An Image of Celia, 1984, is a lithograph by David Hockney, created as part of the Moving Focus series. The work depicts Celia Birtwell, one of Hockney’s muses, seated within a vividly constructed interior that feels intimate, yet deliberately fragmented. Her figure is composed through overlapping planes and contrasting textures, with areas of bold colour set against graphic black-and-white patterning. The composition resists naturalistic representation, instead presenting Celia as a layered image that shifts between portrait and constructed space, reflecting Hockney’s ongoing exploration of how images are built rather than simply observed.
Drawing on the legacy of Cubism, Hockney breaks the figure and the surrounding environment into multiple viewpoints, allowing different perspectives to coexist within a single frame. This approach disrupts traditional single-point perspective, creating a sense of spatial tension and visual movement across the surface. Celia’s face itself appears partially framed and re-framed, reinforcing the idea of perception as something fragmented and subjective. Through this interplay of perspective, colour, and line, Hockney transforms a familiar portrait into a complex study of vision, where space, form, and identity are continuously shifting.
