A Picture of Two Chairs, 1985-86, is a print by David Hockney from the artist’s Moving Focus series, depicting two contrasting chairs positioned within a simplified interior setting. On the left, a black-and-white chair is rendered in a loose, sketch-like style with soft shading and curved contours, while the chair to the right is drawn in vivid yellow with expressive red outlines. The yellow chair appears almost crayon-like in texture, giving the composition an immediacy and spontaneity characteristic of Hockney’s experimental printmaking during the mid-1980s. Through these contrasting treatments, Hockney creates a dialogue between structure and gesture, observation and abstraction.
The background is formed from elongated diagonal floorboards that stretch into an unusual triangular perspective, distorting the sense of space and reinforcing the shifting viewpoints explored throughout the Moving Focus series. Both chairs and the surrounding interior are enclosed within a drawn box-like frame, while red scribbled marks around the edge create areas of shading and depth. Combining colour lithography and etching on wove paper, A Picture of Two Chairsreflects Hockney’s continued interest in perception, spatial construction and the expressive potential of line and colour.
