and heterosexual couples and ends the series with his own parents, clearly assessing that his concern is no longer sex but dialogue. The sitters are most often identified in the title and are very recognizable.
Invariably the two characters are distant from each other with a deliberately orthogonal gazing. In this strange intimacy, the painter is an invisible social voyeur.
Installed again in London in 1968, he does not neglect America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is preparing a major exhibition that will reveal post-war American art to the general public. The curator of this important cultural operation is the highly influential Henry Geldzahler.
Hockney arrives in Geldzahler's living room in Manhattan with his sketchbook, polaroid camera and flu. Back in his studio in London, he paints in 1969 'Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott'. This acrylic on canvas will be sold by Christie's in London on March 6, lot 8. The December 17 press release announces an estimate in excess of £ 30M.
The two men could not be more dissimilar and yet their life as a couple is sustainable. Robust and confident in himself, Geldzahler is comfortably seated in the middle of a beautiful sofa worthy of the greatest Art Deco collections. On the right, his young partner is standing, dressed in a raincoat too big for him and as stiff as the floor lamp. The scene is located by the skyscrapers beyond the small window.
1971 Estrangement
2019 SOLD for $ 29.5M including premium
In 1966 Peter Schlesinger is attending a drawing class in Los Angeles. For this session, the teacher is David Hockney, an eccentric Brit with a tomato red suit, cardboard glasses and a terrible Yorkshire accent. It's love at first sight.
Their life as a couple lasts several years, with social gatherings and travels. The age difference is too much and Peter needs new adventures. They start arguing.
In February 1971 the couple rents a hotel room in Marrakech. David sketches his friend, sometimes from behind, on the large sunny terrace. in the following month, back in his studio, David feels that Peter escapes him. He paints Sur la Terrasse (the title is in French), which he will finish during the summer.
Sur la Terrasse is a staging in three successive distances in the manner of Bonnard's terraces. In the background, the morning sun bathes the lush vegetation. The middle stage is the terrace on which Peter, seen from behind, is standing and looks at the garden. The foreground is the opening of the window from where we imagine that David is observing Peter.
At this time David works in the presence of Jack Hazan for preparing a biopic. The moviemaker has thus the chance to attend during the long period when the artist cannot overcome his first heartbreak. Hazan will also record in 1972 the preparation of Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) on the theme of Peter's interest in another man.
Sur la Terrasse had not been displayed to the public since 1973. This 275 x 214 cm acrylic on canvas is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 13, lot 9 B. Portrait of an artist was sold for $ 90M including premium by Christie's on November 15, 2018. The biopic A Bigger Splash was released in 1974.
Their life as a couple lasts several years, with social gatherings and travels. The age difference is too much and Peter needs new adventures. They start arguing.
In February 1971 the couple rents a hotel room in Marrakech. David sketches his friend, sometimes from behind, on the large sunny terrace. in the following month, back in his studio, David feels that Peter escapes him. He paints Sur la Terrasse (the title is in French), which he will finish during the summer.
Sur la Terrasse is a staging in three successive distances in the manner of Bonnard's terraces. In the background, the morning sun bathes the lush vegetation. The middle stage is the terrace on which Peter, seen from behind, is standing and looks at the garden. The foreground is the opening of the window from where we imagine that David is observing Peter.
At this time David works in the presence of Jack Hazan for preparing a biopic. The moviemaker has thus the chance to attend during the long period when the artist cannot overcome his first heartbreak. Hazan will also record in 1972 the preparation of Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) on the theme of Peter's interest in another man.
Sur la Terrasse had not been displayed to the public since 1973. This 275 x 214 cm acrylic on canvas is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 13, lot 9 B. Portrait of an artist was sold for $ 90M including premium by Christie's on November 15, 2018. The biopic A Bigger Splash was released in 1974.
1972 A Nest for Two Boys
2018 SOLD for $ 90M including premium
David Hockney reaches his paradise on Earth in 1964. In Los Angeles the sky and the water of the pools are blue in different shades to which the midday sun brings a perfect purity. This atmosphere exacerbates his homosexual sensibility. Peter Schlesinger becomes his lover and muse in 1966.
