Celia, the Most Beautiful Boy in the World (and Percy) Star in Bonhams Hockney Sale
LONDON.- A rare signed proof copy of David Hockney’s lithograph ‘An Image of Celia’ in the original frame hand painted by the artist is the star item in sale dedicated to Hockney’s work at Bonhams on 20 April.
Dating from the mid-1980s, the Picasso-like image of Hockney’s close friend, the textile designer Celia Birtwell, is estimated at between £60,000- 80,000. It leads a sale which covers the whole spectrum of Hockney’s output and techniques from the early ‘Fires of Furious Desire – The Most Beautiful Boy in the World’ of 1963 (£4,000-6,000) to his ‘Lithograph of Water’ from the late 1970s (315,000-20,000); three huge and stunning variations of ‘Hotel Acatlan’ executed in the mid 1980 (estimates range from £15,000- 30,000) and ‘Winter Road near Kilham’an Inkjet printed computer drawing from 2008 (£10,000-15,000).
- Bonhams’ employee Ana Paiva from Portugal poses for photographs beside David Hockney’s “Moving Focus – An Image of Celia” at the auction house’s premises in London, Monday, April 18, 2011. The piece is estimated to fetch between 60,000 and 80,000 pounds ($98,000 to $130,000 and euro 68,000 to 91,000) when it comes up in a sale dedicated to Hockney’s work spanning five decades on April 20. AP Photo/Matt Dunham.
A particularly appealing work is ‘George, Blanche, Celia, Albert and Percy’ a photo-collage made up of 68 pictures from 1983 (£15,000 – 20,000). Percy is the white cat – surely one of the most famous cats in the world – which appears in one of Hockney’s best loved paintings – ‘Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy’.
The sale also includes two rarities – an earthenware ceramic cat (£5,000-7,000) from 1955 when Hockney was just 18 and a pencil drawing from the following year, ‘Houses near Eccleshill’, Bradford £4,000-6,000.
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