Hockney's First Dog Painting Listed at £2.5m Estimate — SkimNews
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- Dog Painting 17 becomes the first work from Hockney's 1994-95 dachshund series — more than 40 paintings — ever offered at auction, carrying a £1.5m-£2.5m estimate at Christie's on 14 October.
- Christie's believes only six of the more than 40 dog paintings remain in private hands, with the rest held by the David Hockney Foundation.
- Hockney began the series after losing close friend Henry Geldzahler to pancreatic cancer and others to AIDS, telling a journalist he 'desperately wanted to paint something loving.'
- Tessa Lord, Christie's head of postwar and contemporary art, called the rarity 'extraordinary' and highlighted the work's 'incredible spontaneity' and 'fluidity of brushstrokes.'
- Christie's London stages a free public viewing of Dog Painting 17 from 8 October through the 14 October Frieze Week sale.
- Hockney's first dachshund Stanley — named after Stan Laurel and adopted in 1987 — once defecated inside Dennis Hopper's Frank Gehry-designed LA house, prompting Hockney's quip: 'It'll be dry in the morning, luv, and you can just pick it up.'
Why it matters: The first-ever public auction of a Hockney dog painting establishes a price benchmark for a category that has never traded — and with only six of 40-plus works in private hands, collectors and the David Hockney Foundation now have a rare reference point for the comparable paintings the Foundation still controls.
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