This time, it’s specialist Grace Brown taking on 50 questions about one of Britain’s most important and beloved artists: David Hockney. There’s The Arrival of Spring, The Weather Series, A Hollywood Collection, The Blue Guitar and plenty more along the way, plus the Hockney Grace would buy with £30,000, the one she’d rescue from a burning building, and the work she’d keep forever if she could never sell it.
Q: First Hockney you ever sold?
Q: First Hockney you ever fell in love with?
Pearblossom Highway.
Q: California or Yorkshire?
California.
Q: Pools or landscapes?
Pools.
Q: Can Spring be cancelled?
No.
Q: The Arrival of Spring or Yosemite?
Q: The Hollywood Collection or The Blue Guitar?
The Hollywood Collection, definitely.
Q: iPad drawings or traditional printmaking?
Traditional printmaking.
Q: Best value Hockney today?
One of the home-made prints, maybe Still Life With Curtains.
Q: Is A Bigger Splash actually his greatest work?
It's one of them, but I think when Hockney died the one that I saw most on Instagram was the Portrait of Two People in a Pool.
Q: Favourite of Arrival of Spring?
I think it's the 11th of May. Purple reflections. Beautiful.
Q: Which Hockney series changed his market forever?
The Arrival of Spring.
Q: Which Hockney series deserves more attention?
I think his Friends, the lithographs from the 70s they're kind of an undervalued area in his market at the moment.
Q: Which Hockney print is hardest to find?
Q: Which Hockney always sells?
Q: Which Hockney do collectors ask for most?
Either Pool Made With Paper And Blue Ink or one of The Weather Series may be Sun or Snow.
Q: Which Hockney surprises collects the most?
Potentially the Yosemite series. I think people don't realise how big they are.
Q: Which Hockney is harder to replace than its price would suggest?
I think that's really interesting one, and I think it would be one of the full portfolios. So, although they command a premium The Blue Guitar, The Hollywood Collection, I think finding them all together in good condition is really difficult.
Q: Which Hockney should be worth more?
Maybe The Artist and Model.
Q: Why?
It's one of my favourites and I just think it's got Picasso and Hockney in it, and it just sums up for me Hockney's career.
Q: Hockney's glasses or Hockney's cigarettes?
Hockney's glasses.
Q: Most underrated Hockley print?
Maybe one of the Grimm's fairytales tales. The single plates.
Q: Biggest myth about collecting Hockney?
That it's all too expensive.
Q: Biggest mistake Hockney collectors make?
Buying works that aren't signed.
Q: First thing you look at when someone sends you a Hockney?
Signature, numbering, date.
Q: Auction or private sale?
Private sale.
Q: Signed or unsigned?
Signed.
Q: Does addition number matter?
Sometimes.
Q: Most difficult Hockney to value?
Very good question. I honestly think The Arrival of Spring is up there because of the diversity of the results that we've seen at auction.
Q: Rarest Hockney you've ever handled?
A work on paper inspired by The Hollywood Collection. It was part print, part drawing by the artist. So, it's a unique work on paper, but also with printed elements.
Q: If you have £30,000 to spend today, what would you buy?
I think I'd just be able to get a wind potentially from The Weather Series so, I probably go for that one. I'd be pushing it though.
Q: Lightning or Rain?
Rain.
Q: Sun or Snow?
Sun.
Q: And if money was no object, what would you buy?
Q: Why?
It's big, it's beautiful, it's colourful. It uses Hockney's kind of varied perspectives and I just think it would look amazing in my flat.
Q: Which Hockney belongs in every serious collection?
I'd probably say Tyler Dining Room.
Q: Which Hockney would you rescue first from a burning building?
Afternoon Swimming.
Q: Which Hockney would you want to wake up to every morning?
Sun.
Q: David Hockney in three words?
Innovative. Colourful. Bold.
Q: Painter, draughtsman or printmaker?
Depends who you ask, but printmaker.
Q: What makes a Hockney instantly recognisable?
Unique perspectives.
Q: Which person did Hockney draw best?
I think you'd have to say Celia.
Q: What's the happiest Hockney?
I like Man Looking For Glasses. I think that's fun. But I think Sun makes me feel happy.
Q: You can own one Hockney portrait that doesn't exist who's sitting for you?
Maybe Warhol. That could be fun. Or Bowie.
Q: Would you ever say you?
Oh yeah, that's a great answer. Me!
Q: You're allowed to keep one Hockney forever, but can never sell it. What are you taking?
Tyler Dining Room.
Q: Freud drawing Hockney or Hockney drawing Freud?
Hockney drawing Freud.
Q: Banksy's rats or Hockney's dachshunds?
Hockney's dachshunds.
Q: Favourite photo collage?
Pearblossom Highway. Isn't an edition, but is technically a photo collage.
Q: What has Hockney left us?
The most amazing creative legacy which transcends medium, place, time.
