David Hockney: Portraits in Print

National Gallery of Australia

Portraiture is an ongoing and compelling part of English artist David Hockney's extraordinary creative practice. The National Gallery is home to the largest holdings of Hockney's work in Australia and this display showcases his insightful portraits, offering an intimate view of his personal life, creative practice and deep engagement with portraiture.

Spanning nearly 30 years, David Hockney: portraits in print traces how the artist has documented his closest relationships, capturing the cultural milieus of Los Angeles, Paris and London during the 1970s and 1980s. He returned to several key sitters, such as fashion designer Celia Birtwell and muse Gregory Evans, depicting them in naturalistic forms one decade and in fragmented, neo-cubist style the next.

The exhibition reveals how portraiture has served as both conceptual foundation and aesthetic anchor in Hockney's work. The genre has inspired some of his most resolved compositions, while simultaneously giving him scope to extend his visual and technical interests. Hockney valued the process of drawing for capturing his sitters and found that lithography and etching readily conveyed his fluid and confident line.

Hockney is an artist whose work has particular significance to the National Gallery. The national collection's extensive holdings reflect both the depth of Hockney's printmaking and his longtime collaboration with the Kenneth E Tyler print workshop-a deeply significant aspect of his practice.

David Hockney: portraits in print features more than 60 works from the National Gallery's extensive holdings, highlighting the artist's enduring exploration of portraiture through print.

Collection Display
5 Sep 2026 - 14 Feb 2027
Level 1, Gallery 13
Free

'Faces are the most interesting things we see; other people fascinate me, and the most interesting aspect of other people - the point where we go inside them - is the face.'

David Hockney


Time: 10am - 5pm daily



 National Gallery of Australia View Venue
 Parkes Place Canberra A.C.T. 2600 Map

→ nga.gov.au

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