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Big Celia Print #1 - Signed Print by David Hockney 1981 - MyArtBroker

Big Celia Print #1
Signed Print

David Hockney

Price data unavailable

AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.

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Medium: Lithograph

Edition size: 100

Year: 1981

Size: H 120cm x W 144cm

Signed: Yes

Format: Signed Print

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Track auction value trend

The value of David Hockney's Big Celia Print #1 (signed) is estimated to be worth between £35,000 and £50,000. This lithograph print, created in 1981, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 6%. This work has an auction history of six total sales since its entry to the market on 20th November 1993. In the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £23,843 in April 2021 to £25,035 in April 2021, with an average annual growth rate of 4%. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 100.

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Auction Results

Auction DateAuction HouseLocation
Hammer Price
Return to Seller
Buyer Paid
June 2024Sotheby's Online United Kingdom
April 2021Sotheby's Paris France
September 2017Christie's New York United States
May 2013Christie's New York United States
November 1993Christie's New York United States

Meaning & Analysis

In the 1960s, when Hockney began his journey as an artist, realistic depictions of human features were considered to be outdated. In this print, Hockney employed a broken contour and used it as economically as possible to render Celia Birtwell’s appearance. Speaking of his belief in the inexhaustible possibilities of portraiture, Hockney has said: ‘They said you couldn’t do portraits anymore. But you can, everything is open now. Portraiture remains infinite.’

Measuring 120.7cm x 143.5cm, the work presents Celia Birtwell enlarged in size, contrasting with the small-scale drawings of friends that make Hockney’s 1976 Gemini G.E.L Portfolio. Dressed in a black skirt and a stripy top, the woman reclines on a bed and creates the impression of looming over the viewer. The thick, black-ink contour outlining the woman’s posture fades and picks up again in an irregular manner. Given its unusual use of a broken line, the print differs from the controlled hand drawings of Celia made in the late 1970s and attests to Hockney’s versatility as an artist who constantly sought new ways of approaching his favourite subjects and themes.

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