Marguerites

Medium: Etching with aquatint printed in colors on Arches mould made paper
Year: 1973
Image: 9 3/8 x 7 inches (23.7 x 17.9 cm)
Sheet: 16 1/4 x 12 1/2 inches (41.4 x 31.8 cm)
Edition: 100
Artist’s Proofs: 23
Publisher: Petersburg Press, New-York and London
Printer: Atelier Crommelynck
Literature: Scottish Arts Council (157), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (141)

Signed and dated in pencil, lower right
Numbered in pencil with the printer’s blindstamp

A cluster of marguerite daisies overflows in a charmingly messy arrangement from a clear glass tumbler. Rendered in soft pastel yellow, blue and green, the subtle palette conveys the delicate nature of the petals while springing vividly from the stark white paper ground, imbuing the scene with an immediate freshness. Hockney’s etched lines remain exceptionally loose and expressive, bestowing the print with the fluid quality of a watercolor sketch or pastel drawing rather than the perceived rigidness of traditional printmaking.

Executed with Hockney’s characteristic acuity of vision, the work masterfully captures the refraction of light through glass and liquid. The fine, cross-hatched lines soften and shift slightly to the right, mimicking the optical distortion of light bending through water, anchored by delicate translucent blue shadow against a pure, empty ground. Rather than constructing a heavily fabricated illusion of reality, Hockney interrogates the act of seeing itself, demonstrating how spare lines, subtle color washes and negative space can evoke transparency, weightlessness and atmosphere with an economy of means.

Created in 1973, Marguerites belongs to an important group of floral etchings, including depictions of lilies and tulips, produced while Hockney was living and working in Paris during the early 1970s. While many of his contemporaries were immersed in Pop Art of mass media, Hockney turned toward quiet observational realism. The marguerite daisy, an unassuming wildflower, becomes a poetic meditation on the beauty of the everyday. While honoring the longstanding art-historical tradition of the floral still life, Hockney reinterprets the genre through a clean, modern lens. Indeed, flowers remained an enduring touchstone throughout his graphic career, providing a continuous thread from these delicate etchings to the vibrant, luminous digital bouquets of his later iPad works

Source: Phillips

Auction Results

Sotheby’s London: 7 June 2024
Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000
GBP 16,800 / USD 21,420

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Marguerites, 1973
Etching and aquatint printed in colours on Arches mould-made paper
Signed in pencil, dated and numbered 79/100

Bonhams Paris: 30 May 2024
Estimated: EUR 12,000 – 18,000
EUR 16,800 / USD 21,490

Sotheby’s London: 15 November 2023
Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000
GBP 15,240 / USD 19,040

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Marguerites (S.A.C. 157; MCA Tokyo 141), 1973
Etching and aquatint printed in colors on Arches mould-made paper
Signed in pencil, dated and inscribed A.P.
One of 23 proofs aside from the numbered edition of 100

Bonhams London: 20 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 20,000
GBP 21,760 / USD 26,965

Sotheby’s New-York: 3 October 2022
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 30,240

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Marguerites, 1973
Etching with aquatint printed in colors on Arches mould made paper
Signed in pencil David Hockney and dated 73 (lower right)
Numbered 65/100 (lower left)

Phillips London: 13 September 2022
Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000
GBP 28,980 / USD 33,875

Sotheby’s London: 15 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 7,000 – 9,000
GBP 16,380 / USD 21,420

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Marguerites (Scottish Arts Council 157; MCA Tokyo 141), 1973
Etching with aquatint printed in colors
Signed in pencil, dated, numbered 66/100