Quintessential California Modern artist David Hockney depicted his infatuation with Southern California by capturing the coolness of its unique landscape and culture. The pool naturally emerged as the subject of many of his paintings as it epitomized Los Angeles’ leisure lifestyle. In his biography Hockney expressed his fascination with painting water and finding various mediums to portray it. He stated his method of illustrating water was inspired by Jean Dubuffet’s abstract, textured paintings and Bernard Cohen’s Technicolor spaghetti pictures. In 1964 the British-born Hockney moved to Los Angeles and painted his first swimming pool in the February 1964 painting California Art Collector. The fabricated setting of this painting was a result of many inspirations, except for the swimming pool, which came from a swimming pool advertisement in the Los Angeles Times. His subsequent mediums thus included watercolor, pen and ink and Polaroid photo collages. In the aptly named 1980 lithograph, “Lithograph of Water Made of Thick and Thin Lines and a Light Blue Wash and a Dark Blue Wash”, Hockney approaches his usual theme with the initial child-like wonder he had when first arriving in California by employing simple colors and doodle-like squiggles. This particular Hockney oeuvre continues to inspire viewers to fantasize about the idyllic, easy-going California way of living. Hockney, David. David Hockney by David Hockney. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1977
1 David Hockney Lithograph Made of Thick and Thin Lines and a Light Blue and a Dark Blue Wash 1978-80 Lithograph in colors Tyler Graphics Signed and dated lower right; edition lower left #23 of 34 Image 20” x 27.25”; Sheet 26.25” x 34.25”; Framed 28.75” x 37.125” Catalogue raisonne #208 $25,000-30,000
2 David Hockney Untitled (still life) Septemer 1991 Drawing, ink on paper Inscribed “For John Love D.H. Sept 1991” Sheet 11.25” x 17.25” $20,000-30,000