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David Hockney|My Window (TASCHEN)

The view from a single window, drawn on iPhone and iPad, fills 'My Window (TASCHEN)', David Hockney's 2019 artist's book and the four prints issued with it. The drawings follow the same Yorkshire view through the seasons, from sunrises to snow and the first signs of spring. TASCHEN released 2,000 numbered copies, and each of the first 1,000 came with one of the four prints in editions of 250 each.

All My Window (TASCHEN) Works By David Hockney (5)

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iPhone drawing ‘No. 535’, 28th June 2009 - 2019

David Hockney

£35k

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iPhone drawing ‘No. 610’, 23rd December 2010 - 2019

David Hockney

£28k

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iPhone drawing ‘No. 778’, 17th April 2011 - 2019

David Hockney

£40k

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My Window

David Hockney

£2.2k

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iPhone drawing ‘No. 281’, 23rd July 2010 - 2019

David Hockney

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Significance & Analysis

'My Window' is Hockney's own selection from his first years of drawing on a phone and a tablet. He chose the 120 drawings himself and set them in the order he made them, so the book reads as a running record of one view between 2009 and 2012. The window was in his bedroom in Bridlington, on the East Yorkshire coast. The screen's own light let him draw before dawn. "There was great advantage in this medium because it's backlit and I could draw in the dark," he said. "I didn't ever have to get out of bed." Friends around the world received the drawings on their phones.

From phone to tablet

TASCHEN issued four of the drawings as prints, one with each art edition, and together they trace his move from phone to tablet. 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 535’, 28th June 2009 - 2019' is the one iPhone drawing among them. 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 281’, 23rd July 2010 - 2019', 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 610’, 23rd December 2010 - 2019' and 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 778’, 17th April 2011 - 2019' were drawn on an iPad, which he took up in 2010. The prints are eight-colour inkjet on cotton-fibre archival paper, dated 2019 alongside the year of each drawing. They share a portrait sheet of about 56 x 43 cm, but the iPhone drawing's image, at about 44 x 29.5 cm, is narrower than the 44 x 33 cm of the three iPad drawings.

Before and after

'My Window' followed 'A Bigger Book (TASCHEN)' of 2016, which paired a survey of his whole career with four iPad flower drawings from 2010. 'My Window' kept that structure of four art editions, each with a print, but gave the entire volume to the phone and tablet drawings. He went on drawing on the iPad, and in 2020 used it to record the arrival of spring in Normandy day by day, part of his 'iPad Drawings'.

At auction

At Phillips London in September 2022 a complete set of all four art editions, each print numbered 46/250, made £170,100. Art Edition D, with 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 778’, 17th April 2011 - 2019', sold for £69,300 in the same sale. Single art editions made between £22,860 and £29,670 at Phillips London in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and in September 2026 a second complete set, numbered 28/250, sold there for £96,750. All these figures include fees.

How Was My Window (TASCHEN) Editioned?

The first 1,000 copies form four art editions of 250, each with its own print: A (copies 1 to 250) with 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 535’, 28th June 2009 - 2019', B (251 to 500) with 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 281’, 23rd July 2010 - 2019', C (501 to 750) with 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 610’, 23rd December 2010 - 2019' and D (751 to 1,000) with 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 778’, 17th April 2011 - 2019'. Copies 1,001 to 2,000 are the Collector's Edition, which has no print. Every copy is a 248-page hardcover in a clamshell box. Artist's proofs of the art editions also exist.

Are the Book and Prints Signed?

Yes. Hockney signed every copy of the book, the Collector's Edition included, and art-edition copies sold at auction carry his signature in black ink on the title page. Each of the four prints is signed, dated and numbered out of 250 in pencil, and carries his blindstamp as co-publisher with TASCHEN.

What Should a Complete Art Edition Include?

The signed book in its clamshell box, the print in its portfolio, and the original cardboard box with its numbered label. In intact art editions sold at Phillips, the print's number matched the copy's place in its range: copy 0093 came with print 93/250 of 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 535’, 28th June 2009 - 2019', and copy 0488 with print 238/250 of 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 281’, 23rd July 2010 - 2019'. Prints have also been sold alone, such as a framed 'iPhone drawing ‘No. 610’, 23rd December 2010 - 2019' without its book at Phillips London in June 2021, so a matching pair is the fuller copy.

Why Did Hockney Draw the Sunrise on His Phone?

Because the phone suited the subject. "One quickly realizes that it is a luminous medium and very good for luminous subjects," he said of drawing on the iPhone. He also said the sunrises depended on it: "I wouldn't have drawn the sunrise with just a pencil and a piece of paper."

Is There a Trade Edition of My Window?

Yes. In October 2022 TASCHEN released 'My Window' in an unlimited XL edition. It is a separate, unnumbered trade book and not part of the 2019 limited edition.