David sees by chance on the floor of his studio the conjunction of two photographs that can constitute a scene : a swimmer under water and a standing boy watching something in the distance. The relationship between two men has always been one of his favorite themes. He has just found a way to express his affair with Peter.
It is not so easy for this hypersensitive artist. He destroys a first version. The sudden break between the lovers occurs around that time. In the spring of 1972 David leaves with two assistants to take photographs in a house of director Tony Richardson named Le Nid du Duc in the countryside above Saint-Tropez. During the summer of 1969 David and Peter had spent a few happy days at that place.
A photograph of the swimmer suits him. It will not be a self-portrait in the picture. For the properly dressed observer who will be standing up by the pool, he finds in his archives some photographs of the real Peter, as if David now agreed to entrust Peter to an unidentifiable swimmer.
The acrylic on canvas 213 x 305 cm painted in 1972 is titled Portrait of an Artist and subtitled Pool with Two Figures. The swimmer is under water and Peter is at the edge of the pool. Although Peter's gaze is directed towards the swimmer, communication between them is impossible.
In 1974 a biopic titled A Bigger Splash tells the story of the breaking up of David and Peter. David plays his own role. The film incorporates sequences that had been shot during the preparation of the Portrait of an Artist. The mix of emotion and real intimacy makes A Bigger Splash a cult film of the gay communities, to the point of shocking David himself. He will change his mind later.
This painting will be sold by Christie's in New York on November 15 as lot 9 C. The press release of September 13 announces an estimate in the region of $ 80M. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house including sequences from the movie.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use.
David sees by chance on the floor of his studio the conjunction of two photographs that can constitute a scene : a swimmer under water and a standing boy watching something in the distance. The relationship between two men has always been one of his favorite themes. He has just found a way to express his affair with Peter.
It is not so easy for this hypersensitive artist. He destroys a first version. The sudden break between the lovers occurs around that time. In the spring of 1972 David leaves with two assistants to take photographs in a house of director Tony Richardson named Le Nid du Duc in the countryside above Saint-Tropez. During the summer of 1969 David and Peter had spent a few happy days at that place.
A photograph of the swimmer suits him. It will not be a self-portrait in the picture. For the properly dressed observer who will be standing up by the pool, he finds in his archives some photographs of the real Peter, as if David now agreed to entrust Peter to an unidentifiable swimmer.
The acrylic on canvas 213 x 305 cm painted in 1972 is titled Portrait of an Artist and subtitled Pool with Two Figures. The swimmer is under water and Peter is at the edge of the pool. Although Peter's gaze is directed towards the swimmer, communication between them is impossible.
In 1974 a biopic titled A Bigger Splash tells the story of the breaking up of David and Peter. David plays his own role. The film incorporates sequences that had been shot during the preparation of the Portrait of an Artist. The mix of emotion and real intimacy makes A Bigger Splash a cult film of the gay communities, to the point of shocking David himself. He will change his mind later.
This painting will be sold by Christie's in New York on November 15 as lot 9 C. The press release of September 13 announces an estimate in the region of $ 80M. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house including sequences from the movie.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use.
1978 Paper Pulps by Hockney
2018 SOLD for $ 11.7M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
In 1978 David Hockney returned to California to settle there on a lasting basis. Passing through New York, he worked for six weeks with Ken Tyler to experiment artistic creation with colored pulp of paper that this papermaker-printer had invented for Ellsworth Kelly.
The artist uses a ladle to pour the wet pulp in metal molds partitioned to create simple figures. The work is adjusted by hand after removing the molds, before being pressed flat. Each image is unique, like the monotypes of the old days.
Hockney executed two series of paper pulps with Tyler. The earlier, to try the technique, is on the theme of sunflowers. Then the Paper Pools, for which he juxtaposes several shades of blue, are displaying swimming pools, most often with a springboard. Steps with shadow (Paper Pool 2), 130 x 85 cm, appears to be still experimental. It was sold for $ 2.4M including premium by Sotheby's on May 17, 2019, lot 140.
He designs his Paper Pools as assemblies of independently prepared elements. The junctions are visible. With this technique, he produced two large format artworks with twelve elements, the Paper Pools 18 and 27, 183 x 434 cm each.
