Hockney is back at the RA next summer for a major exhibition of his portraits. That's a pretty quick turnaround.

On December 3 2013, I landed at Los Angeles airport and was met by David Hockney’s assistant Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima. He drove us across the city and up into the Hollywood Hills, until eventually, after a long, winding last leg of the journey, we arrived chez Hockney. Almost as soon as I stepped into the studio, where the 78-year-old artist was waiting, we started looking at the new series of pictures on which he had been working for almost two months. They were full-length portraits of sitters of all ages, body types and demeanours, sitting in a rather ordinary yellow chair. The seat itself was in the corner of the room on a low stage, with a curtain behind it. There was already a long row of these portraits hanging on the walls of the studio. It was obvious that Hockney was energised by this new idea, for which he was toying with an overall title: La Comédie humaine. Hockney has a penchant for big, serious books. At the time, he was immersed in Stefan Zweig’s biography of Balzac, hence La Comédie humaine. The portrait sequence, in his mind, was to be a visual survey of mankind equivalent to Balzac’s epic cycle of novels. Hockney is not much of a one for light reading.

Click here for interview: www.telegraph.co.uk/art/artists/david-hockney-interview-your-face-belongs-to-other-people/

A good article. Read it that morning in the Telegraph. Been looking for the right Hockney portrait/self portrait to add to the collection for a while now.

I like Hockney. His LA paintings too. I would definately check out these portraits if I was in London.

Hockney is a genius.

David Hockney discuses his forthcoming show (scroll down to hear the bottom of his page).

And exhibition book available for preorder.

www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/david-hockney-portraits?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=Watch%20video&utm_campaign=David%20Hockney%20%282%29%2017.06.16&emailcode=#video

Cheers for the heads up on this @coach my copy was waiting for when I got home this evening(a week earlier than I expected) Only had a quick glance at it so far and will have to wait until tomorrow evening to digest it properly(England game takes priority tonight)

a few thing to be aware of.
a/ availability
b/ desirability
c/ affordability
d/ affordability...
e/ prov etc generally is not a big issue
f/ cat had one a few months back - fs.

not easy to track them down - at source they do not remain on the books for long.
once sold - they do not tend to leave collectors hands.

plenty of 70's / 80's work around - plenty of photo collage work - to be had - really depends on which period (style / phase..) you have keen eye on.

did you check out the show last year ? you'll have an idea of og prices / print ed and prices then.

hth
..
(still on the look out btw - having managed my first Riley a few months back)...

Romulus

I collect Hockney's works. A well regarded ex-forumite who has now found a home elsewhere asked me a question similar to yours recently and I responded as below:

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I won’t claim to be an expert by any means but here is my take. Hockney was and is a pioneer of art, not simply of painting and drawing, but in how artists gained their inspiration and also, more relevantly to us, printmaking. He is, I believe, one of the most important printmakers of the 20th century and will be remembered as such. His work encompasses screen printing, lithographs, photographic printing, xerox copying, fax machine printing and so much more.

So, with all that having gone on over a fifty year period, there’s a lot to choose from. My rule is, as with all my art… buy what I like but also that which captures what the artist is famous for. In Hockney’s case, my feeling is that this is his use of composition and colour - both in portraiture and figurative work, examples of printing techniques provided they capture the first criteria and - relevantly to your query, water/pools.

Let’s deal with the latter first. I’d delayed getting a Paper Pools for years until I pulled the trigger at Bonhams a while back. To me they are the essential Hockney print. Absolutely identifiable, colourful, wall friendly with lots of blue ripples. There are a thousand of them out there but condition is everything. Inspect carefully as edges could be faded/tattered due to it being a relatively low cost print at source (sound familiar?!). I’d say expect to pay anywhere between £8k and £12k depending on condition and where you buy. (I included that higher figure as I’ve seen some high auction figures recently). I know Dominic Guerrini had one for sale when I bought mine.

Other pools get more expensive. The lithographs of pools with blue and green ink are bigger and from smaller editions and can fetch up to £35k. Likewise his bigger ‘Picasso’ esque prints - things like ‘View from Hotel Well’, ‘Hotel Acatlan’ series are similarly priced. Probably stuff to work towards rather than start with, in my opinion, though they are spectacular pieces and, short of an original, the top of my wish list.

He did some interesting figurative work in the 80’s which is colourful and reasonably accessible price wise. They can be big prints too so you get a lot of bang for your buck on wall space.

Things to avoid? Well, plenty. I wouldn’t touch the Grimms Fairy Tale series with a bargepole, nor The Blue Guitar series. You’ll see these for sale all the time. I simply don’t like them and, to me, they don’t sum up his oeuvre. Likewise, scratchy etchings of boys from the 60’s. There were thousands of them it seems. Look at the quality of the line strokes and judge from there. I’d avoid anything he’s done for Operas and stage design drawings. Not my bag and, again, he was more ‘for hire’ than ‘from the heart’.

I would continue doing your research and look carefully at a Paper Pool. You’ll never go wrong with that print. They come up at auction and prices/condition varies wildly so there’s no rush.

Hope this has helped in some small way and keep me posted on your endeavours.

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best HB

thanks guys for sharing these info, an interesting read for someone like me who has no idea about this artist.

Wow looks amazing. My wife would kill me for this.

Can you link me, Ruggs? I can't see it on the site

Thank you