Amaryllis In Vase

This boldly coloured print represents two of Hockney’s great loves, still lifes and flowers. Here we see him depicting a bunch of amaryllis flowers in a round blue vase that appears like a shell with its curved lines of detail. A vivid red, the flowers clash spectacularly with the busy print of the wallpaper behind the vase, made up of a pink and yellow chintzy pattern which is at odds with the stark backgrounds of Hockney’s earlier prints. Here the background comes to the fore and the artist uses lithography as a way of combining colour and tone as he would in painting while maintaining the spontaneity of his drawings in the fluid lines and areas of shading such as the shadow of the table upon which the vase sits.

Amaryllis In Vase is part of the series entitled Moving Focus, which spans the years between 1984 and 1986 when Hockney was experimenting with bright colours and multiple perspectives, inspired by Cubism as well as his photographic collages. By depicting a subject he would return to throughout his career the work inevitably draws comparisons with both Hockney’s earlier and later works in which cut flowers, as well as interiors abound, and here we can see a foreshadowing of some of his digital drawings in which flowers are celebrated with exuberant colours and detailed settings.