"Water in swimming pools changes its look more than any other form. If the water surface is almost still and there is a strong sun, then dancing lines with the color of the spectrum appear everywhere." -

David Hockney
This hand signed limited edition iconic Hockney was printed as one of the fifteen Official Fine Art Olympic Posters for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (the XXIII'rd Olympiad). It depicts an aerial view of a swimmer under rippling water broken up into 12 squares. A statement released by the 1984 Olympic committee explains the set as follows - "The posters commissioned for the 1984 Olympics contain an enlightened selection of the best American artists with special emphasis on those who work in Southern California...As the Games develop, transpire and pass into memory, these fifteen posters contain the images, forms and symbols that will represent the 1984 Olympics in the museums, galleries, homes and the minds of people all over the world.” Printed and Published by Knapp Communications Corporation. A marvelous vintage, well-recognized Hockney image in a signed, limited edition lithograph. (This work is NOT to be confused with the ubiquitous plate signed poster of the same image, which was printed on different paper in an open edition.) In 1982, the Olympic Committee commissioned 15 artists to create posters for the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Hockney designed this offset lithograph depicting Olympic swimming. It was printed on Parsons Diploma Parchment paper in 1982, in an edition of 750, hand signed in pencil by the artist.
Even though this print was published in an edition of 750, after the first marketing blitz, the publisher destroyed the remaining portfolios of signed prints - literally discarding hundreds of them in the dumpster. As shocking and almost unbelievable as this sounds today, the Olympic Committee commissioned these portfolios to celebrate and promote the 1984 Olympics, and nobody expected the individual prints to have such enduring value. As the executives running the short-term promotional campaign were neither prophets nor curators, they saw no reason to hold on to these huge prints, as there was no longer any interest or promotional budget or resources. They also didn't have storage - so they thought discarding them was the wisest action to protect the value of the prints that had already sold. They also didn't understand the difference in value and collectibility between hand signed, or unsigned posters -- so the limited edition signed prints were indiscriminately discarded, and only a fraction remained.
Published by: Knapp Communications, Inc.
Printed by: Alan Lithograph Inc. Unnumbered from the edition of 750.
Work is unframed and permanently affixed to thin board and ships flat.
Catalogue Raisonne Reference: 131, Baggott, Hockney: Poster Art