Artist: David Hockney
Title: "Serenade" (from The Blue Guitar Series)
Year: 1977
Medium: Etching with Aquatint on Inveresk Mould-Made Paper
Sheet size: 21.65" x 18.9"
Plate Size: 16.75" x 13.5"
Edition Size: 200 Numbered, 35 Artists Proof (XXXV)
Edition Number: 80/200
Inscription: Signed "David Hockney"
Documentation: Includes Gallery Certificate of Authenticity
David Hockney's Serenade is a standout work from his 1977 portfolio The Blue Guitar, a series of 20 etchings inspired by Wallace Stevens's poem The Man with the Blue Guitar (1937). Stevens's poem, itself a reflection on Picasso's The Old Guitarist, explores themes of artistic transformation and the tension between reality and imagination—concepts that Hockney renders visually through complex structures, shifting perspectives, and layered imagery.
Rather than directly illustrating the poem, Hockney interprets its philosophical underpinnings, creating "pictures within pictures" that fuse art historical references with personal iconography. The works reflect on the act of art-making itself, often suggesting the interplay between perception and invention. The Blue Guitar series also marked Hockney's first major exploration of color etching, a technique he learned from master printer Aldo Crommelynck, who had previously worked with Picasso.
Published by Petersburg Press, The Blue Guitar series is held in the permanent collections of major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art. This impression of Serenade is from the numbered edition of 200, with an additional 35 artist's proofs. It is hand-signed and numbered in pencil on the lower front margin as 80/200. The purchase includes a certificate of authenticity from Modern Artifact.
About David Hockney
David Hockney (born July 9, 1937, Bradford, UK) is one of the most influential living artists in the world. Known for his vivid color palettes, innovative techniques, and deep interest in perception, Hockney's work spans painting, drawing, photography, stage design, and digital media.
He studied at the Bradford School of Art and later the Royal College of Art in London, emerging in the early 1960s as a key figure in the British Pop Art scene. His early works were bold and personal, often referencing his sexuality and using humor, text, and experimental composition.
A pivotal move to Los Angeles in 1964 brought sunlight and swimming pools into his artistic vocabulary. Paintings like A Bigger Splash (1967) and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972) have become icons of postwar art, blending a cool, graphic style with quiet emotional depth.
Hockney is renowned for his relentless innovation. In the 1980s, he explored photographic "joiners"—mosaics of Polaroid and 35mm prints that offer multiple perspectives at once. In later decades, he embraced digital drawing tools like the iPad and iPhone, finding new ways to depict landscapes and everyday scenes with immediacy and vibrancy.
He has also worked in set design for opera and ballet, and made major contributions to art theory. His 2001 book and documentary Secret Knowledge proposed that Renaissance artists may have used optical aids—a provocative idea that sparked international debate.
Hockney has been the subject of major retrospectives at the Tate, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Centre Pompidou, and was appointed to the Order of Merit by the UK. Despite his acclaim, he remains deeply focused on the act of looking, insisting that the role of the artist is to help people see.
Now living and working in Normandy, France, Hockney continues to produce radiant landscapes and digital artworks. His fearless experimentation, expressive color, and unrelenting curiosity have made him a defining figure in modern and contemporary art.
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