American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman)

One of the most versatile and inventive English artists of the postwar era, David Hockney settled in Los Angeles in 1964. An especially iconic example from a group of double portraits of friends and associates from the 196os, this painting depicts the contemporary-art collectors Fred and Marcia Weisman in the sculpture garden of their Los Angeles home. As stiff and still as the objects surrounding them, the couple stands apart, his stance echoed in the totem pole to the right, hers in the Henry Moore sculpture behind her. Brilliant light flattens the scene and sets the couple in sharp relief; they seem oblivious to each other as well as to their art.