Executed in 1993, "Four Part Splinge" is a distinct example of Hockney's iconic use of brilliant color and flattened shapes. The work is signed, titled, and dated in pencil on the fourth plate. The first, second, and third plates are inscribed, in pencil, "first part," "second part," and "third part," respectively. With the Gemini GEL blindstamps. Full sheets, in seemingly excellent condition. Not examined out of the frames.
When the four unframed lithographs are displayed according to the artist's intention, overall dimensions are 49 x 66 inches (124.5 x 167.6 cm). Framed dimensions are approximately 57 x 74 inches (144.8 x 188 cm).
David Hockney (British, b. 1937) is a contemporary painter, photographer, and set designer acclaimed for his depictions of the everyday and the artificial in California life. Early in his career, he was associated with the Pop Art movement. Hockney was born in Bradford, England, and studied at the Bradford School of Art, exhibiting an extraordinary aptitude for draftsmanship. He later attended the London Royal College of Art, where he met fellow student R.B. Kitaj (1932-2007), who strongly influenced him and inspired Hockney to infuse the personally expressive into his art. Hockney’s first works included common and commercial images such as boxes of tea, leading to his early inclusion with the Pop Art movement. Hockney also favored a mix of literature with scandalous subject matter in his early work, including pieces on homosexuality inspired by Walt Whitman poems and created in the Art Brut style of Jean Dubuffet. Hockney’s mature work often draws on photographs, particularly after his period spent visiting California regularly in the 1960s; works from this period include naturalistic paintings with a flat, serene appearance, including the famous “Swimming Pools” series. Hockney has been the subject of major retrospectives at the Royal College of Art in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His numerous awards and honors include the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Photographie (1997), Germany’s highest award for photography, and the Charles Wollaston Award from the Royal Academy of Arts (1999). He has received honorary doctorates from Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, and the University of Leeds, among many others. He lives and works in California.
Selected Public Collections:
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tate Gallery, London, England
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
