Name: An Image Of Celia (study)
Brand: David Hockney
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of David Hockney’s An Image Of Celia (study) (signed) is estimated to be worth between £6,000 and £9,000. This lithograph print, created in 1986, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 5%. This artwork has an auction history of 14 total sales since its entry to the market in October 2005. Over the past 12 months, the average selling price was £5,876, across 1 total sale. The hammer price in the last five years has ranged from £5,432 in October 2021 to £8,601 in April 2021. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 60.

Meaning & Analysis

An Image Of Celia (study) brings together various disparate elements in a slightly awkward composition that nonetheless manages to convey Hockney’s eye for portraits and invention with colour. In this work we find a number of drawings of his close friend and muse Celia Birtwell; the image is dominated by a floating canvas, shown in 3d and casting a shadow below, which depicts a close up of Birtwell’s face in a style recognisable from the Moving Focus series. Here her features are given a Cubist treatment, her wide blue eyes skewed and highlighted in green, showing this to be a close study for the work An Image Of Celia. Below the canvas is a shadowy portrait in blue where she is less identifiable and above is a pink shaded part where just an eye and a pair of lips are shown. The whole effect feels like we have been given a glimpse into the artist’s sketchbook as he figures out a composition before he sets to work, however the work is unusual in that it is a print which the artist decided to publish in an edition of 60, suggesting this is more than just a study.