Introduction

Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink is Hockney’s elegant take on the canonical art history subject: the flower still life. Created in 1971, Hockney depicts a series of flowers within a slender glass vase, ranging from daisies to cornflowers, to poppies in an explosion of red, blue, yellow and white out of each green stem. Each flower spills out of the vase, leaning towards the table. This illusion of weight adds a sense of realism to the otherwise graphic style. The simple addition of sporadic blue and green lines within the vase add texture to the glass vase, presenting the distorted view of stems through the thick glass. Hockney masterfully manipulates perspective within this lithograph, adding a shadow to the left of the vase to suggest light and depth. Behind the flowers is a crosshatched background, the geometric harshness of which contrasts with the soft and gentle coloring of the flowerheads. Below the flowers is a variety of pencil pointing up towards the centerpiece, guiding the viewer’s eyes towards it. The pencils add a rather tongue-in-cheek, metaphysical acknowledgement of its own creation alluding to the presence of Hockney himself. This alludes to the title of the piece, we begin to question that perhaps these are not real flowers after all, but a creation of the artist made of ‘paper and ink’.

1. Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink (MCAT 113)

The subject of flowers in one that Hockney returns to constantly throughout his career, emphasizing the artists’ acknowledgement and understanding of the history of art. Hockney repeats this print again in black and white, in Flowers Made of Paper and Black Ink. Flowers have always been the canon of the still life genre, featuring repeatedly throughout the history of art, from Dutch 17th century master’s to the pre-Raphaelites, to Andy Warhol. David Hockney has contributed a new and dynamic approach to the depiction of flowers. Moving away from his pop art contemporary Andy Warhol’s flat and unnatural flowers, Hockney maintains the elegance and simple beauty of each plant through the lithograph style, offering a new take on a historical subject.

2. Flowers Made of Paper and Black Ink (MCAT 114)

 

Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink (MCAT 113)

Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink

Medium: Lithograph printed in colors on Hodgkinson mould-made paper
Year: 1971
Sheet: 39 x 37 1/4 inches (99 x 94.8 cm)
Edition: 50
Artist’s Proofs: 11 AP
Printer: Ernst Donagh at Cook Hammond and Kell
Publisher: Petersburg Press, London
Literature: Scottish Arts Council (119), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (113)

Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil with the artist’s copyright blindstamp

 

Auction Results

Christie’s New-York: 23 October 2025
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 82,550
NEW AUCTION RECORD FOR COLORED FLOWERS MADE OF PAPER AND INK

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink, 1971
(Scottish Arts Council 119; Museum of Contemporary Arts Tokyo 113)
Lithograph in colors on Hodgkinson mould-made paper
Signed, titled and dated in pencil, numbered 28⁄50

Bonhams London: 10 December 2024
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 49,920 / USD 63,635

DAVID HOCKNEY (British, born 1937)
Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink (Scottish Arts Council 119; M.C.A. Tokyo 113), 1971
Lithograph in colors on Hodgkinson mould-made wove paper
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 24/50 in pencil

Bonhams London: 27 June 2023
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 40,960 / USD 52,150

DAVID HOCKNEY (British, born 1937)
Coloured Flowers made of Paper and Ink (M.C.A. Tokyo 113; Scottish Arts Council 119), 1971
Lithograph in colors on Hodgkinson paper
Signed, titled, dated and inscribed ‘AP’ in pencil
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 50

Phillips London: 20 January 2022
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 45,360 / USD 61,875

DAVID HOCKNEY
Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink (S.A.C. 119, M.C.A.T. 113), 1971
Lithograph in colors on Hodgkinson paper
An unsigned proof (aside from the signed and numbered edition of 50 plus 11 artist’s proofs)

Sotheby’s New-York: 16 December 2020
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 50,400

DAVID HOCKNEY (b.1937)
Colored Flowers Made of Paper and Ink, 1971
Lithograph printed in colors on Hodgkinson wove paper
Signed in pencil, dated, titled and numbered 48/50

 

 

Flowers Made of Paper and Black Ink (MCAT 114)

Flowers Made of Paper and Black Ink

Medium: Lithograph on Hodgkinson mould-made paper
Year: 1971
Sheet: 39 x 37 1/4 inches (99 x 94.8 cm)
Edition: 50
Artist’s Proofs: 11 AP
Publisher: Petersburg Press, London
Literature: Scottish Arts Council (120), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (114)

Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil

Auction Results

Christie’s New-York: 23 October 2025
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 27,940

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Flowers Made of Paper and Black Ink, 1971
(Scottish Arts Council 120; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 114)
Lithograph on Hodgkinson mould-made paper
Signed, titled and dated in pencil, numbered 28⁄50

Sotheby’s New-York: 23 April 2021
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 30,240

DAVID HOCKNEY (b.1937)
Flowers Made of Paper and Black Ink, 1971
Lithograph on Hodgkinson mould-made paper
Signed in pencil, dated, titled and numbered 40/50

Phillips London: 21 January 2021
Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000
GBP 16,380 / USD 22,470

DAVID HOCKNEY
Flowers Made of Paper and Black Ink (S.A.C. 120; M.C.A.T. 114), 1971
Lithograph on Hodgkinson handmade paper
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 30/50 in pencil