Twenty Photographic Pictures 

Portfolio of 20 chromogenic prints
Medium: Chromogenic print on Kodak paper mounted on board
Year: 1976
Each image: 7 x 9 1/2 inches (17.8 x 24.2 cm) or reverse
Each sheet: 8 1/4 x 10 3/4 inches (21 x 27.4 cm) or reverse
Edition: 80
Artist’s Proofs: 20 (numbered in Roman numerals)
Publisher: Sonnabend Editions, New-York

Each initialed, numbered in ink (margin), and numbered in pencil (colophon)
Contained in cloth-covered portfolio box

Hockney’s first used his photographic images as references for paintings, and by early 1982, the photographs he had taken filled roughly 120 albums.  To Hockney, these were merely ‘scrap-books of travel memories plus ideas for paintings, nothing more than that’ (David Webb, Portrait of David Hockney, p. 201).  In 1976, Ileana Sonnabend showed Twenty Photographic Pictures at Sonnabend Gallery, marking the first time any of Hockney’s photographs were ever shown in a gallery setting. Following Hockney’s debut  at Sonnabend, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris both presented exhibitions of Hockney’s photographs.

 

1. John St. Clair Swimming, April 1972

2. Pink Hose, May 1974

3. Steps Into Water, May 1975

4. My Parents, Bradford, July 1975

5. Two Lemons and Four Limes, Santa Monica, 1971

6. Peter Showering, Paris, July 1975

Peter Schlesinger (pictured here) and David Hockney met at UCLA the summer of 1966 when Schlesinger enrolled in a drawing class taught by Hockney.  They became friends and eventually lovers. Schlesinger became Hockney’s primary and most well-known model and muse.  Schlesinger modeled for some of Hockney’s most well-known works, including Sur la Terrasse, 1971, and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1972.

7. The Pacific Ocean at Malibu, April 1973

8. A Neat Window, Santa Monica, April 1973

A Neat Window, Santa Monica was taken in 1967-68 when David Hockney and his lover Peter Schlesinger rented a tiny historic penthouse on 3rd Street in Santa Monica. There, they befriended their neighbours, novelist Christopher Isherwood and artist Don Bachardy. A Neat Window, Santa Monica provides a glimpse into Isherwood and Bachardy’s cozy home. The shutters shown here are also a compositional element in Hockney’s 1968 painting, Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy.

9. Jean in the Luxembourg Gardens, June 1974

10. Tennis Court, Berkeley, November 1971

11. Hollywood Window, April 1973

12. Sur Le Motif, May 1974

13. Henry Avoiding the Sun, August 1975

14. Pretty Tulips, February 1970

15. Yves-Marie Asleep, May 1974

Yves-Marie Hervé, a student of Art History at  L’Ecole du Louvre, met David Hockney when the artist was living in Paris between 1973 and 1975.  The two became close friends, often visiting the Louvre together. Yves Marie Asleep shows Yves-Marie lying next to a swimming pool in the South of France in 1974. After a visit to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, Hockney began using the swimming pool as a frequent motif in both paintings and photographs, seizing not only on the common understanding of the pool as a status symbol and cultural touchstone but also on the metaphorical and symbolic nature of water itself.

16. Peter Washing, Belgrade, September 1970

17. Still Life with Hats, August 1973

18. Tidied Up Beach, Viareggio, August 1973

19. The Pines, Fire Island, August 1975

20. Herrenhausen, Hannover, 1970

 

 

 

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Auction Results

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2025 Auction Results

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LA Modern: 1 August 2025
Estimated: USD 5,000 – 8,000
USD 15,240

Bonhams London: 25 June 2025
Estimated: GBP 2,000 – 3,000
GBP 2,560 / USD 3,450

2023 Auction Results

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Christie’s London: 27 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 2,000 – 3,000
GBP 8,190 / USD 9,950

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Herrenhauser Park, Hannover, 1970
Chromogenic print
Signed with initials in black ink, numbered 62/80

Phillips New-York: 26 July 2023
Estimated: USD 3,000 – 5,000
USD 3,048

Phillips New-York: 4 April 2023
Estimated: USD 4,000 – 6,000
USD 3,556

Phillips New-York: 15 February 2023
Estimated: USD 2,500 – 3,500
USD 18,900

DAVID HOCKNEY
Steps Into Water, May 1975, from Twenty Photographic Pictures, 1976
Chromogenic print, on photo paper
Signed with initials and numbered 27/80 in black ink

2022 Auction Results

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Germann Auktionen: 30 November 2022
Estimated: CHF 3,000 – 5,000
CHF 10,000 (Hammer)
CHF 12,485 / USD 13,080

DAVID HOCKNEY (1937 (GB))
John St. Clair Swimming, from “Twenty Photographic Pictures”, 1972
C-print on Kodak-paper from 1976
Edition 70/80
Signed with the monogram lower right: D.H.

