David Hockney Artwork Valuation: Understanding Market Value & Appraisal

The ArtValue engine analyses auction results (Drouot, Christie's, Sotheby's, Artcurial), gallery prices and online marketplaces to deliver a personalised estimate.

What drives the value of a work by David Hockney

Unique paintings on canvas — Acrylic and oil paintings, above all the Californian swimming-pool and double-portrait subjects of the 1960s and 1970s and the large Yorkshire landscapes of the 2000s, form the top of the market and are treated as international trophy lots. They require full provenance and, in practice, exhibition or literature references before any serious appraisal.

Unique drawings and watercolours — Pencil, coloured-crayon and ink portraits of his close circle (Celia Birtwell, Ossie Clark, Henry Geldzahler, Gregory Evans, his parents) and the watercolour and iPad-derived landscape studies are actively traded and clearly signed and dated by the artist. Value depends heavily on the identity of the sitter, the size of the sheet and the degree of finish.

Signed and numbered prints — Hockney has worked constantly in etching, lithography and screenprint, from the Rake's Progress and Grimm's Fairy Tales etchings to the Paper Pools and Moving Focus lithographs, and these hand-signed, numbered editions form the deepest and most liquid part of his market. Photographic collages and the later printed iPad drawings are also editioned and signed, and are catalogued separately from the traditional prints.

Books, portfolios, multiples — Illustrated books, bound portfolios, the Hockney-designed opera and exhibition material and occasional three-dimensional multiples circulate steadily but at a much lower level than the independent prints. Loose plates removed from a book are worth markedly less than a complete, intact copy with its colophon and justification page.

Posters and reproductions — Offset exhibition posters, museum reproductions and press images exist in very large numbers and are essentially decorative; only a hand-signed example carries a modest premium. They are never catalogued as original prints, whatever the frame or the gallery label suggests.

Hockney typically signs in pencil below the image on prints, usually as a cursive "David Hockney" or the initials "DH", with the edition fraction at the left and often the date; many of his etchings and lithographs also carry the artist's or printer's blindstamp (Petersburg Press, Gemini G.E.L., Tyler Graphics, Crown Point Press) in the margin. On drawings and canvases he generally signs and dates on the front or on the reverse, frequently adding the sitter's name or place, and his early sixties works sometimes carry signatures or inscriptions worked directly into the painted surface. As he is a living artist there is no estate stamp or posthumous edition; verification rests on the published catalogues of his graphic work, printer and publisher records, and the gallery chain of ownership.

• Offset exhibition posters for his museum shows, especially the pool and Yorkshire landscape images, are routinely framed and sold as prints, but under magnification they show a regular four-colour dot screen and have no plate mark or pencil edition number.
• Later photomechanical reproductions inscribed "after David Hockney", or printed-signature editions issued for charity and promotional purposes, carry a signature that sits flat within the ink film rather than in graphite on top of the paper.
• Pages cut from illustrated books such as the Grimm or Cavafy volumes are sometimes trimmed, signed by an unknown hand and presented as loose etchings; the absence of a plate impression matching the recorded sheet size is the usual tell.
• Prints from the iPad and photographic series are frequently copied by inkjet, and a genuine example should show the correct paper, the publisher's or studio's blindstamp and a numbering system consistent with the documented edition.

• Works from the Los Angeles years, pools, showers, sprinklers and the double portraits of friends, command the strongest demand, while the more decorative later printed material is far more abundant and priced accordingly.
• Recognisable, named sitters from the artist's circle lift a drawing or print well above an anonymous head or a purely still-life subject.
• Small editions from the early etching and lithograph projects are more sought after than the large later runs, and a low number or an annotated proof (AP, HC, printer's proof) adds interest when it is documented.
• Light-struck and faded colour, mat burn, foxing and trimmed margins are common on Hockney prints of the sixties and seventies and depress value sharply, as does any restoration to a signed margin.

• Photograph the full sheet including all four margins, with a close-up of the pencil signature, the edition fraction and any blindstamp or embossing.
• Photograph the reverse and the backing board, recording gallery and publisher labels, framer's stickers, exhibition stamps and any inscription in the artist's hand.
• Note the exact sheet and image dimensions, the paper (watermark, thickness, deckled or cut edges) and any visible condition issue such as fading, foxing, creasing or a repaired tear.

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