Albert and George Clark
Signed Print

A tender portrait of the children of his close friend and muse Celia Birtwell, Albert and George Clark is a 1979 lithograph from the second portfolio of prints Hockney produced in collaboration with the celebrated Gemini print workshop. The children are depicted in a simple linear style that recalls many of the artist's drawings, with a sepia brown ink that contrasts with the black that tends to dominate the series. They are sitting on a sofa; the smaller child is clutching a striped bear and a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy, and stares straight ahead while his brother is empty handed and turns away from the gaze of the artist. The background is characteristically blank, adding more emphasis on the discomfort of the figures who are evidently unaccustomed to sitting for portraits and appear ready to wriggle out of their poses at any moment. While Hockney is known for his portraits, he rarely chose children as his sitters; here we see his ability to transmit the personality of his subject in the combination of innocence and willfulness that we can detect from the boys’ expressions and body language.