David Hockney Lithograph Water Made of Lines (M.C.A.T 210) For Sale

This lithograph is part of a series of eleven lithographs, where each piece represents the same scene of a swimming pool and a diving board. However, Hockney ingeniously uses the lithograph technique to convey a multitude of different styles within the technique, with some ranging from more minimalist and crayon-like to more colourful and detailed. This print is one of the more minimalist of the series, it is reminiscent of a blueprint, without any washes of colour as in the other prints. Instead, Hockney has depicted the pool in a blue grid-like structure. The illusion of a depth of water is less present in this print compared to the others in the portfolio, however Hockney has still depicted a collection of blue wiggling lines where the water would be, to represent the refraction of light on water. These spontaneous lines add a sense of movement to the print, as without them the print would be static and less dynamic. Hockney examined the difficulties of depicting water, saying “it is a formal problem to represent water, to describe water. It can be any colour, it’s movable, and it has no set visual description… t is an interesting probe to represent water, to describe water, because it can be anything”.

Hockney’s fascination with swimming pools began with Hockney’s move to Los Angeles in 1964, in search of escape from the dreary greyness of post-war London, Hockney moved to the ‘Golden State’ of California. Hockney express his elation in moving to Los Angeles, saying ‘When I first went to Los Angeles, it was really 3 times better than I thought it would be… In America I always feel freer. In California, anyway, I start using brighter colours; I paint broader […] which seems to be better for me’. This springboarded a new muse into Hockney’s life, as the artist returned to the subject matter of swimming pools repeatedly throughout his oeuvre. These swimming pools have become what Hockney is known for, most notably with his paintings A Bigger Splash and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which sold for $90.3 million in 2018.