David Hockney

£2,650-£3,900 VALUE (EST.)

$4,900-$7,000 VALUE (EST.)

$4,450-$6,500 VALUE (EST.)

¥22,000-¥35,000 VALUE (EST.)

€3,000-€4,450 VALUE (EST.)

$26,000-$40,000 VALUE (EST.)

¥430,000-¥630,000 VALUE (EST.)

$3,250-$4,800 VALUE (EST.)

1% AAGR

This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.

Auction Date

Auction House

Artwork

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

September 2021

Skinner, Marlborough - United States

Henry - Signed Print

September 2021

Christie's New York - United States

Henry - Signed Print

March 2020

Christie's London - United Kingdom

Henry - Signed Print

Meaning & Analysis

Henry (1973) is a signed lithograph print by David Hockney produced in collaboration with Gemini G.E.L., a legendary print studio in Los Angeles, where Hockney continued his work throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Portraying his friend, Henry Geldzahler, at three-quarter view, Hockney uses loose washes of colours and allows them to flow down freely across the image. A torrent of delicate white lines covers the sitter’s black collar shirt. Evocative of the view of constellations on a night sky, the patches of white paint against a pitch-black background endow the portrait with an air of solemnity. This impression is enhanced further by Geldzahler’s formal attire including a bowtie and pensive look suggesting a deep absorption in thoughts.

read more about Portraits

Geldzahler and Hockney met at Andy Warhol’s studio in 1963 and remained close over the next twenty years. New York Painting And Sculpture: 1940-1970, a key exhibition in Hockney’s career, was organised by Gelzahler who was the curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1960 until 1977. The range of styles and techniques in which Hockney depicted Geldzahler expanded consistently throughout the years. Looking at the 1973 print alongside Henry Gelzahler And Christopher Scott (1969), Looking At Pictures On A Screen (1977) or The Conversation (1980) offers insight into the close artistic and personal friendship as well as the evolution of Hockney’s idiom as he returned to his favourite subjects.