The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Photos and text from wire services A Christie’s employee approaches David Hockney’s “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures),” Thursday in New York. One of the British artist’s famous “pool paintings” will be auctioned at Christie’s in November, and is considered one of his premier works. Christie’s has estimated the work at about $80 million, but says it expects it to sell for more. ground.
The rocky landscape is in southern France, and the standing figure is said to represent Peter Schlesinger, whom the artist met in 1966, when the younger man was a student in one of Hockney’s art classes at UCLA. For the next five years, according to Christie’s, he was both “the great love of Hockney’s life” and one of his favorite models.
The relationship ended in 1971. Hockney had already begun the painting and he abandoned it, starting again the following year.
The upcoming sale, Rotter said, “will definitely be a record for David Hockney at auction. And with Mr. Hockney one of the last of his generation still standing, and also painting, this painting will likely be the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction.”
But who will buy an $80 million painting?
“It will be someone who wants the best painting of an artist,” Rotter said, “and the best painting of an artist with historical relevance.”
He added: “Wherever it ends up, I can tell you it will be surrounded by other top works of the 20th century.”