David Hockney Amaryllis Vase (M.C.A.T 266) For Sale

Amaryllis Vase is one of David Hockney’s Moving Focus Series, in this print he focuses on depicting two of his favourite passions: flowers and still life through his own colourful, imaginary lens. A signed lithograph, one of 26 prints in the groundbreaking series, in which Hockney evolved his whole artistic language by re-interpreting his photographic, drawing and painting techniques into lithograph form.

Hockney’s sublime mastery as a colourist in evident in this simple subject; a vase of flowers, that he elevates into a dramatic masterpiece, through his use of colour and tone, executed fluidly as if in an old master painting. Infact the artist manages to immerse the viewer in the luscious colours, floral scents and calming energy of the flowers as if they are experiencing them in real life.

Infused in the Amaryllis Vase lithograph is Hockney’s homage to various traditional art movements, taking one of art history’s oldest tropes, the still life, and reinventing it into a pop modernist form. We can recognise an ode to the 16^th century Vanitas art genre in his depiction of the fragility of life, whilst the photographic collage technique which shifts the perspective of the still life image reflects the Cubism traditions.  The pink hazy chequerboard background is like a mural reminiscent of Persian miniature paintings: it is all consuming with each glance, as if an optical illusion surrounding the flowers on the table.

In the Moving Focus series, Hockney focused on perspective and the relationship of artist and representation to new dramatic effect: In Amaryllis Vase, the artist skilfully utilises one of the simplest yet symbolic motifs in art history, the still life of flowers, and re-constructs it paying homage to past and present, ultimately giving the viewer new perspective with each glance.