David Hockney|Celia and Ann Lithographs (Gemini G.E.L. 1979–81)

In these lithographs Hockney returned again and again to two women he had known for years, Celia Birtwell above all. In 1979 he moved into a house high in the Hollywood Hills and worked with Gemini G.E.L. on lithographs of Birtwell and Upton. Birtwell had first sat for him a decade earlier, in 1969. Upton, whom he had met in 1960, later married his assistant, David Graves.

Many faces

The 1979 Celia titles each name a single state of mind or gesture: 'Celia Musing', 'Celia Weary', 'Celia Amused', 'Celia Inquiring', 'Celia Elegant'. Of Birtwell, Hockney said: "Celia is one of the few girls I know really well," and "she has many faces". The Ann prints take everyday moments for their subject. 'Ann Combing Her Hair' is a landscape sheet, while 'A Lot More Of Ann Combing Her Hair' returns to the subject on a portrait sheet more than 1.2 metres tall.

Paper and printing

Five of the 1979 Celia portraits are printed on handmade Japanese Toyoshi paper, and 'Celia Reclining' and 'Celia Adjusting Her Eyelash' on handmade Twinrocker paper. 'Ann Combing Her Hair' is on John Koller handmade paper, and 'Ann Putting On Lipstick' on a tall, narrow sheet of Japanese Okawara paper, about 119 x 47 cm. Of the portraits drawn in 1980, 'Celia With Green Plant' is a colour lithograph and 'Celia In A Polka Dot Skirt' adds screenprint to lithography. 'Celia In The Director's Chair' is on Japanese Kurotani paper, and 'Celia In An Armchair' is a landscape sheet more than 1.2 metres wide. The two Big Celia prints are larger still, each more than 1.4 metres wide. Serge Lozingot, Anthony Zepeda and Charles Ritt printed many of the 1979 sheets, and Christine Fox joined them on the prints drawn in 1980.

Before and after

Birtwell was already the subject of Hockney's 'Celia Etchings (Petersburg Press, 1974–76)', and the Gemini portraits of 'Friends (Gemini G.E.L. 1976–77)' came just before this series. In 1979 he also made lithograph portraits at Tyler Graphics, among them 'Ann Seated In Director's Chair', one of the '23 Lithographs 1978–1980 (Tyler Graphics)'. The director's chair reappears at Gemini in 'Celia In The Director's Chair'. Both women stayed in his prints after 1981: 'Celia With Green Hat' belongs to the 'Moving Focus' prints he made with Tyler Graphics in 1984, and Gemini published 'Ann In The Studio' the same year.