Four Part Splinge
from Some New Prints

Medium: Lithograph and screen-print in colors on four sheets of Arches 88 paper
Year: 1993
Overall: 49×66 inches (124.5 x 167.6 cm)
Edition: 48
Artist’s Proofs: 14 AP
Printer: Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles
Publisher: Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles
Literature: Gemini (1606), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (334)

Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp
On the lower right panel, annotated ‘first part’
‘second part’ and ‘third part’ respectively on the remaining panels

Four Part Splinge is a significant multi-panel print from David Hockney’ 1993 series Some New Prints (released publicly in exhibitions around 1994). It is notable for its innovative use of mixed media printmaking and its connection to his ongoing exploration of Cubist ideas and the representation of space and time.

Four Part Splinge is a large, multi-panel artwork created using a combination of lithography and screenprint on four sheets of wove paper, which are then assembled to form a single image. Each panel is annotated in pencil (“first part,” “second part,” etc.), emphasizing its constructed nature. The image itself is an abstract composition featuring brilliant colors and flattened, biomorphic shapes. The composition is dynamic and fragmented, designed to be viewed not from a single, fixed perspective but as a collection of viewpoints, guiding the viewer’s eye across the entire surface and incorporating the element of time.

Four Part Splinge demonstrates Hockney’s career-long fascination with perception and his challenge to traditional single-point perspective in art. Hockney was greatly inspired by Pablo Picasso and the Cubist movement’s ability to “diffuse and refract perspective”. The fragmented nature of the print, pieced together from multiple viewpoints, directly reflects Cubist principles and his own earlier experiments with photographic “joiners”. By combining multiple sheets and perspectives, Hockney sought to represent a scene in a way that better mirrors human experience and memory. Our eyes naturally move across a scene over time, and the multi-panel approach forces the viewer to engage with the artwork in a similar, non-linear fashion, capturing movement and temporality within a static image. The biomorphic (life-like) yet abstract shapes recall Picasso’s abstracted figures on a beach, but also serve Hockney’s interest in pure form and color, moving beyond literal representation to explore the mechanics of seeing itself.

Four Part Splinge and the Some New Prints series demonstrate Hockney’s innovation and versatility as an artist
and show Hockney’s mastery and experimental approach to printmaking. He combined techniques, such as lithography and screenprinting, to achieve vibrant colors and a unique quality. This pushed the boundaries of the medium. The series reinforced Hockney’s legacy of challenging artistic rules. His exploration of multiple perspectives in works like Four Part Splinge influenced later trends in digital art and photography. These trends deconstruct and reconstruct images and have influenced subsequent generations of artists.

Auction Results

Bonhams online: 25 November 2025
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 56,320

DAVID HOCKNEY (born 1937)
Four Part Splinge, from Some New Prints (MCAT 334, Gemini 1606), 1994
Lithograph and screenprint in colors on 4 sheets of wove paper
Signed in pencil, titled, dated ‘1993’ and numbered 15/48
(there were also 14 artist’s proofs)
On the lower right panel, annotated ‘first part’
‘second part’ and ‘third part’ respectively on the remaining panels
With the blindstamp and inkstamp on the reverse of the publisher/printer, Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles

Bonhams New-York: 31 October 2023
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 51,200

DAVID HOCKNEY (born 1937)
Four Part Splinge, from Some New Prints (Muesum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 334; Gemini 1606), 1993
Lithograph and screenprint in colors on four sheets of Arches 88 paper
Signed in pencil, titled, dated and numbered 29/48 on the lower right panel
Annotated ‘first part’, ‘second part’ and ‘third part’ respectively on the remaining panels
With the blindstamp of the publisher/printer, Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles

Phillips New-York: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 50,800

Bonhams Los Angeles: 3 October 2023
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 48,640

Christie’s London: 27 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 52,920 / USD 66,080

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
Four Part Splinge, from: Some New Prints, 1993
Lithograph and screen-print in colors on four sheets of wove paper
Signed, titled, and dated in pencil on the fourth sheet
The first, second, and third plates inscribed in pencil, ‘first part,’ ‘second part,’ and ‘third part,’
Numbered 46/48

Bonhams Skinner: 21 September 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 35,200

Bonhams Los Angeles: 29 March 2022
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 100,312
AUCTION RECORD FOR FOUR-PART SPLINGE