UNPUBLISHED Andy Warhol photographs of David Hockney have been released for the artist’s 80th birthday.

The unpublished polaroids, which were taken between 1972 and 1974, include candid shots of Hockney and gracefully staged portraits, giving a behind-the-scenes insight into the two friends’ lives.

During an interview of Hockney for Interview Magazine, founded by Warhol in 1969, Warhol noted in his diary on Thursday, March 26, 1981:

“[…] David Hockney came to lunch and Vincent [Fremont] did a video of him. And afterwards he went into the other room and did the interview. David’s cute, he really is magic. […]”

Warhol used polaroid photography as a medium towards the end of his career to chronicle celebrities, artists, friends and himself in spontaneous and instant moments. As a painter, film-maker and writer, Warhol was a principal figure of the Pop Art movement. In the 1960s, the American artist experimented with images from popular culture, using everyday consumer objects as subjects. He rapidly became internationally famous, exhibiting his work throughout the world in the 1970s and 1980s.

The release of previously unseen polaroids of Hockney is timed with the Bradford-born artist's upcoming 80th birthday on July 9.

The images have been released by Artimage - a digital image solution dedicated to sourcing and licensing exceptional modern and contemporary art and a service from the Design and Artists Copyright Society, the UK’s flagship visual artists’ rights management organisation.

* For more about the images go to: artimage.org.uk