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DAVID HOCKNEY | Chair
Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 USD
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Description
- David Hockney
- Chair
- signed with the artist's initials and dated 76
- colored pencil and graphite on paper
- 13 7/8 by 17 in. 35.2 by 43.2 cm.
Provenance
André Emmerich Gallery, Inc., New York
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1977)
Private Collection, New York (thence by descent from the above)
Christie's, New York, 12 May 2005, Lot 273
Galerie Hopkins Custot, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1977)
Private Collection, New York (thence by descent from the above)
Christie's, New York, 12 May 2005, Lot 273
Galerie Hopkins Custot, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Drawings: 1974-1984, March - May 1984, cat. no. 57, illustrated
Condition
This work is in very good condition overall. The sheet is hinged to the mat on the reverse along all edges and window matted. There is evidence of stray media likely from the time of execution and a few, very minor unobtrusive pinpoint surface accretions, also possibly from the time of execution. Only visible when unframed and underneath the mat, there is some very minor wear and handling to the edges and corners of the sheet. Framed under Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
David Hockney’s renowned artistic practice spans a comprehensive array of media and styles, bespeaking the artist’s unyielding curiosity and wide-ranging technical virtuosity. Despite the constant flow of change in Hockney’s body of work, drawing has been a consistent and integral feature of his creative output, functioning both as a preparatory strategy and finished product. Affording Hockney a singular and elusive creative freedom, “in no other medium that Hockney has employed have style and experimentation, tradition and the unfamiliar, reinforced one another and developed alongside each other as they have in his drawing” (Ulrich Luckhardt, David Hockney: A Drawing Retrospective, San Francisco 1995, p. 13). Hockney’s drawing practice flourished in the 1970s, as his use of colored pencil allowed him to achieve increasingly intricate and vital compositions. Chair and Marinka, from 1976 and 1977 respectively, epitomize the spirit of inquiry and artistic achievements of that period, employing vivid color and a pronounced compositional focus to craft imagery on par with the artist’s most accomplished paintings.
Famously stating “whatever your medium is you have to respond to it,” Hockney’s Chair and Marinka are as much responses to the qualities inherent to drawing, as they are the artist’s personal life and experiences (David Hockney, That’s the Way I See It, London 1993, p. 48). Superlative of the naturalism that preoccupied Hockney’s work throughout the 1970s, the subject of the present works originate from the artist’s life, be it the people he met, places he visited, or media he consumed. Hockney stated, “we can’t all be seeing the same thing; we are all seeing something a bit different” (David Hockney, That’s the Way I See It, London 1993, 14). As both Chair and Marinka come from autobiographical sources, they give unparalleled insight into Hockney’s perspective on the world, underscoring the artist’s ability to make the mundane appear extraordinary.
The personal nature of Hockney’s source imagery, particularly his portraits, lends his work a distinct clarity and intimacy. Throughout decades of debate over the primacy of figuration and abstraction in the art world, portraits, such as Marinka, have endured as a central tenet of Hockney’s oeuvre, and the artist has mastered the form as a means of expression. In fact Hockney’s drawings of Marinka Watts were completed at a time when Hockney, in unity with his friend and fellow artist R.B. Kitaj, began taking a more public stance on the case for the figure in art. Marinka and Hockney were introduced through Hockney’s longtime assistant Mo McDermott, and immediately became friends despite their fifteen-year age difference. The drawings of Marinka, such as the present work, include the only female nudes Hockney created, other than those of Celia Birtwell, one of the most prominent models in his work. As Marinka recalls “We modelled on Sundays. I’d go over there very early and we’d have breakfast and he’d read the papers. The he would start drawing and he wouldn’t stop until he’d finished. He did five drawings, three clothed or semi clothed and two nude. He was very meticulous. I remember he used to peer over his glasses. That was a very particular look” (Christopher Simon Sykes, David Hockney: The Biography, 1975-2012, New York 2014, p. 52)
A passionate student of the canon, especially that of European Modernism, Hockney’s drawings such as Marinka give new context to a lineage of figurative portraiture. In the present work, the subject lies in various stages of completion. Her body is delineated with thick outlines of vibrant turquoise and muted pink, leading up to her face which is built up and amplified with additional contours of orange and red. Despite the lack of naturalistic color in the composition, Hockney’s subject radiates an effervescence and vitality that mimics lived perception. Captured in a state of repose, the subject’s eyes stare out of the picture plane with an assuredness and ease that attests to the trust between the artist and model. Consistent with the artist’s career-long study and use of art historical precedent, Marinka pays homage to the color relationships first employed by the Fauves, and the geometric framework of Cézanne.