Here are three results including premium for works in format 183 x 217 cm overall :
Day Pool with Three Blues, Paper Pool 7, in 6 small and 3 larger elements, sold for $ 10.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2019, lot 24 B.
Sprungbrett mit Schatten, Paper Pool 14, in 6 elements, sold for $ 7.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 14 C.
Piscine de Medianoche, Paper Pool 30, in 6 elements, sold for $ 11.7M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 11.
The Paper Pool series was edited in high quantities in lithography in 1980.
After his 1978 session with Tyler, Hockney will not reuse paper pulp but the fragmentation will certainly inspire his gigantic landscapes in oil on canvas of the 2000s, composed of elements adjusted by computer.
The artist uses a ladle to pour the wet pulp in metal molds partitioned to create simple figures. The work is adjusted by hand after removing the molds, before being pressed flat. Each image is unique, like the monotypes of the old days.
Hockney executed two series of paper pulps with Tyler. The earlier, to try the technique, is on the theme of sunflowers. Then the Paper Pools, for which he juxtaposes several shades of blue, are displaying swimming pools, most often with a springboard. Steps with shadow (Paper Pool 2), 130 x 85 cm, appears to be still experimental. It was sold for $ 2.4M including premium by Sotheby's on May 17, 2019, lot 140.
He designs his Paper Pools as assemblies of independently prepared elements. The junctions are visible. With this technique, he produced two large format artworks with twelve elements, the Paper Pools 18 and 27, 183 x 434 cm each.
Here are three results including premium for works in format 183 x 217 cm overall :
Day Pool with Three Blues, Paper Pool 7, in 6 small and 3 larger elements, sold for $ 10.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2019, lot 24 B.
Sprungbrett mit Schatten, Paper Pool 14, in 6 elements, sold for $ 7.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 14 C.
Piscine de Medianoche, Paper Pool 30, in 6 elements, sold for $ 11.7M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 11.
The Paper Pool series was edited in high quantities in lithography in 1980.
After his 1978 session with Tyler, Hockney will not reuse paper pulp but the fragmentation will certainly inspire his gigantic landscapes in oil on canvas of the 2000s, composed of elements adjusted by computer.
1988 Artist's Life in Hollywood
2018 SOLD for $ 12.7M including premium
Subjugated by Los Angeles, David Hockney had been living since 1979 in a luxurious house on Montcalm Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. Always ready to exhibit his private life, he painted in 1988 two views of his living room sunlit by a glass roof. Large Interior offers the perspective of a fish-eye photo while Montcalm Interior with Two Dogs recreates the natural perspective.
These two works are inspired directly from the Matisse interiors by the use of pure colors, the presence of large striated surfaces and the visibility on the outside surrounding through a veranda.
The geometric arrangement of the furniture is elegant, confirming that this comfortable home is inhabited normally. Two elements remind the personality of David Hockney. The back wall is covered with his own works to help maintaining his self-satisfaction. In the view with the dogs, the piano reduced to a flying carcass is rendered useless by the increasing deafness of the artist.
Montcalm Interior with Two Dogs, oil on canvas 183 x 152 cm, is estimated $ 9M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 14, lot 17. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
These two works are inspired directly from the Matisse interiors by the use of pure colors, the presence of large striated surfaces and the visibility on the outside surrounding through a veranda.
The geometric arrangement of the furniture is elegant, confirming that this comfortable home is inhabited normally. Two elements remind the personality of David Hockney. The back wall is covered with his own works to help maintaining his self-satisfaction. In the view with the dogs, the piano reduced to a flying carcass is rendered useless by the increasing deafness of the artist.
Montcalm Interior with Two Dogs, oil on canvas 183 x 152 cm, is estimated $ 9M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 14, lot 17. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1990 With Wagner on the Highway
2018 SOLD for $ 28.5M including premium
David Hockney has his studio in Santa Monica. In the mid afternoon he returns home to Hollywood Hills by the Pacific Coast Highway. The journey is long and repetitive. In 1990 he prepares a 90-minute tape of Wagner's music on a rhythm that matches the immutable sequence of the visited landscape.
