Henry Reading The Newspaper
Signed Print

With Henry Reading the Newspaper we see Hockney playing with the possibilities of lithography to produce a looser, sketchier style that is more aligned to his drawings than many of the other prints in this series. Where other portraits of Henry Geldzahler in the portfolio are filled with shaded areas and shadows, this one is almost a line drawing, the details kept to a bare minimum, giving the work an immediacy and dynamism that some of the more polished prints lack, feeling stilled or posed. Here too the chair recedes into the blank background, contrasting with the detailed interiors of prints such as Henry At The Tableand Christopher Isherwood And Don Bachardy where the set is almost as important as the sitter. Geldzahler was a close friend of Hockney’s and this is one of four portraits of him in this portfolio, demonstrating the bond the pair had, and the ease they felt in each other’s company. Here Geldzahler appears to be lost in the act of reading the newspaper, and the pose does not feel artificial or stiff. The artist’s gaze is held lightly as he appears to be interrupting his sitter in a quiet moment of solitude.