Snow

"Snow," created in 1973, is a significant collaborative print involving David Hockney, James Webb, Robert Knisel, Donna Rae Hirt, and the renowned Los Angeles workshop, Gemini G.E.L. This complex piece is classified as a fine art print, utilizing the dual processes of color lithography and screenprinting applied meticulously to Arjomari wove paper. The decision to integrate multiple print techniques, often layered, allowed the collaborating artists and the master printers at G.E.L. to achieve both the highly saturated color fields characteristic of screenprint and the delicate textural variations achievable through lithography.

The creation of this work falls squarely within the flourishing period of technical print experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s. As a leading British artist of his generation, Hockney frequently utilized printmaking as a primary medium, exploring variations on his core thematic interests while benefiting greatly from the technical expertise offered by professional American workshops like G.E.L. The period spanning 1951 to 1975 saw a massive revival in original fine art prints, shifting their status from mere reproductions to original, high-value art objects. Snow exemplifies this era's technical ambition and the increasing cross-cultural dialogue between British artists and American print studios. The deep collaboration between Hockney and the workshop ensures that this work is as much a document of process as it is an artistic statement.

While the visual content is suggested by the title, "Snow," the piece is equally a study in color registration and process. The resulting depth and chromatic complexity distinguish the piece within the wider output of G.E.L.’s collaborative prints from that decade. This important example of post-war printmaking is maintained in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., where it serves as a testament to the innovation that defined the production of prints in 1973.