Vertical Dogs
Signed Print

Vertical Dogs is a signed aquatint by David Hockney from 1995. Showing his two beloved dachshunds, Stanley and Boodgie, sleeping on a cushion, the portrait is an intimate representation of the relationship between man and dog. While he is not present, the artist’s loving gaze can be felt in the tenderness of the dogs’ portrayal. In later etchings of the dogs Hockney uses mark making to convey the wiriness of the dogs’ fur, but here, with the use of aquatint, their coats have been smoothed into a flat plane of brick red which contrasts beautifully with the blue of their cushion. They are outlined in black ink, in loose brushstrokes that delineate their features and paws with impressive economy. Hockney first started drawing dogs in 1987 when he adopted his first pair of dachshunds. What began as a casual drawing exercise soon became a series of tender portraits that are now an important part of his oeuvre, representing not just his love for these animals, which he thought of as ‘little people’, but also his grief over the loss of numerous friends and lovers to the AIDS crisis.