Dog Etching No.7
Signed Print

In Dog Etching No.7 we find one of Hockney’s dachshunds sleeping on a cushion, his face pointing down towards the viewer, his long body curled up in utter comfort and repose. While the subject is still, however, the lines that make up his fur seem to suggest movement and life, conveying the deftness of the artist’s hand working at speed across the etching plate, capturing a rare moment of stillness in the sitter before it’s too late. As with other works in the series, the dog is shown sitting on a plump cushion, whose edge frames the composition. Rendered in monochrome, the work makes up for its lack of colour in its abundance of expression, evoking the special relationship between artist and dog as well as artist and sitter. Here we find Hockney bestowing the kind of attention he usually turned towards his friends and lovers for earlier portrait series, onto his canine cohabitants, letting us into a private domestic sphere and celebrating their constant companionship. A signed etching dating to 1998, this and other works from the series are highly sought after by collectors.