David Hockney, An Image of Celia Study, from Moving Focus, 1986, is one of the most intimate and visually distinctive prints from David Hockney’s landmark Moving Focus series, created during one of the most experimental periods of the artist’s career. Executed in 1986, the work portrays British textile designer Celia Birtwell, Hockney’s longtime friend and one of his most enduring subjects. Rather than presenting a conventional portrait, Hockney transforms Celia’s familiar features into an exploratory study of identity, observation, color, and memory.

By the early 1980s, Hockney had become increasingly dissatisfied with the fixed viewpoint of traditional Renaissance perspective. Inspired by his groundbreaking photographic “joiners,” he began developing a new approach that reflected how the human eye naturally experiences a person or environment by constantly shifting focus and observing individual details over time. The Moving Focus series represents the culmination of these investigations and stands among the most intellectually significant bodies of work in Hockney’s career.

Rather than constructing one fully resolved image of Celia, An Image of Celia Study brings together several separate observations of her face and figure. At the center, Celia’s features are rendered with vivid blue eyes, green eyeshadow, dark lashes, and bold red lips, while looser studies appear above and below. A simplified eye and mouth emerge from the energetic pink upper section, while a fluid blue line drawing occupies the lower portion of the composition. These contrasting images reveal Hockney’s creative process and allow the viewer to experience the portrait as it gradually develops. The result is unmistakably Hockney: personal, experimental, playful, and endlessly engaging.

Works from Hockney’s 1980s period are among the most sought-after and collectible editions of his career. During this remarkable decade, he reconsidered the possibilities of portraiture while expanding the technical boundaries of printmaking. Collectors value works from the Moving Focus series for their limited editions, exceptional craftsmanship, and importance within Hockney’s continuing investigation of perspective and human perception.

Produced in collaboration with the legendary master printers at Tyler Graphics, An Image of Celia Study combines color lithography, etching, and aquatint on luxurious HMP handmade paper. The combination of techniques gives the image a rich variety of surfaces, ranging from precisely layered color to spontaneous, sketch-like marks. Published by Tyler Graphics Ltd. in Mount Kisco, New York, with its blindstamp, the complete sheet measures approximately 22⅞ by 17¾ inches. It stands as a refined and revealing example of Hockney’s mastery of the printmaking medium.

Museum Collections:

The significance of An Image of Celia Study is reflected by its inclusion in the permanent collections of several internationally recognized museums, including:

Tate, London

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Its presence in these prestigious institutions underscores the importance of both the Moving Focus series and Hockney’s innovative contributions to late twentieth-century portraiture and printmaking.

This example, numbered from the limited edition of only 60 and hand signed and dated by David Hockney, represents an outstanding opportunity to acquire one of the artist’s most personal and engaging print editions. A limited group of artist’s proofs was also produced outside the standard edition. Combining rarity, historical significance, exceptional craftsmanship, and one of the strongest periods of Hockney’s career, An Image of Celia Study is an important work for serious collectors of modern and contemporary art.

David Hockney’s Moving Focus series, created between 1984 and 1986, is one of the most ambitious print projects of his career. Moving beyond traditional fixed perspective, Hockney used shifting viewpoints, fragmented forms, expressive drawing, and vivid color to explore how people experience subjects over time. Featuring portraits, interiors, still lifes, chairs, and views of the Hotel Romano Angeles in Mexico, the series was produced with Kenneth Tyler using innovative combinations of lithography, etching, screenprinting, collage, and handmade papers. Together, the works represent a major achievement in modern printmaking and a powerful exploration of movement, perspective, and memory.

The works in David Hockney’s Moving Focus Series (1984–1986) include: Conversation in the Studio, Tyler Dinning Room, Pembroke Studio Interior, Pembroke Studio with Blue Chairs and Lamp, Two Pembroke Studio Chairs, The Perspective Lesson, Amaryllis in Vase, Red Celia, Celia in Green Hat, Hotel Acatlan: First Day, Hotel Acatlan: Second Day, Hotel Acatlan: Two Weeks Later, Views of Hotel Well I, Views of Hotel Well II, Views of Hotel Well III, Walking Past Two Chairs, An Image of Gregory, An Image of Celia, An Image of Celia, State I, An Image of Celia, State II, An Image of Celia Study, Portrait of Mother I, Portrait of Mother II, Portrait of Mother III, An Image of Ken, White Porcelain, A Picture of Two Chairs, Number One Chair.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

David Hockney An Image of Celia Study, from Moving Focus, 1986 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonné and related texts. Copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work.

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, catalogue number 280.

1. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.