The first volume of a catalog raisonné dedicated to the work of one of the UK’s most influential artists, David Hockney, will be released online in 2026. The debut volume will be dedicated to the artist’s paintings; more than 35,000 works will be documented in total. “This is a project of approximately 15 to 20 years; in due course there will be a call for works”, says a statement from the project.
The catalog will be overseen by an editorial and supervisory team made up of Hockney himself, his studio assistants and the trustees of the David Hockney Foundation (Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, reportedly Hockney’s partner, and Jonathan Wilkinson). David Hockney Inc. staff, as well as researchers, scholars and authors familiar with the artist’s work, will also assist in the research and selection of works. The catalog will also feature essays by artists and writers that put individual pieces in context.
The David Hockney Foundation was established in 2008 and, according to an online description, owns more than 8,000 works by the artist (according to documents published at Companies House UK, its gross income in 2021 amounted to £11.9 million). David Hockney Inc is the artist’s American company that “supports his personal artistic endeavors and cares for the collections and archives of the artist and his foundation,” the statement said.
The catalog will not only be a useful resource for academics and other artists, but will also assist collectors and dealers who follow the Hockney market closely. In 2018, work Portrait of an artist (pool with two figures) (1972), fetched $90.3 million (with fees) at Christie’s New York, setting an auction record for Hockney, making the British painter the most expensive living artist to date.
Shannan Kelly, the director of David Hockney Inc., said in a statement: “We have worked very hard over the past few years to expand and update our inventory and archive databases, adding staff and resources to improve the conservation and management of as well as digital collections of David Hockney’s work and all materials associated with his life and career.”
