David Hockney|Home Made Prints

The series turned an office machine into a printing press that Hockney could run on his own. Until then colour printmaking had meant a workshop: in his words, "it takes hours and hours, working alongside several master craftsmen, to generate an image". The copier removed that. "But with these copying machines, I can work by myself," he said, and he called the results "the closest I've ever come in printing to what it's like to paint".

How the prints were made

Hockney began experimenting with a friend's copier in February 1986 and soon bought three machines of his own. He started on a Canon copier with changeable colour cartridges and later added a larger Kodak model with a deep black toner. Each print was built up the way a lithograph is printed from separate plates. Hockney made a drawing or collage for each colour and fed the same sheet of Arches Text paper back through the machine for every layer. The toner contained no oil and was fused to the paper by heat, and he described the resulting black as "like a void". The machine was a camera as well as a press. "I then realized how the machine sees," he said, and he placed real objects on the glass alongside his drawings: for 'Self-Portrait, July 1986' he laid his own striped shirt on the plate.

The 1986 editions

Hockney published the 1986 prints himself and aimed for 60 impressions of each image, with no proofs. Not every run reached that number, so the final edition size records how far each one got. In December 1986 the prints went on show in four cities: at André Emmerich Gallery in New York, Knoedler in London, L.A. Louver in Venice, California, and Nishimura in Tokyo. Hockney designed and published the catalogue himself.

Before and after

Before the copier, Hockney had made his colour prints with master printers, among them Kenneth Tyler, with whom he made the 'Moving Focus' lithographs between 1984 and 1987. After it, he turned to another office machine. In 1989 he took part in the São Paulo Biennial by fax, and the same year he sent 'Tennis', 144 faxed sheets, from Los Angeles to Salts Mill in Saltaire. The fax show in Brazil caused a stir, and many viewers appreciated its use of printing to make original artworks.

At auction

Phillips sold 'Self-Portrait, July 1986' for £52,920 in its David Hockney sale in London on 13 September 2022. The same sale included 'Ian And Heinz' at £37,800, 'Office Chair' at £32,760 and 'Two Red Chairs And Table' at £30,240. Christie's New York sold another 'Self-Portrait, July 1986' for $40,320 on 28 October 2023, and in October 2025 Bonhams Los Angeles sold 'Red, Blue And Green Flowers' for $20,480. All these figures include fees.