Henry Geldzahler sitting for David Hockney, 1976
Gelatin silver print
9 × 13 ½ in.
Signed on verso
December 22, 2025
One only needs to note their bow ties to see that David Hockney and Henry Geldzahler were kindred spirits. When Sidney Felsen took this photo in the 1970’s, Geldzahler was serving as the first Curator for 20th Century Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a position which allowed him to nurture close friendships with many of the key artists of the period. Geldzahler was the subject of one of Hockney’s most celebrated paintings, and the artist’s cheeky sense of humor comes through here, as Hockney makes a careful rendering of Geldzahler’s bald spot, while his subject directs a deadpan look at Felsen’s camera.
Sidney Felsen was co-founder of the enormously influential Los Angeles printmaking studio Gemini GEL (Graphic Editions Limited), which was known for working in close collaboration with major artists to translate their ideas to the medium of printmaking. As a young man, Felsen received a camera as a bar mitzvah gift, resulting in a lifetime of photographs. Over the decades he made wonderful behind-the-scenes photos like this one, which offer intimate glimpses of the artists who made work at Gemini.
