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Celia Reading - Signed Print by David Hockney 1979 - MyArtBroker

Celia Reading
Signed Print

David Hockney

£8,500-£12,500Value Indicator

$17,000-$25,000 Value Indicator

$15,000-$22,000 Value Indicator

¥80,000-¥110,000 Value Indicator

10,500-15,000 Value Indicator

$80,000-$120,000 Value Indicator

¥1,610,000-¥2,360,000 Value Indicator

$10,500-$16,000 Value Indicator

-2% AAGR

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: 30

Year: 1979

Size: H 68cm x W 91cm

Signed: Yes

Format: Signed Print

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Track auction value trend

The value of David Hockney's Celia Reading (signed) is estimated to be worth between £8,500 and £12,500. Over the past 12 months, the average selling price was £8,600, across 1 sale. In the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £6,196 in March 2021 to £8,600 in December 2024. The average annual growth rate of this work is -2%. This lithograph print from 1979 is a rare artwork with an auction history of 4 total sales since its entry to the market in March 2021. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 30.

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Auction Results

Auction DateAuction HouseLocation
Hammer Price
Return to Seller
Buyer Paid
December 2024Phillips Hong Kong Hong Kong
November 2023Sotheby's Online United Kingdom
March 2022Christie's New York United States
March 2021Bonhams Los Angeles United States

Meaning & Analysis

In this work, Hockney’s focus on the physical likeness goes hand in hand with the reduction of details that might have surrounded the sitter. While the artist’s watercolour portraits are associated with a detailed, naturalistic rendition of the domestic settings, Celia Reading departs from this tendency. In order to expose the intimacy of a presumably introspective moment, Hockney mutes the background and represents only basic objects in the woman’s vicinity.

In contrast to such works as Domestic Scene, Los Angeles (1963) or Mr And Mrs Clark And Percy (1970-1) giving as much attention to the setting as to the people depicted in it, Celia Reading does not represent the sitter in a vividly defined spatial context. Conveyed in a sparing line, the book, desk, and vase are the only elements hinting at the domestic environment, in which the reading takes place.

Through such a pared-down representation, Hockney orients the viewer’s attention primarily towards the inner world of the sitter. The print not only encapsulates Hockney’s highly personalised approach to portraiture but also enters into dialogue with the works of Matisse and Degas whose depictions of women in domestic spaces expose the intimate moments of sinking in thought.

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