Hockney Reproduction(s) Traces Six Decades of Technological Curiosity in Gloucester
The Manship Artists Residency presents an exhibition examining how David Hockney used reproductive media — from fax machines to iPads. Over 90 posters, prints, books and multi-page faxes go on view September 11.
A Through-Line of Technology
The Manship Artists Residency in Gloucester, Massachusetts, will present Hockney Reproduction(s), an exhibition examining David Hockney's six-decade engagement with reproductive media. Opening September 11, 2026, the show argues that reproduction was not a sideline to Hockney's painting and drawing but a central force that shaped his practice.
Hockney, identified in the source material as 1937–2026, is described as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The exhibition positions his interest in reproduction as persistent rather than incidental — a thread running through his entire working life.
What Is on View
The exhibition brings together prints, books, multi-page faxes, photographs, and over 90 posters. Together these objects trace how Hockney reproduced, reimagined, transmitted and shared his work through emerging technologies: photocopiers, fax machines, computers, iPhones, iPads and multi-screen videos.
The breadth of media suggests that Hockney treated each new tool as a way of seeing differently rather than as a replacement for traditional methods. The source material frames this as an argument: that reproduction was a through-line in his artistic life, not a peripheral experiment.
The exhibition presents over 90 posters alongside prints, books and faxes, positioning reproduction as a defining rather than secondary aspect of Hockney's six-decade practice.
The Curatorial Hand
Hockney Reproduction(s) was conceived and implemented by Bing McGilvray, the 2025 Manship Resident Artist and an artist, curator and writer who describes himself as a friend of Hockney for more than forty-five years. The exhibition draws on McGilvray's own collection alongside other private collectors and contributions from the David Hockney Foundation (UK), Salts Mill in Yorkshire, UK, and other friends.
In the source material, McGilvray describes Hockney's approach to new technology as driven by visual possibility rather than fashion — an interest in what a tool could do, not whether it was current.
Supporting Institutions
The exhibition is supported by The David Hockney Foundation (UK). In the supplied material, the Foundation states it assisted the Manship Artists Residency in presenting the exhibition to the public free of charge.
That institutional backing, combined with loans from private collections and Salts Mill, places the show within a network of collectors and foundations whose holdings of Hockney's reproductive work anchor the presentation.
Visitor Information
Hockney Reproduction(s) will be open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1PM to 5PM, running September 11 to October 18. Tickets for timed entry are available on the Manship Artists Residency website.
The exhibition's concentration on poster and print production may hold particular interest for collectors of editioned and reproducible work, a category that often sits apart from the primary market for unique canvases.
