Name: Death In Harlem
Brand: David Hockney
Rating: 4.9 (228 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of David Hockney’s Death In Harlem (signed) is estimated to be worth between £17,000 and £26,000. This etching print, created in 1963, is a rare artwork with an auction history of one sale on 30th October 2003. There have been no sales in the last 12 months or the last five years, and the edition size of this artwork is limited to 50.

Auction Date

Auction House

Artwork

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

October 2003

Christie's London - United Kingdom

Death In Harlem - Signed Print

Meaning & Analysis

Following on from Viewing A Prison Scene, Death in Harlem is the sixth plate in David Hockney’s series of etchings entitled A Rake’s Progress. Hockney was inspired by his first visit to New York in the summer of 1961 as well as William Hogarth’s print portfolio of the same name, which dates to 1735. Moving between autobiography and secondary sources such as films and, in this case, the photography of James Van der Zee for Harlem funeral parlours, the series is a portrayal of the more melancholy or unsettling sides of the city. Almost every print contains a self portrait of the artist, usually blank faced and melancholy and often shown in profile, and here we see Hockney’s addition of his own floating head in red at the corner of the image, looking away from the bed on which lies a dead body. The deceased is watched over by an angel, as in the original photograph, and here Hockney has also chosen to pick out a single rose from the flowered wreaths of the source image. In contrast with the photograph, and Hogarth’s scenes, the rest of the composition is strikingly spare. The white background dominates as in many other prints from the series, adding to the feeling of isolation and loneliness that pervades the scenes.