David Hockney Lithograph of Water Made of Thick and Thin Lines, a Green Wash, a Light Blue Wash, and a Dark Blue Wash (M.C.A.T 202) For Sale

Saturated with the warm nostalgia of a long summer’s day spent lounging by the pool, Hockney’s ‘Lithograph of water’ elegantly depicts Hockney’s most synonymous subject matter: the swimming pool. In search of escape from the grey and miserable city of post-war London, Hockney moved to LA in 1964. The young artist felt himself become quickly enchanted with the city and, most importantly, the endless array of swimming pools that could be found in almost every back garden. These pools epitomise both luxury and leisure, the quintessential Californian lifestyle.

Hockney depicts a blissfully peaceful scene of a swimming pool, complete with a diving board stretching above the rich blue water, washed in a variety of shades of blue. Atop the wash of blue, Hockney added a series of undulating blue lines, adding a sense of movement and depth to the water. Hockney commented on the difficulties of capturing the effects of a body of water, saying “It is a formal problem to represent water, to describe water, because it can be anything. It can be any colour, it’s movable, and it has no set visual description.” The medium of Lithography allows Hockney to explore textures and gradients in exquisite detail, as well as conveying a sense of movement, much like the ephemeral and everchanging nature of water in a swimming pool.

Not only was Hockney liberated from gloomy post war London, where one needed ‘too much money’ to enjoy living there, Hockney experienced a new-found sexual liberation in 1960s LA. During this decade, homosexuality was still illegal in Britain, whereas the ‘Golden State’ of LA was ahead of its time in its sexual liberation, where a homosexual community thrived. The move to California was a pivotal one for Hockney, as it became a place where the artist could finally express his sexuality openly and proudly.

By allowing yourself to get lost within the softly wiggling lines of Hockney’s swimming pool lithograph, you allow yourself to be transported through time to Hockney’s sun-drenched paradise of 1960s Los Angeles.