David Hockney|Friends (Gemini G.E.L. 1976–77)

'Friends' is Hockney's portrait of his own circle in the mid-1970s. At the start of 1976 he drove across the country from New York to Los Angeles with Gregory Evans, and over the following months he made these lithographs at the Gemini workshop.

Drawn from sittings

A 1976 photograph by Sidney Felsen, one of Gemini's co-founders, shows Henry Geldzahler sitting for Hockney. Two prints carry a place and dates in the image: 'Donald Cribb' is inscribed "Hollywood March 28-29 / 1976", and 'Peter Schlesinger (Sepia)' "Hollywood May 19th, 1976". Two sitters recur: Geldzahler appears in seven of Hockney's Gemini prints of 1976 and 1977, and Evans in five. Geldzahler was then curator of twentieth-century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one of Hockney's closest friends. The portraits of him run from 'Henry With Cigar', on a sheet of about 27.5 x 26.7 cm, to 'Henry At The Table', a landscape sheet more than a metre wide. 'Gregory Thinking Of Henry' brings the two men together in its title.

Line, colour and paper

Gemini printed the series on several papers, among them Arches Cover, grey Rives BFK and Laurence Barker's handmade paper. A few prints use colour. 'Henry Seated With Tulips' is printed in colours on buff paper, and its trial proofs are numbered up to 18. 'Billy Wilder' is a colour lithograph on Japanese Okawara paper, and 'Peter Schlesinger (Sepia)' is printed in red-brown. Gemini's printers on the series included Mark Stock, James Webb and Anthony Zepeda.

Before and after

The series brought Hockney back to Gemini after the lithographs he made there in 1973, which already included portraits of Henry and Celia. He returned in 1979 for the 'Celia and Ann Lithographs (Gemini G.E.L. 1979–81)', among them 'Ann Combing Her Hair' and 'Celia Reclining'. Hockney made 25 prints at Gemini in 1976 and 1977, against 12 in 1979, so 'Friends' is the largest of these groups of Gemini portraits.

Auction results

'Henry Seated With Tulips' made £15,480 including fees at Phillips London on 19 September 2026. At Phillips New York in June 2023, 'Joe Macdonald' made $8,890 and 'Gregory Reclining' $6,350. A studio proof of 'Henry At The Table' sold for £6,985 at Phillips London in September 2024. All three prices include fees.