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Lot Essay
This still-life of a coat hanging off the back of a bentwood chair, with a panama hat, pipe and empty glass on the seat, depicts the personal effects of Hockney’s great friend and early champion, Henry Geldzahler (1935-1994), then curator of Twentieth Century Art at the Metropolitan Museum. Geldzahler was a regular sitter for Hockney, and in his memorable introduction to the artist’s autobiography of 1974 eloquently compares Hockney's fascination with the portrait with the cubist's love of still-life:
'Hockney has never been interested in the commissioned portrait. As he has become increasingly fascinated by exactly how things look and in finding ways to paint what he sees with greater veracity, he has turned quite naturally to drawing and painting his close friends again and again. They are his guitar, absinthe bottle and journal, the objects of his affection' (Henry Gelzahler in: David Hockney by David Hockney, Thames & Hudson, London, 1974, p. 9).
In this etching Hockney seems to be taking his friend quite literally, depicting him as a still-life.
'Hockney has never been interested in the commissioned portrait. As he has become increasingly fascinated by exactly how things look and in finding ways to paint what he sees with greater veracity, he has turned quite naturally to drawing and painting his close friends again and again. They are his guitar, absinthe bottle and journal, the objects of his affection' (Henry Gelzahler in: David Hockney by David Hockney, Thames & Hudson, London, 1974, p. 9).
In this etching Hockney seems to be taking his friend quite literally, depicting him as a still-life.