The Perspective Lesson
from Moving Focus

Medium: Lithograph in colors on grey handmade HMP paper
Year: 1984
Sheet: 29 3/4 x 22 inches (75.6 x 55.9 cm)
Edition: 50
Artist’s Proofs: 18 AP
Publisher: Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York
Literature: Tyler (284), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (265)

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

 

The Perspective Lesson is one of the most offbeat of Hockney’s images in the groundbreaking, Moving Focus series, which at first seems misplaced but becomes more beguiling with each viewing. The Perspective Lesson is also illustrative of Hockney’s rich knowledge of art history, his humor and his ability to create new dialogue within his own artistic practices. In The Perspective Lesson, as with Two Pembroke Chairs (and various others in the Moving Focus series) Hockney utilizes the simple chair from which to frame the whole print narrative. In fact in The Perspective Lesson, there are two wicker chairs which mirror each other: one is situated in the middle of the floor and the other is in a print on a wall in front of it but is covered by a bold red cross.
The simple image of a wicker chair is immediately reminiscent of the famed wicker chair iconography of old master painter, Van Gogh, yet Hockney imprints his own rebellious interpretation by skewering the viewer’s perspective, distorting the classic proportions of the chair. Both chairs are contrastive: one is covered in a busy pattern situated on a floor pattern that creates an illusionary effect to a viewer. The other is a naïve, black and white composition that is immediately slashed through by this graphic red cross. The narrative or any context behind this image is never conveyed by Hockney, we are left to imprint our own meaning onto his strangely absorbing artwork that illustrates the artist’s innate ability to transcend the simplest of motifs into something visionary.
Source: Andipa

Auction Results

Christie’s online: 26 February 2026
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 20,320

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
The Perspective Lesson, from Moving Focus, 1985
(Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 265; Tyler 284)
Lithograph in colors on gray HMP handmade paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 4/50 (there were also eighteen artist’s proofs)
Published by Tyler Graphics, Bedford, New York, with their blindstamp

Christie’s online: 17 July 2025
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 21,420

DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937)
The Perspective Lesson, from Moving Focus (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 265; Tyler 284), 1984
Lithograph in colors on gray HMP handmade paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 39/50 (there were also eighteen artist’s proofs)

Phillips London: 19 September 2024
Estimated: GBP 7,000 – 9,000
GBP 11,430 / USD 14,493

DAVID HOCKNEY
The Perspective Lesson, from Moving Focus (T.G. 284, M.C.A.T. 265), 1984
Lithograph in colors on grey handmade HMP paper
Sheet: 76.5 x 56 cm (30 1/8 x 22 inches)
Signed, dated and numbered 48/50 in pencil (there were also 18 artist’s proofs)

LA Modern: 10 January 2024
Estimated: USD 9,000 – 12,000
USD 11,970

Lithograph in colors
Signed, dated and numbered to lower edge ‘48/50 David Hockney 1984’

Phillips New-York: 11 March 2022
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 18,900

DAVID HOCKNEY
The Perspective Lesson, from Moving Focus Series (T. 284, M.C.A.T. 265), 1984
Lithograph in colors on grey handmade HMP paper
Signed, dated and numbered 47/50 in pencil

Christie’s London: 18 September 2019
Estimated: GBP 4,000 – 6,000
GBP 11,250 / USD 14,030

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
The Perspective Lesson, from: Moving Focus, 1984
Lithograph in colors on grey HMP handmade wove paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 40/50