He installs a control panel and twelve speakers in his vintage red convertible Mercedes. He names My Wagner Drive this unprecedented audio-landscape work that has no meaning outside his usual transit on the highway.
At that time Hockney is not very active in his main occupation as a graphic artist. He wants his art to be happy but many of his friends are dying of AIDS. Wagner's road helps him against his doubts.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm painted in 1990, lot 21 estimated $ 20M.
This painting is an accumulation of rare colors in closed surfaces. Its naive geometric composition meets the taste of the classical Chinese landscape that brings together several observation points for a more spectacular effect, in opposition to works inspired by photography. The winding road is the only evidence of a human intervention.
Later in a trend towards monumental painting, Hockney will divide the landscape into a grid of autonomous canvases, confirming that even when his subject is unique his point of observation is not. Painted in 1998 the 169 x 167 cm view of the Grand Canyon is an example of this once again unconventional phase. This study in fifteen parts was sold for £ 6M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017.
He installs a control panel and twelve speakers in his vintage red convertible Mercedes. He names My Wagner Drive this unprecedented audio-landscape work that has no meaning outside his usual transit on the highway.
At that time Hockney is not very active in his main occupation as a graphic artist. He wants his art to be happy but many of his friends are dying of AIDS. Wagner's road helps him against his doubts.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm painted in 1990, lot 21 estimated $ 20M.
This painting is an accumulation of rare colors in closed surfaces. Its naive geometric composition meets the taste of the classical Chinese landscape that brings together several observation points for a more spectacular effect, in opposition to works inspired by photography. The winding road is the only evidence of a human intervention.
Later in a trend towards monumental painting, Hockney will divide the landscape into a grid of autonomous canvases, confirming that even when his subject is unique his point of observation is not. Painted in 1998 the 169 x 167 cm view of the Grand Canyon is an example of this once again unconventional phase. This study in fifteen parts was sold for £ 6M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017.
2006 Back to Yorkshire
2016 SOLD for $ 11.7M including premium
David Hockney lives between England and California. He began his artistic career at the time of Pop Art and showed private residences in Los Angeles with their swimming pools and their owners.
He is an unsatisfied photographer. The wide-angle lens distorts reality and breaks the grandeur of a landscape. He restores his emotional perception with photomontages of multiple elements.
In 2005 Hockney retrieves his childhood memories in East Yorkshire, a rural area little affected by modernism. He reinspects Constable and Monet. For nearly four years, he puts his easel at a crossing of roads and observes the changes of the seasons. This series of paintings of Woldgate Woods includes nine opus each one consisting of two rows of three panels.
On November 17 in New York, Sotheby's sells the autumn scenery made in October 2006, an assembly of oils on canvas for an overall 183 x 366 cm, lot 43 estimated $ 9M.
This new theme of the artist culminates in 2007 with the monumental Bigger Trees near Warter, also in Yorkshire, measuring 457 x 1219 cm in 50 panels.
These gigantic mural reconstructions of a landscape as seen through windows in a showroom appeal to the public. A snowy mountain 300 x 873 cm painted in 2013 in eight panels by Cui Ruzhuo was sold for HK $ 306M including premium by Poly on April 4, 2016.
He is an unsatisfied photographer. The wide-angle lens distorts reality and breaks the grandeur of a landscape. He restores his emotional perception with photomontages of multiple elements.
In 2005 Hockney retrieves his childhood memories in East Yorkshire, a rural area little affected by modernism. He reinspects Constable and Monet. For nearly four years, he puts his easel at a crossing of roads and observes the changes of the seasons. This series of paintings of Woldgate Woods includes nine opus each one consisting of two rows of three panels.
On November 17 in New York, Sotheby's sells the autumn scenery made in October 2006, an assembly of oils on canvas for an overall 183 x 366 cm, lot 43 estimated $ 9M.
This new theme of the artist culminates in 2007 with the monumental Bigger Trees near Warter, also in Yorkshire, measuring 457 x 1219 cm in 50 panels.
These gigantic mural reconstructions of a landscape as seen through windows in a showroom appeal to the public. A snowy mountain 300 x 873 cm painted in 2013 in eight panels by Cui Ruzhuo was sold for HK $ 306M including premium by Poly on April 4, 2016.
