Ann Putting On Lipstick
Signed Print

As with Ann Combing Her Hair, Ann Putting On Lipstick is an intimate portrait of Hockney’s close friend Ann Upton. The two met in 1960 and Ann became his model in 1962. She later met David Graves who became Hockney’s assistant and the pair were married in 1983 with Hockney as the photographer. Recalling Degas’ many paintings and sketches of women at their toilet, Upton is shown in the middle of a private moment. Her back is turned to us, her face only visible to us through the mirror she is using to apply lipstick. Her eyes reflected back to us show her fixed on her own face rather than gazing out at the viewer or artist. In this way the work also reminds us of Velasquez’s Rokeby Venus, where a beautiful woman is shown from behind, her face only visible to us by reflection. This signed lithograph is part of the 1979 portfolio made in collaboration with the prestigious Gemini print workshop in LA. In contrast to the 1975 series, which comprises portraits of Hockney’s male friends and lovers (with the exception of a portrait of Brooke Hopper) this portfolio is more focused on the artist’s female friends and includes a number of portraits of Celia Birtwell as well as Ann Upton.