Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness
Signed Print

Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness is a signed screen print dating from 1964. A part of the Erotic Prints series, the work is equally concerned with the straightforward depiction of the male form. Marking a departure from the muted allusions to homosexuality which defined David Hockney’s work at the beginning of the ’60s, this print’s use of bright colours and photographic likeness is testament to the profound influence of California upon the artist’s production and personal life alike. Having never previously visited the United States, Hockney set up his home and artist’s studio in Santa Monica, California in 1964; a relocation he has likened to that of Van Gogh, who in 1888 moved from Paris to Arles in Southern France to benefit from bright colours and crisp, dazzling sunlight. Hockney’s time in California introduced him to the graphic consumer culture of ‘60s America, the Polaroid camera, and a thriving gay scene. As in the painting Man in Shower in Beverley Hills (1964), this print sees Hockney feature two recurrent motifs in his work: the shower and the male nude. Turning back towards the viewer, the male figure depicted is abstracted by a block of vivid blues and pinks — a shower curtain which partially conceals the contours of the body, but which enables a privileged view into the shower space and the privacy it represents.