Portrait Of Mother I
Signed Print

An old woman sits in a high backed armchair covered in a verdant pattern. Wearing an ivy green cardigan and frilled collar, her hair is white and her skin flushed with a deep rosy pink. Her hands are clasped upwards, lying in the grey lap of her skirt. Her eyes seem to sparkle as she meets the artist – and viewer’s – gaze squarely. The title informs us this is the artist’s mother whose likeness he captured many times across his career, from sketches to photographs to paintings, along with his father. This is one of two portraits of Mrs Hockney in the Moving Focus series and the more traditional one compared to Portrait Of Mother II which shows the Cubist influence of the portfolio more strongly. The present work more closely recalls the style of Celia with Green Hat, embracing naturalism and yet exaggerated in terms of tone. Spanning 1984 to 1986 this series brings together a number of lithographs that saw Hockney push the boundaries of the medium, from crayon like drawings such as this to more elaborate Cubist scenes and portraits that feel closer to his paintings.