.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
David Hockney grew up in the working-class city of Bradford in the north of England, where he struggled to create for himself an environment conducive to art. He attended the local grammar school and then, at sixteen, entered the Bradford School of Art. In 1954, he made his first recorded print — a self-portrait lithograph. Two years after graduation in 1957, Hockney enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London and started etching because, in his words, “I'd run out of money and couldn't buy any paint, and in the graphic department they gave you the material free.”
At the RCA Hockney soon became friends with the American painter R.B. Kitaj, who encouraged him to use his own interests as the subject matter of his art; thus, he began to depict the people, places, and objects that appealed to him, often incorporating literary references into his paintings. All of his portraits, with the exception of one commissioned painting, are close friends or family members with whom he enjoys a loving relationship.
In January of 1973, Hockney made one of his many trips to California and worked at the Gemini studio on a group of lithographs. Celia is a portrait of Hockney’s good friend Celia Birtwell, a textile designer and wife of another familiar sitter, Ossie Clark. This is one of three “Celias’’ executed by Hockney and proofed by the master printer Ken Tyler, who worked with the artist on many of his lithographs. Celia Is seated in a classically modern chair by Marcel Breuer, a favorite Hockney prop. Despite the soft repeated contour lines, she appears as a detached ‘‘cutout’’ applied to the buff sheet. Crayon — used both with great precision and with calligraphic freedom — is combined with a thin wash of lithographic tusche that weightlessly describes her simple dress. In this print, Hockney has looked back toward the nineteenth century not only in his use of traditional techniques but also in his desire to capture with elegance and sensitivity the personality of one of his favorite sitters.
Barbara Stern Shapiro,The Modern Art of the Print: Selections from the Collection of Lois and Michael Torf, p.110
At the RCA Hockney soon became friends with the American painter R.B. Kitaj, who encouraged him to use his own interests as the subject matter of his art; thus, he began to depict the people, places, and objects that appealed to him, often incorporating literary references into his paintings. All of his portraits, with the exception of one commissioned painting, are close friends or family members with whom he enjoys a loving relationship.
In January of 1973, Hockney made one of his many trips to California and worked at the Gemini studio on a group of lithographs. Celia is a portrait of Hockney’s good friend Celia Birtwell, a textile designer and wife of another familiar sitter, Ossie Clark. This is one of three “Celias’’ executed by Hockney and proofed by the master printer Ken Tyler, who worked with the artist on many of his lithographs. Celia Is seated in a classically modern chair by Marcel Breuer, a favorite Hockney prop. Despite the soft repeated contour lines, she appears as a detached ‘‘cutout’’ applied to the buff sheet. Crayon — used both with great precision and with calligraphic freedom — is combined with a thin wash of lithographic tusche that weightlessly describes her simple dress. In this print, Hockney has looked back toward the nineteenth century not only in his use of traditional techniques but also in his desire to capture with elegance and sensitivity the personality of one of his favorite sitters.
Barbara Stern Shapiro,The Modern Art of the Print: Selections from the Collection of Lois and Michael Torf, p.110