Executed in 1976, Chair explores an equally rich arena in Hockney’s oeuvre. As a still life, the composition lacks a corporeal presence, yet the artist treats his subject with the same attention and care he would take with a person in a portrait. Empty chairs are a prominent motif in Hockney’s body of work, and, as Paul Melia writes, that they “are among his favorite subjects does suggest that Hockney is disposed to metonymy” (Paul Melia, David Hockney: A Drawing Retrospective, San Francisco 1995, p. 20). The impression on the cushion and roped backing of the chair act as negative space, implying a former presence that can be perceived without being viewed directly. Rendered with an uncommon pictorial intensity, the empty chair evokes endless narrative possibilities, taking on a spirit and character more commonly associated with portraiture than still life.
Hockney’s drawings from the 1970s are uncompromising in their immediacy, recontextualizing seemingly quotidian scenes so that they overflow with an indelible sense of life. The present works offer access to Hockney's creative process and conceptual framework, synthesizing his range of influences and experimental approaches into fully resolved images. Acting as testaments to Hockney’s superlative draftsmanship, Chair and Marinka are records of the artist’s lived experience, affording the rare opportunity to see as the artist sees.
Famously stating “whatever your medium is you have to respond to it,” Hockney’s Chair and Marinka are as much responses to the qualities inherent to drawing, as they are the artist’s personal life and experiences (David Hockney, That’s the Way I See It, London 1993, p. 48). Superlative of the naturalism that preoccupied Hockney’s work throughout the 1970s, the subject of the present works originate from the artist’s life, be it the people he met, places he visited, or media he consumed. Hockney stated, “we can’t all be seeing the same thing; we are all seeing something a bit different” (David Hockney, That’s the Way I See It, London 1993, 14). As both Chair and Marinka come from autobiographical sources, they give unparalleled insight into Hockney’s perspective on the world, underscoring the artist’s ability to make the mundane appear extraordinary.
The personal nature of Hockney’s source imagery, particularly his portraits, lends his work a distinct clarity and intimacy. Throughout decades of debate over the primacy of figuration and abstraction in the art world, portraits, such as Marinka, have endured as a central tenet of Hockney’s oeuvre, and the artist has mastered the form as a means of expression. In fact Hockney’s drawings of Marinka Watts were completed at a time when Hockney, in unity with his friend and fellow artist R.B. Kitaj, began taking a more public stance on the case for the figure in art. Marinka and Hockney were introduced through Hockney’s longtime assistant Mo McDermott, and immediately became friends despite their fifteen-year age difference. The drawings of Marinka, such as the present work, include the only female nudes Hockney created, other than those of Celia Birtwell, one of the most prominent models in his work. As Marinka recalls “We modelled on Sundays. I’d go over there very early and we’d have breakfast and he’d read the papers. The he would start drawing and he wouldn’t stop until he’d finished. He did five drawings, three clothed or semi clothed and two nude. He was very meticulous. I remember he used to peer over his glasses. That was a very particular look” (Christopher Simon Sykes, David Hockney: The Biography, 1975-2012, New York 2014, p. 52)
A passionate student of the canon, especially that of European Modernism, Hockney’s drawings such as Marinka give new context to a lineage of figurative portraiture. In the present work, the subject lies in various stages of completion. Her body is delineated with thick outlines of vibrant turquoise and muted pink, leading up to her face which is built up and amplified with additional contours of orange and red. Despite the lack of naturalistic color in the composition, Hockney’s subject radiates an effervescence and vitality that mimics lived perception. Captured in a state of repose, the subject’s eyes stare out of the picture plane with an assuredness and ease that attests to the trust between the artist and model. Consistent with the artist’s career-long study and use of art historical precedent, Marinka pays homage to the color relationships first employed by the Fauves, and the geometric framework of Cézanne.
Executed in 1976, Chair explores an equally rich arena in Hockney’s oeuvre. As a still life, the composition lacks a corporeal presence, yet the artist treats his subject with the same attention and care he would take with a person in a portrait. Empty chairs are a prominent motif in Hockney’s body of work, and, as Paul Melia writes, that they “are among his favorite subjects does suggest that Hockney is disposed to metonymy” (Paul Melia, David Hockney: A Drawing Retrospective, San Francisco 1995, p. 20). The impression on the cushion and roped backing of the chair act as negative space, implying a former presence that can be perceived without being viewed directly. Rendered with an uncommon pictorial intensity, the empty chair evokes endless narrative possibilities, taking on a spirit and character more commonly associated with portraiture than still life.
Hockney’s drawings from the 1970s are uncompromising in their immediacy, recontextualizing seemingly quotidian scenes so that they overflow with an indelible sense of life. The present works offer access to Hockney's creative process and conceptual framework, synthesizing his range of influences and experimental approaches into fully resolved images. Acting as testaments to Hockney’s superlative draftsmanship, Chair and Marinka are records of the artist’s lived experience, affording the rare opportunity to see as the artist sees.