Celia, Hollywood, May 1984

Details

David Hockney, R.A. (b. 1937)
Celia, Hollywood, May 1984
signed with initials, inscribed and dated 'Celia Hollywood/DH. May 1984.' (lower right)
ink on paper
30 x 22½ in. (76.2 x 57.2 cm.)
Executed in 1984.

Provenance

with André Emmerich Gallery, New York, where acquired by Andy Williams.
His sale; Christie's, New York, 17 July 2013, lot 19.
with Galerie Lelong, Paris, where acquired by the present owner.

Literature

Exhibition catalogue, David Hockney: New Work, New York, André Emmerich Gallery, 1984, n.p., exhibition not numbered, illustrated.
David Hockney: A Chronology, Köln, 2016, p. 342, illustrated.

Exhibited

New York, André Emmerich Gallery, David Hockney: New Work, October - November 1984, exhibition not numbered.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Angus Granlund

agranlund@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3240

Lot Essay

This fine and tender portrait depicts Hockney’s most celebrated female sitter, Celia Birtwell (born 1941). Birtwell is a British textile designer, who, along with her husband Ossie Clark, was at the top of the fashion industry in London in the 'Swinging Sixties', and is most famously represented in Hockney's large double portrait Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 1970-71 (Tate Gallery, London). Hockney has portrayed Celia many times throughout their long and enduring friendship. Although these portraits reflect Hockney's many stylistic changes and technical variations over the years, they consistently capture Birtwell's gentle femininity as well as a hidden steeliness.

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