13/06/2024 Latest News, Live Auctions
Aspire Art is thrilled to offer on auction, for the first time in South Africa, Hockney’s impressive Hotel Acatlán: Two Weeks Later (1985) as part of the collection for the upcoming evening sale 20th Century & Contemporary Art in Johannesburg on 19 June at 7 pm. Significantly numbered 1 of 98 editions, the work is attractively estimated at R 1 500 000 – 2 000 000, the work will draw interest following the recent sale of another edition for USD 140 200 in Los Angeles in March.
In 1984, David Hockney discovered the Hotel Romano Angeles by chance while en route from Mexico City to Oaxaca to open his exhibition Hockney Paints the Stage at the Museo Rufino Tamayo. Car trouble delayed his travel plans, and he had to stay at the Hotel Romano Angeles in the small town of Acatlán.
The hotel was built around a beautiful, sun-drenched central courtyard, full of tropical greenery with a water well as the focal point. The building’s rustic charm and the vibrant colours of the surroundings immediately inspired and captivated the artist. This led to the creation of a series of multi-colour lithographs, including two large prints based on the Hotel Romano Angeles’ courtyard theme. Visually intricate and technically complex, these works are seminal pieces in Hockney’s acclaimed Moving Focus series, produced in collaboration with master printer Kenneth Tyler between 1984 and 1987.
Today, these limited edition prints are highly sought-after by collectors of Hockney’s works.
Lot 63 | David Hockney, Hotel Acatlán: Two Weeks Later (from A Moving Focus series), 1985.
Estimate: ZAR 1 500 000 – 2 000 000
Study charcoal drawing for Hotel Acatlán, Two Weeks Later, 1984
Other editions of this print are in the permanent collections of the TATE, London and Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis. Other prints from Moving Focus are in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC amongst others.
In this captivating image, Hockney experiments with multi-point and reverse perspectives, giving the impression that one is travelling through and around the scene, mimicking in two dimensions the experience of seeing a three-dimensional environment more authentically than the single-point perspective of a conventional drawing or a camera lens.
Hotel Acatlán: Two Weeks Later is based on drawings the artist made of the hotel courtyard. For these sketches, Hockney moved around, sometimes sitting in the arcade and at other times next to the well. He then condensed the different viewpoints into a single image. Interestingly the figure in the lower right corner of the composition refers to his 1954 portrait of his mother, Woman with a Sewing Machine.
David Hockney at work in the courtyard of Hotel Acatlán. C. 1984. Photo Credit: Kunstmuseum Luzern.
David Hockney. Photo Credit: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Shortly after creating the Moving Focusseries, the major showcase David Hockney: A Retrospective Exhibitionopened at the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles in 1988, which later travelled to the MET in New York and the TATE in London.
David Hockney is one of the most celebrated and prolific artists of this century. Endlessly versatile, the artist’s practice encompasses painting, printing, stage design, photography, and various digital media. His unmistakable style breaks boundaries both in the rules of art and across multiple artistic movements.
Hotel Acatlán: Two Weeks Later is presented alongside other works by notable international artists including Cy Twombly, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Luciano Castelli, and a collaborative piece by Ayanda Mabulu and Dong Xiaozhuang.
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Auction
20th Century & Contemporary Art
19 June 2024 at 7pm (SAST)
Viewing:
7 – 19 June 2024
Monday – Friday: 8:30 am – 4:30pm
Saturday: 10 am – 2 pm
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