群交AV

Hockney’s focus on Dachshunds can be credited to his friend and former-partner, Ian Falconer. During their relationship in the 1980s, Falconer owned a Dachshund named Heinz, which sparked Hockney’s love for the breed. Shortly after, Falconer encouraged Hockney to adopt Stanley, and following this, Boodgie too. The 1980s were a difficult time for Hockney, marked by the AIDS crisis where he lost many close friends. Amid this tumultuous time, his dogs became a source of support and stability. Hockney would photograph, draw and paint his new friends,  and was captivated by their playful nature and how their moods seemed to mirror his own. Hockney noted that these creatures – fun, curious and strikingly intelligent – could also be bored, and would enjoy watching him as he painted. In watching their movement and response to his working, Hockney saw them in a new light.

In 1995, one of his closest friends – American curator, historian and modern art critic Henry Geldzahler – passed away. In the wake of his passing, Hockney moved to Malibu with his dogs and began fastidiously documenting them. His series Dog Days created that year were images devoted to love, loss and companionship.

Aside from his more personal response to his Dachshunds, Hockney was also following a recent line of art-historical tradition. Both Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol depicted their Dachshunds in pet portraits too. We know that Picasso was a great inspiration on Hockney and it is also known that Warhol and Hockney were friends.

Hockney’s primary attraction to depicting his dogs was the sheer fun of the subject matter. Beyond his deep affection for them, Hockney had the privilege of observing their every move, from how they navigated spaces to the subtle expressions in their faces – their whimpers, playful gestures or even puppy eyes – all which revealed the intricacies of their personalities. 

With Dog Wall (1998), consisting of fifteen etched portraits of his dogs, Hockney adopts the formal medium of etching, a technique typically associated with precision and intricate studies, to capture the lively, playful essence of his dogs. The etching series is not just a study of his dogs but a celebration of their personalities and their place in Hockney's life, embodying his broader artistic ethos of finding beauty and joy in the simplest moments.

Dog Wall demonstrates Hockney’s innovation in printmaking, transforming the etchings into a personal narrative full of life and character.

Portraiture is one of Hockney’s most explored subject matters. Like many artists who preceded him, Hockney was especially keen on building personal relationships with his sitters. He frequently invited people back for multiple sittings, fascinated by the changes in ageing faces. This approach not only ensured more characterful outcomes but served as a cost-effective alternative to hiring models. Hockney’s portraits are strikingly autobiographical, revealing not just personality quirks but also offering insights into his relationship with the sitter. By portraying individuals that he knows well, Hockney infuses his work with intimacy, capturing the unspoken dimensions of familiar faces. As the artist notes, ‘I don’t really like struggling for a likeness. It seems a bit of a waste of effort … If you don’t know the person, you don’t really know if you’ve got a likeness at all.’ 

Hockney’s friend-portraits are characterised by their informal, colourful and psychologically engaging features, and this same ethos is mirrored in his dog portraits. Much like the Dog Wall which captures the pups from a range of angles, both awake and asleep, Hockney’s earlier work: Stanley in a Basket, October 1986 further adds to this tradition. Using one of his more adventurous mediums, this homemade print was created on an office-grade copy machine. Hockney was keen to test the limits of printmaking by using a photocopier to make subtly modified ‘translations’ of whatever was placed on it, rather than precise copies. He devised a process whereby he broke a composition down into its principal colours, drawing each element on a different sheet of paper. He then took one of these sheets and made enough copies for the edition run. Following this, he would change the Xerox's colour toner and photocopy the second element onto the same sheets. This process would be repeated several times, adding new layers of vibrant colours and shapes to build up a dynamic composition. In this work, Stanley is animated, all four legs splayed on his bright blue cushion looking up at Hockney with doting eyes. The loose brushstrokes in the dog’s body evoke some restless movement and the dynamism of his coat as it catches the light.

Many of Hockney’s artworks explore his dogs in languid poses, cosied up on brushed carpets or curled up on plumped pillows by the fire. Their presence within wider domestic settings imbue life into these portraits. Hockney’s skill lies in his astute representations of everyday life and observing the beauty within it. Whether in domestic interior scenes or vast Californian landscapes, he suffuses personal elements that speak to his careful observation of the world around him. 

We can consider Hockney’s dog portraits in much the same way as many of his still lifes, that interrogate medium and colour alongside regular subject matters. Four Flowers in a Still Life (1990) for example, employs a range of line to delineate space. The chequered floor we may recognise from several portraits in Dog Wall, enabling us to develop our associations with Hockney’s space and to metaphorically ‘colour-in’ parts of his artistic world. Though disparate, considering still lifes aside his portraits is a lucrative exercise in understanding why Hockney chooses to pause on certain elements.

Hockney has long demonstrated his mastery in depicting space and challenging traditional perspectives - his dog portraits are fascinating extensions of this. The animals’ movements and their engagement with their environment mirror Hockney’s ongoing fascination with the relationship between space, perspective, and how both can be reinterpreted in art. Hockney not only captures the dynamic, ever-changing nature of his subjects but also transforms simple, intimate moments into explorations of how we see and experience the world. Hotel Acatlán: Two Weeks Later (1985) is a great example of where this multi-angled approach is showcased.

Hockney’s ability to push the boundaries of space has enlivened our understanding of many of his subject matters. Whether in his photographs, paintings or etchings, Hockney’s depictions of his beloved dogs, captured from multiple angles and in variety of poses, not only reflect the artist’s approach to space, but also animate a moment in time which is deeply personal to the artist.

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