By David Hockney
Located in New York, NY
"Water in swimming pools changes its look more than any other form. If the water surface is almost still and there is a strong sun, then dancing lines with the color of the spectrum appear everywhere." -
- David Hockney
David Hockney
Offset Lithograph poster (Deluxe Hand Signed Limited Edition) on Parsons Diploma Parchment Paper, accompanied by COA from the Publisher and Olympic Committee
36 × 24 inches
Pencil signed and unnumbered from the Edition of 750 (there was a separate, larger unsigned edition)
Unframed
Also accompanied by gallery issued Certificate of Guarantee
One of the most coveted, historic and popular David Hockney limited editions created - beloved by American and international collectors alike:
The official edition of this work is 750, but the publisher famously destroyed unsold editions after the Olympic Games and only about 200-250 are said to remain. This hand signed limited edition iconic Hockney work was printed as one of the fifteen Official Fine Art Olympic Posters for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (the XXIII'rd Olympiad). It depicts an aerial view of a swimmer under rippling water broken up into 12 squares. A statement released by the 1984 Olympic committee explains the set as follows - "The posters commissioned for the 1984 Olympics contain an enlightened selection of the best American artists with special emphasis on those who work in Southern California...As the Games develop, transpire and pass into memory, these fifteen posters contain the images, forms and symbols that will represent the 1984 Olympics in the museums, galleries, homes and the minds of people all over the world.” This work is NOT to be confused with the ubiquitous plate signed poster of the same image, which was printed on different paper in an open edition.) In 1982, the Olympic Committee commissioned 15 artists to create posters for the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Hockney designed this offset lithograph depicting Olympic swimming. It was printed on Parsons Diploma Parchment paper in 1982, in an edition of 750, hand signed in pencil by the artist. Even though this print was published in an edition of 750, after the first marketing blitz, the publisher destroyed the remaining portfolios of signed prints - literally discarding hundreds of them in the dumpster. The Olympic Committee commissioned these portfolios to celebrate and promote the 1984 Olympics, and nobody expected the individual prints to have such enduring value. As the executives running the short-term promotional campaign were neither prophets nor curators, they saw no reason to hold on to these huge prints...
Category
1980s Pop Art David Hockney Art
MaterialsLithograph, Offset