Hockney 1984 Olympics Poster

The importance of art to the Olympics cannot be overstated. A case in point is TM’s poster of a coveted, historic, iconic image from the 1984 Olympics, a swimmer under the ripples of the water by David Hockney (born 1937), printed in a limited edition of 750. A poster can be valuable: in this case it certainly is. After the final day of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the publisher destroyed all but 250 of these Hockey posters. 

TM’s is hand signed, but it does have some water damage to the bottom. He wondered what it could be worth in the present condition, and also questioned if it will increase in value as we near the next Olympics in Los Angeles. About this creation, David Hockney wrote: “Water, in swimming pools, changes its look more than any other form. If the water surface is still, and there’s a strong sun, the dancing lines of the color of the spectrum appear everywhere.” The original poster is an offset lithograph at 36” x 24” printed on Parsons Diploma Parchment Paper. The poster, when purchased in 1984, included a Certificate of Authenticity from the Olympic Committee. 

In 1984, the Olympic committee commissioned 15 artists from California to produce artwork that was used on lithographic posters featuring various sports. About their choice of 15 posters by 15 California artists, the Olympic committee wrote: “The posters commissioned for the 1984 Olympics contained an enlightened selection of the best American artists with an emphasis of those who work in Southern California.” But nothing produced in that year, in my opinion, compares to Hockney’s portrayal of a swimmer under those fabulous rippling waves. Hockney superimposes a grid system framed in 12 segments. The Hockney poster was published by Knapp Communications Inc., and printed by Lana Lithograph, Inc. There’s so much dynamism and excitement in this official poster!

To have chosen the controversial artist David Hockney to create this 1984 poster was a landmark, because Hockney was a key figure in the often-maligned British Pop Art movement. He represented America in this work because he had moved to Los Angeles in 1964. Those familiar with his work know that the pool in his backyard in Los Angeles was often a theme, as was his beloved Dachshund Boogie. David Hockney is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century, he is known for painting landscapes, still life, portraits, architecture with swimming pools, and his dog.  He also produced stage designs for the Royal Court Theatre, Glyndebourne, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. 

Hockney’s Swimmer was created for the summer Olympics. Contingent on a near-perfect condition, the artist-signed poster sells for $3,000-4,000, and unsigned for $1,500-2,000. The water damage on RD’s poster is significant enough that I believe the poster might sell for $1000 or perhaps slightly less. A similarly themed Hockney poster was created for the 1972 Summer Olympics; The Diver featured Hockey’s distinctive rippling, reflective water. Hockney created a very different 1984 Winter Olympic Games poster for the competition held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. This work is collage of separate pieces, a photo montage of one subject – a spinning male figure skater. Hockney’s  rendering of movement is achieved through the patchwork of photographic images, which show several simultaneous angles of the skater’s spin at a glance. This poster was published by Visconti Art Lazo Vujic, who also commissioned artists of the stature of Twombly and Warhol for the 1972 games.

David Hockney’s work is in distinguished public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Portrait Gallery, London; The Tate Gallery, London; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; the Museum of Modern Art, Vienna; the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. He currently lives and works in Normandy, France.

His achievements include the First Annual Award for the Archives of American Art, he is listed on the Board of Trustees of the American Associates of the Royal Academy of Art Trusts, NYC., and he was elected to the National Arts Association Los Angeles, and the Lorenzo de Medici Lifetime Career Award.