Portrait Of Cavafy In Alexandria
Portrait Of Cavafy In Alexandria
Signed Print
David Hockney
£1,650-£2,500
$3,350-$5,000 Value Indicator
$3,000-$4,550 Value Indicator
¥15,000-¥23,000 Value Indicator
€2,000-€3,050 Value Indicator
$16,000-$24,000 Value Indicator
¥310,000-¥470,000 Value Indicator
$2,100-$3,150 Value Indicator
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
There aren't enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Medium: Intaglio
Edition size: 75
Year: 1966
Size: H 35cm x W 23cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2023 | Leonard Joel, Melbourne | Australia | |||
| January 2022 | Phillips London | United Kingdom | |||
| May 2021 | Hall's Fine Art | United Kingdom | |||
| October 2018 | Phillips New York | United States | |||
| November 2017 | Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers | United States | |||
| February 2012 | Christie's London | United Kingdom | |||
| May 2005 | Christie's London | United Kingdom |
Meaning & Analysis
Portrait Of Cavafy In Alexandria is a signed etching by David Hockney, dating to 1966. Published as an edition of 75 the work forms part of the artist’s Illustrations For Fourteen Poems By C.P. Cavafy series.
Showing a man in a suit and tie, wearing round glasses, against a background of modernist buildings, a series of arches and palm trees, this etching shows the elebrated Greek poet himself. Stiffly posed the work derives from a photograph Hockney found of Cavafy, and while the composition is striking, he was usually preferred working from life, as “Things like weight and volume are very hard to get from a photograph. You don't get the information you need to be able to do the line”.
Here Hockney’s line is as confident and sure as his sketches, however the work does lack some of the spontaneity of his representations of friends and lovers in this series and others. The figure of Cavafy is placed almost awkwardly in the foreground, as if pressed up against the edge of the frame.
The series of prints was published in 1967 along with a new translation of Cavafy's work and they were intended to accompany rather than illustrate the poet’s work. In this way some present a stark contrast to the poems which conceal rather than display their desire which was then considered illicit. While queerness was still not as tolerated as it is now, in 1967 Hockney had the benefit of publishing in a year when homosexuality had finally been legalised by the British government.
