David Hockney, Portrait of Mother II, from Moving Focus, 1985, is one of the most intimate and visually experimental portraits from David Hockney’s landmark Moving Focus series, created during one of the artist’s most innovative periods. The work depicts Hockney’s mother, Laura Hockney, a deeply personal subject whom he portrayed repeatedly throughout his career. Through quiet observation and deliberately fractured forms, Hockney transforms a familiar family portrait into a thoughtful exploration of character, perspective, and memory.

By the early 1980s, Hockney had grown increasingly interested in moving beyond the single, fixed viewpoint associated with traditional Renaissance perspective. Influenced by Cubism, his photographic “joiners,” and his continuing investigation of how people experience space over time, he developed compositions in which several viewpoints could coexist within one image. The Moving Focus series became a major expression of these ideas and a summation of Hockney’s long-standing interest in space, reverse perspective, and visual movement.

Rather than presenting his mother in a completely naturalistic manner, Portrait of Mother II combines tenderness with bold abstraction. Laura is shown seated quietly in profile within a comfortable armchair, wearing a deep blue jumper with a delicate white collar and resting her clasped hands in her lap. Her eyes appear closed, creating a peaceful and reflective mood, while her face is transformed into an angular, cube-like structure that suggests multiple viewpoints. Soft blues, browns, whites, and muted surrounding tones preserve the warmth of the portrait despite its visual fragmentation. The result is both affectionate and experimental, capturing Hockney’s close relationship with his mother while challenging conventional ideas of likeness.

Works from Hockney’s 1980s period are highly valued for the way they combine personal subjects with major technical and conceptual experimentation. Within the Moving Focus series, Portrait of Mother II is especially desirable because of its intimate subject, limited production, and unusual balance between quiet emotion and Cubist-inspired abstraction. With only 20 standard-edition impressions, signed examples appear far less frequently than many of Hockney’s better-known prints.

Produced in collaboration with the master printers at Tyler Graphics, Portrait of Mother II demonstrates Hockney’s command of color lithography. Printed from four aluminum plates on luxurious TGL handmade paper by Roger Campbell and Lee Funderburg, the work combines carefully layered color with open areas of paper and expressive line work. The sheet measures approximately 20⅛ by 17⅛ inches, with an image measuring approximately 18¼ by 14⅜ inches. Each standard-edition impression was signed, dated, and numbered in pencil and bears the Tyler Graphics blindstamp.

Museum Collections:

The significance of Portrait of Mother II is reflected by its inclusion in the permanent collections of several important international museums, including:

Tate, London

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

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 exceptionally limited edition of only 20 and hand signed and dated by David Hockney, represents an outstanding opportunity to acquire one of the artist’s most personal and distinctive print editions. An additional 12 artist’s proofs were produced outside the standard edition. Combining rarity, emotional significance, exceptional craftsmanship, and one of the most inventive periods of Hockney’s career, Portrait of Mother II 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 Portrait of Mother II, from Moving Focus, 1985 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 282.

1. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.