André Emmerich Gallery Inc., New York
Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo
L.A. Louver, Inc., Venice
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1997

New York, André Emmerich Gallery Inc., David Hockney: New Paintings, March - April 1989, cat. no. 2, illustrated in color
Frankfurt, Galerie Hans Neuendorf, David Hockney, May - June 1989
Tokyo, Nishimura Gallery, David Hockney, Paintings: Flower Chair Interior, October - November 1989, pl. 32, illustrated in color
Honolulu, The Contemporary Museum, Some New Pictures, February - March 1990
Tokyo, Takashimaya Art Gallery; Kagawa, Marugame Genichiro-Imokuma Museum of Contemporary Art; Fukushima, Koriyama City Museum; Chiba Sogo Museum of Art, Hockney in California, April - August 1994, cat. no. 91, p. 132, illustrated in color

Nikos Stangos, David Hockney: That’s the Way I See It, London, 1993, cat. no. 227, p. 196, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition overall. The edges of the canvas are taped. There is very light evidence of handling along the edges. The colors are extremely bright, fresh and clean. There is a ¼-inch drip accretion at the center below a branch. There are a few pinpoint media accretions visible upon close inspection, likely from the time of execution. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"I realized that this sort of picture came closer to how we actually see, which is to say, not all-at-once but rather in discrete, separate glimpses which we then build up into our continuous experience of the world." David Hockney

David Hockney has done more to revive the storied tradition of landscape painting than almost any other artist of the 20^th Century. The virtuosity of his technique, panoply of materials employed, and his incessant experimentation has allowed Hockney to re-invigorate a once staid genre of painting. Paintings inspired by the natural environment have formed a significant part of Hockney’s output for some time and Malibu House is a masterful example of the vitality with which Hockney was able to imbue the landscapes he painted. Malibu House is a spectacular work painted in 1988: the year of Hockney’s triumphant return to painting and his retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This painting continues Hockney’s lauded tradition of painting houses such as A Bigger Splash, 1967, whilst introducing a new painterly style.

Hockney, in conversation with Lawrence Weschler, stated that, “For something to be seen, it has to be looked at by somebody, and any true and real depiction should be an account of the experience of that looking. In that sense it must deeply involve an observer whose body somehow has to be brought back in” (Lawrence Weschler, True to Life, Twenty-Five Years of Conversation with David Hockney, Los Angeles, 2008, p. 66). This idea, that there must be tactility to the act of seeing, is evident in a painting such as Malibu House. Royal blues, speckles of lush verdant greens, bright cadmium yellows and oranges throb to create a voluminous space in which the house opens out to the Pacific Ocean. Hockney has taken great care to leave each brushstroke visible so that the viewer is able to trace his movement across the expanse of the surface, imbuing the image of his home with a vivid immediacy. The intricate patterned and painterly surfaces call to mind the elegant brushstrokes seen in Vincent Van Gogh's Village Street in Auvers (1890) and Henri Matisse's View of Collioure (1905). Both View of Collioure and Malibu House work as much on 𓂃an emotional or physical level as on an intellectual level, transmitting not only information in an representational sense, but also sensations and energies through the relationships of painted forms.

With consummate ease, Hockney manages to straddle the twin influences of the art historical innovations of Cezanne and Cubism with his contemporary experience of Los Angeles in Malibu House. The deconstruction of the unified form at the hands of vivid brushstrokes and painterly technique evokes the avant-garde experiments of Cezanne and Pablo Picasso as they looked to move beyond mere illusionism in painting. Hockney sought inspiration in their artistic legacy and saturated it with the glorious Californian sunshine that had so affected his own artistic development. The heightened color and warping of traditional perspectival space in Malibu House, as with the cubist tradition, is symptomatic of the effect Los Angeles’ light and atmosphere had on artists such as Hockney. The house and its surroundings blur at the edges, as though one were looking through the dense air of an August heat wave. That Hockney is able to create this palpable heavy atmosphere whilst employing an emphatically anti-illusionistic painterly style is a testament to his talents. In this momentous achievement, one is reminded of Joan Miró’s iconic painting The Farm of 1921-1922. Miró’s painting depicts a farmhouse set on a landscape pulsating with the heat of a blazing sun. Both Miró and Hockney’s paintings combine qualities of Realism with a certain surreality and personal stylization of the landscape. Malibu House emphatically d♊emonstrates Hockney’s ability to translate beautifully his own personal experience of nature whilst engaging in a profound conversation with many of the titans of art history before him.

David Hockney is an artist that is exceedingly engaged with both the art of the past and his own surroundings. Many of his paintings are theoretically complex and deal with important philosophical questions to do with our perception of reality. What makes Hockney and a work such as Malibu House so fascinating is that none of this compromises the sublime aesthetic quality but also charm of his paintings. In a work such as Malibu House, we find all of Hockney’s characteristic playfulness and liberated zest. The sun shines brightly in Hockney’s world as he lovingly depicts his home carefully perched over the ocean bathed in sunlight. Hockney clearly delights in the playful rendering of his home in an overtly painterly style, asking of the viewer to see the artist’s path towards representation. Hockney emphasizes, “If art isn’t playful, its nothing. Without play, we wouldn’t be anywhere. Play is incredibly important; it’s deeply serious as well. It’s hardly criticism of my work to call it playful; on contrary, it’s flattering!” (ibid., p. 63). Malibu House embodies this playfulness and charm that has made Hockney so unique whilst also clearly demonstrating Hockney’s engagement with the history of art and the impact of Los Angeles on his artistic development. To have this combination of important themes in one painting is what makes Malibu House a hugely important painting within the context o𝔉f Hockney's oeuvr❀e.