{"id":625131,"date":"2026-09-15T06:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/625131\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:52:10","slug":"david-hockney-portraits-in-print-reveals-lesser-known-aspects-of-the-celebrated-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/625131\/","title":{"rendered":"David Hockney: Portraits in Print reveals lesser-known aspects of the celebrated artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first fell under the spell of David Hockney\u2019s prints as a student of printmaking and life drawing. Australia had been my home for only a few years and I found a key to my experience of movement and growth in the series A Rake\u2019s Progress<\/a> (1961\u201363), completed after Hockney\u2019s first journey from London to New York and back. <\/p>\n

There was something about images such as The Arrival \u2013 with its promise of a new world, etched in floral plumes of red ink and spidery black lines dancing on the edge of incoherence \u2013 that felt so familiar.<\/p>\n

This feeling of familiarity resurfaced as I stepped into David Hockney: Portraits in Print at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), which features images from that early series of etchings among more than 50 works.<\/p>\n

Opening in the wake of Hockney\u2019s death in June<\/a>, Portraits in Print is an affectionately curated snapshot of three decades in Hockney\u2019s six-decade career.<\/p>\n

This is not the only Hockney show in Australia this year, with an \u201cimmersive\u201d presentation of his work<\/a> opening in Sydney in October. But Portraits in Print reveals a lesser-known side to an artist famous for colourful, light-filled paintings, such as Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)<\/a> and the 1960s Splash<\/a> trio.<\/p>\n

\"Framed<\/p>\n

Portrait of Mother III (1984-86) by David Hockney (artist), Tyler Graphics (printer and publisher).
\n \u00a9 Estate of David Hockney<\/p>\n

Portraiture was a key element of Hockney\u2019s practice, however, and the NGA exhibition showcases his ability to capture subtle expressions of self in all their diversity.<\/p>\n

The NGA\u2019s Hockney holdings are due in large part to the artist\u2019s collaboration with master print maker Kenneth E. Tyler, who worked with some of the biggest names in the North American art world from the 1960s until 2001. Most of the works in Portraits in Print are drawn from the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection<\/a>, founded in 1973 when the inaugural NGA director, James Mollison, purchased a set of proofs and drawings from Tyler\u2019s celebrated Gemini G.E.L. print workshop. <\/p>\n

Tyler himself appears in a standout lithograph and screenprint Hockney created in the same year, The master printer of Los Angeles<\/a>, exuding quiet confidence in his aviator sunglasses and printer\u2019s apron.<\/p>\n

A master of intimate detail<\/p>\n

Portraits in Print also showcases other printers and publishers who worked with Hockney. This is where the deeper appeal of the exhibition starts to emerge. Rather than the familiar eulogy to an individual artistic genius, it takes care to situate Hockney within a larger network of collaborators, friends and loved ones.<\/p>\n

The image of Hockney this creates is one mediated through the people, places and moments of his life. Alongside collaborators such as Tyler, we are introduced to romantic partners (curator Gregory Evans, ceramicist Peter Schlesinger), close friends (curator and critic Henry Geldzahler, textile and fashion designer Celia Birtwell) and family (parents Kenneth and Laura Hockney).<\/p>\n

We see these figures through Hockney\u2019s eyes, tracing their individual quirks over the years in a range of media, always with a keen attention to fleeting and intimate detail. Geldzahler\u2019s receding hairline, in the wryly observed Henry with bald patch in the middle of his head<\/a> (1977). The tender sketch of Laura Hockney\u2019s lined yet enduring face, in Portrait of Mother III<\/a> (1984\u201386). The sinuous contours that trace Evans\u2019 youthful physique, in Gregory with gym socks<\/a> (1976).<\/p>\n

\"Framed<\/p>\n

Henry with tulips (1976) by David Hockney (artist), Gemini G.E.L. (printer and publisher).
\n \u00a9 Estate of David Hockney\/Gemini G.E.L.<\/p>\n

A constellation of influences<\/p>\n

This charmed circle extends to Hockney\u2019s artistic influences. Like many artists \u2013 but perhaps more self-consciously and deliberately \u2013 he felt compelled to study his sources so intimately that he would come to see the world through their eyes and live it through their techniques, gestures and forms.<\/p>\n

The student: homage to Picasso<\/a> (1973), an early etching, gives an insight into this process. We see the artist, folio tucked under one arm, standing face to face with a larger than life monument to the Spanish master. Hockney has literally placed Picasso on a plinth, yet he remains at eye level. He studies the likeness intently, perhaps hoping to find a way through his outer features to an inner world.<\/p>\n

\"Framed<\/p>\n

The student: homage to Picasso (1973) by David Hockney (artist), Atelier Crommelynck (printer), Propyl\u00e4en Verlag (publisher).
\n \u00a9 Estate of David Hockney<\/p>\n

Picasso would remain an enduring presence within Hockney\u2019s printmaking, evident here especially in the monumental collages An image of Gregory<\/a> and An image of Celia<\/a>, from the Moving focus series (1984\u201387), produced with Tyler Graphics. <\/p>\n

In these works, Hockney inhabits the style of the old modernist master and makes it his own, working closely with Tyler to share his vision of his lover and his closest friend as vibrant and multifaceted individuals.<\/p>\n

Portraits in Print invites us to do the same with Hockney himself. To see the world through his eyes, but also to see ourselves and our loved ones reflected in his work. He remains without a doubt the \u201cpeople\u2019s artist\u201d, a connoisseur of the intimate, humble and ordinary, who valued connection above all as that which most makes us human.<\/p>\n

David Hockney: Portraits in Print<\/a> is on display at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, until February 14 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I first fell under the spell of David Hockney\u2019s prints as a student of printmaking and life drawing.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-625131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}