David Hockney’s 1980 prints Potted Daffodils and Black Tulips are monochromatic lithographs that transform traditional still-life subjects into striking, almost surreal images, demonstrating his mastery of the printmaking medium.

Introduction

Potted Daffodils and Black Tulips are large-format lithographs printed in black ink on cream BFK Rives paper, giving them the appearance of an exquisite pencil or pen-and-ink drawing. They were created at Tyler Graphics, Ltd., a collaboration that allowed Hockney increased technical resources for complex layering and tonal work. Unlike typical still lifes that feature flowers in a vase, these images show the flowers rooted in soil within a pot and a saucer, a notable departure from tradition.

In Potted Daffodils, the stems and three blooms of the flowers appear dark and sinuous, almost like “dark tentacles” emerging from the pot and reaching towards the edges of the composition.

Potted Daffodils

In Black Tulips, the flowers spill out over the white space, with Hockney using various textures and marks to evoke the different surfaces of the petals, leaves, pot, and a patterned tablecloth.

Black Tulips

The deliberate use of a black-and-white (monochrome) palette creates a stark contrast and an exploration of line, texture, and form, in contrast to his typically vibrant, color-rich California paintings.

Those prints are a testament to Hockney’s technical skill and his experimental approach to printmaking, translating the spontaneity and detail of a drawing into the complex medium of lithography. By rendering traditionally cheerful flowers (daffodils, signifiers of spring and rebirth) in black ink, Hockney introduces a slightly “gothic” or “unsettling” element, transforming them into something “otherworldly”. The flowers appear less like charming symbols of spring and more as a contemplative study of nature’s form, light, shadow, and the transient nature of beauty.

While created in Los Angeles in 1980, the daffodil, a flower deeply rooted in British cultural identity and celebrated by poets like Wordsworth, reflects Hockney’s enduring bond with his English homeland. Those works also reflect Hockney’s inspiration from masters like Matisse and Morandi, while his use of the still-life genre provides a vehicle for endless experimentation with pictorial construction and the representation of space and light.

Potted Daffodils

Potted Daffodils

Medium: Lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper
Year: 1980
Sheet: 44 1/4 x 30 1/8 inches (112.5 x 76.5 cm)
Edition: 98
Artist’s Proofs: 18 AP
Printer: Kenneth Tyler
Publisher: Tyler Graphics, Ltd., New York
Literature: Tyler (259), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (237)

Signed, dated and numbered in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp

Auction Results

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Potted Daffodils (MCA Tokyo 237), 1980
Lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper
Signed in pencil, dated and numbered 53/98

Christie’s New-York: 15 September 2021
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 27,500

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Potted Daffodils, 1980
Lithograph on cream Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 17/98

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

Black Tulips

Black Tulips

Medium: Lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper
Year: 1980
Sheet: 44 1/8 x 30  inches (112.1 x 76.2 cm)
Edition: 100
Artist’s Proofs: 20 AP numbered in Roman numerals
Printer: Kenneth Tyler
Publisher: Tyler Graphics, Ltd., New York
Literature: Tyler (258), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (236)

Signed, dated and numbered in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp

Auction Results

Stair Galleries: 20 November 2025
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 23,000 (Hammer)
USD 30,130

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Black Tulips, 1980
Lithograph in black on Rives
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 44/100
With label from Tyler Graphics, Bedford Village, NY

Showplace: 23 October 2025
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 25,000 (Hammer)
USD 31,250

DAVID HOCKNEY (American, b. 1937)
Black Tulips (Tyler, 258. M.C.A.T., 236), 1980
Lithograph on Rives Paper
Signed in pencil and dated lower right
Numbered edition “94/100” lower left with publisher’s blind stamp
Printed and published by Tyler Graphics, Ltd., Mount Kisco, NY

Wright Chicago: 6 August 2025
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 30,480