Printed Originals presents
David Hockney Original posters · 1968–2024
Sun, swimming pools and Californian blue, from a Bradford boy.
II · Signed by hand
Two posters signed by Hockney himself.
Most Hockney posters carry no signature, or a printed one that every copy shares. These two were signed in pencil, by hand, one copy at a time.
1968
Galerie Mikro, Berlin
Complete Prints, 9 November – 28 December 1968, with his 1966 Cavafy etching of two young men. Signed “David Hockney” in pencil beneath the image.
1982
San Francisco Opera
Summer Festival Season 1982: his Bedlam set for The Rake’s Progress. Signed in pencil under the date. Set it beside an unsigned copy and the difference is the signature alone.
Want a closer look? We will send detailed photographs of either signature before you buy.
III · Bradford to Los Angeles
From Bradford grey to California blue.
1937, Bradford
Born in Bradford. Bradford School of Art, 1953–57.
Fiesta ’88, St James’ Market, Bradford, 12 June 1988.
1959, London
Royal College of Art, 1959–62. The first prizes, the first shows.
Tate Gallery, London, c.1986: Views of Hotel Well III.
1964, Los Angeles
He moved to California in 1964, never having visited, and set up a studio in Santa Monica. He found swimming pools, hard sunlight and the road to his studio.
LACMA: Mulholland Drive (painting 1980). LACMA, 1996: sun loungers by a pool. Louisiana, 2001: Nichols Canyon.
2005, Yorkshire
Salts Mill, Saltaire, from the late 1980s; Bridlington from 2005, painting the lanes outdoors.
Louisiana, 2015: a charcoal lane, “DH 13”. Boston, 2019: Garrowby Hill.
2019, Normandy
Drawing in Normandy from 2019, and there through the 2020 lockdown, on an iPad.
Galerie Lelong, 2020: Ma Normandie. Royal Academy, 2021: The Arrival of Spring.
IV · The pool, close up · Munich 1972
A diver, drawn two years before the Games.
Why this poster
Munich’s organisers commissioned posters of the Games from artists. Hockney’s answer is a swimming pool, turned upright and stripped to one moment. Nothing in it says sport except the dive. The V&A, which holds a copy, catalogues it as Diving: The 1972 Olympic Games, published in 1971. Some copies were also signed by hand; this one carries the printed signature only.
V · 1984
Two Olympic posters, both by Hockney, made two ways.
Sarajevo reused a picture he had already made. Los Angeles asked him for a new one. Point at any row to compare the two.
Made from an existing work · Sarajevo, February
- Picture
- An existing photo-collage, The Skater, N.Y., Dec. 1982
- Layout
- A skater in a blue tracksuit on a grey field
- Type
- Captions in French, English and Serbo-Croat across the foot
- Signature
- None on the poster: after Hockney
Made for the poster · Los Angeles, July
- Picture
- Twelve photographs, taken for the poster
- Layout
- A swimmer seen from above, cut into a 3 × 4 grid
- Type
- One line, “Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games”
- Signature
- “D.H.” printed under the grid: plate-signed
Both are his work. Only one began as a poster.
How to tell
Ask one question: did the picture exist before the poster? The Sarajevo skater did; it is a 1982 collage, reused for the 1984 Winter Games. The Los Angeles swimmer was made for the poster; the V&A catalogues it under Hockney as designer, one of fifteen artists’ posters for the Games. Both are original period posters. The difference is how the poster was made, not whether it is genuine.
VI · Signatures
Hand-signed, plate-signed or after?
Every poster in our archive falls into one of three groups. Each one is an original; the signature tells you how closely Hockney was involved with the copy in front of you.
Hand-signed
Signed by Hockney himself, in pencil or ink, on this very copy, after it was printed. Each signature was added one poster at a time. The rarest of the three.
On this poster: pencil “David Hockney” beneath the image, Galerie Mikro, 1968. Available · from £3,250.00 · View this poster →
Show all 2 in the archive ↓
Plate-signed
His signature is printed as part of the design, so every copy of the edition carries it. It shows the image is his and the poster was made with him, but it is not a hand signature.
On this poster: “David Hockney 70”, printed in black under the image, Munich 1972. Available · from £1,100.00 · View this poster →
Show all 8 in the archive ↓
After Hockney
A poster that reproduces one of his works, produced by a museum, gallery or publisher, with no signature of his. The credit line names the work. Still an original poster, printed for the exhibition it announces.
On this poster: typeset sponsor and credit lines printed over the reproduced painting, Tate Britain, 2017. Available · from £570.00 · View this poster →
Show all 36 in the archive ↓
VIII · Collecting
Read the margins before the picture.
The signature, the printer and the credit line are the best evidence of when a poster was made and how closely Hockney was involved.
Hand-signed, plate-signed and after: what do the terms mean?
Hand-signed: signed by the artist in pencil or ink on that copy. Plate-signed: the signature is printed as part of the design, so every copy carries it. After Hockney: a poster reproducing his work, made by a museum, gallery or publisher, with no signature of his. All three can be original period posters.
How do you tell a hand signature from a printed one?
Under a raking light and a loupe. Pencil or ink sits on top of the printed surface, catches the light differently and varies from copy to copy. A plate signature lies in the ink layer, flat and identical on every copy. The Tate Gallery Hotel Well poster even reproduces the print’s own pencil signature and “A.P.” number: it looks handwritten, but it is printed.
Can I see the signature before I buy?
Yes. Ask us and we will send detailed photographs of the signature, the margins and the condition of any poster.
Is it a period printing?
Not always, even from a museum. The Royal Academy still sells the 2012 A Bigger Picture poster, and Louisiana’s shop sells the Pool and Steps and 2015 Louisiana on Paper posters new. A poster whose venue name or picture is later than its stated date is not a period poster.
Which Olympic posters did Hockney design?
Munich 1972, for the Games’ artist series, and Los Angeles 1984, one of fifteen in the official fine-art series. Sarajevo 1984 reproduces an existing collage. The Los Angeles series also includes posters by Roy Lichtenstein, April Greiman and Jayme Odgers, and Jonathan Borofsky; those are not Hockney’s.
Condition and framing
We grade condition in six steps and describe every mark (condition grading). Framing is optional, and all our framing is conservation framing (framing original posters).