Name: Henry
Brand: David Hockney
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of David Hockney's Henry (signed), a lithograph from 1973, is estimated to be worth between £1,750 and £2,600. This artwork has shown consistent value growth, with an auction history of seven total sales since its entry to the market in March 2020. The hammer price over the past 12 months has ranged from £1,600 in September 2024 to £2,600 in November 2023. The average annual growth rate of this work is currently at -8%. This piece is part of a limited edition of 50 and would make a valuable addition to any collection.

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.

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.