Sotheby’s Paris: 16 November 2022
Estimated: EUR 5,000 – 7,000
EUR 6,300 / USD 6,525

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Peter Showering, Paris (from Twenty Photographic Pictures), 1976
Chromogenic print
Initialed and editioned ‘78/80’ in ink in the margin

Sotheby’s Paris: 16 November 2022
Estimated: EUR 5,000 – 7,000
EUR 6,300 / USD 6,525

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
A Neat Window, Santa Monica (from Twenty Photographic Pictures), 1976
Chromogenic print
Initialed and editioned ‘78/80’ in ink in the margin

Sotheby’s Paris: 16 November 2022
Estimated: EUR 5,000 – 7,000
EUR 11,970 / USD 12,400

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Yves-Marie Asleep (from Twenty Photographic Pictures), 1976
Chromogenic print
Initialed and editioned ‘78/80’ in ink in the margin

Phillips London: 20 January 2022
Estimated: GBP 2,500 – 3,5000
GBP 8,368 / USD 11,687

Sotheby’s New-York: 16 December 2021
Estimated: USD 4,000 – 6,000
USD 3,528

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Tidied Up Beach, Viareggio, August 1973 (from Twenty Photographic Pictures by David Hockney)
Chromogenic print on Kodak photographic paper
Numbered 22/80 (lower left)
Signed Hockney (on the reverse of the frame)
Conceived in 1973, executed in 1976
This example is number 22 from an edition of 80, plus 20 artist’s proofs

Sotheby’s London: 14 September 2021
Estimated: GBP 2,500 – 3,500
GBP 2,520 / USD 3,480

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Jean in the Luxembourg Gardens (from Twenty Photographic pictures by David Hockney), 1974
Chromogenic print
Signed and numbered 60/80 in black ink in the lower margin

Phillips New-York: 1 October 2019
Estimated: USD 5,000 – 7,000
USD 10,00

 

Christie’s London: 18 May 2017
Estimated: GBP 1,500 – 2,000
GBP 4,750 / USD 6,155

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Two Lemons and Four Limes, 1976
Chromogenic print
Signed and numbered ’74/80′ in ink (margin)

Christie’s London: 18 May 2017
Estimated: GBP 1,500 – 2,000
GBP 4,750 / USD 6,155

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
La Chaise, 1973
Chromogenic print
Signed and numbered ’74/80′ in ink (margin)

Van Ham Cologne: 9 December 2016
Estimated: EUR 2,000 – 3,000
EUR 7,140 / USD 7,540

DAVID HOCKNEY (1937 Bradford)
Steps into the Water. From: Twenty Photographic Pictures, 1976
C-Print on Kodak Paper
Numbered 65/80 and monogrammed with black pen

Van Ham Cologne: 9 December 2016
Estimated: EUR 1,000 – 1,500
EUR 2,083 / USD 2,200

DAVID HOCKNEY (1937 Bradford)
Jean in the Luxembourg Gardens. From: Twenty Photographic Pictures, 1976
C-Print on Kodak Paper
Numbered 49/80 and monogrammed with black pen

Van Ham Cologne: 9 December 2016
Estimated: EUR 1,000 – 1,500
EUR 1,636 / USD 1,725

DAVID HOCKNEY (1937 Bradford)
The Pacific Ocean at Malibu. From: Twenty Photographic Pictures, 1976
C-Print on Kodak Paper
Numbered 65/80 and monogrammed with black pen

Christie’s New-York: 6 April 2016
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 35,000

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Twenty Photographic Pictures by David Hockney, 1976
Portfolio of 20 chromogenic prints each on Kodak paper mounted on board
Each initialed, numbered ‘AP IV/XX’ in ink (margin)
Text inserts with plate list and printed title
Numbered ‘AP IV/XX’ in pencil (colophon)
AP number 4 from the edition of 80 plus 20 APs
Contained in original cloth-covered portfolio box