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Lot Essay
In September 1984 master printer Kenneth Tyler, founder of Tyler Graphics, traveled to Mexico with David Hockney to begin an ambitious new project resulting in the prints seen on the following pages. In a previous trip to Mexico, Hockney's car broke down in Acatlán, a town 150 miles south of Mexico City. In Acatlán, he discovered Hotel Romano Angeles, a space with a courtyard that inspired him to create dynamic new landscape scenes. Hotel Acatlán: Second Day is based on sketches made of the hotel courtyard shortly after Hockney's arrival. Sketches made when he revisited the hotel at the end of his trip resulted in Hotel Acatlán: Two Weeks Later. Hockney combined a variety of points of view in these works, as the prints join the Renaissance tradition of fixed-viewpoint painting with the Eastern aesthetic of multiple viewpoints. Hockney believed this combination would allow the viewer to become part of the picture.
To develop color lithographs from these drawings, Tyler gave Hockney a range of colored crayons and paints for use on sheets of Mylar. These plastic sheets functioned as ready-made color separations for Hockney to overlay, so that he could envision his completed picture as he went along. Hockney's drawings were then used to create the printing surface on the lithographic plate. Tyler's procedure reduced Hockney's working time and delays in proofing, allowing him to explore color printing in greater depth and scale. Tyler stated later that these works created a new chapter in color printmaking with a focus on innovation and technology, and together Hockney and Tyler created 527 plates using more than 600 colors. Their collaboration lead to the Hockney's Moving Focus series, a group of prints considered to be Hockney's most ambitious print project.
To develop color lithographs from these drawings, Tyler gave Hockney a range of colored crayons and paints for use on sheets of Mylar. These plastic sheets functioned as ready-made color separations for Hockney to overlay, so that he could envision his completed picture as he went along. Hockney's drawings were then used to create the printing surface on the lithographic plate. Tyler's procedure reduced Hockney's working time and delays in proofing, allowing him to explore color printing in greater depth and scale. Tyler stated later that these works created a new chapter in color printmaking with a focus on innovation and technology, and together Hockney and Tyler created 527 plates using more than 600 colors. Their collaboration lead to the Hockney's Moving Focus series, a group of prints considered to be Hockney's most ambitious print project.