New York – On April 29 and 30, Christie’s New York will hold its Prints and Multiples sale offering original limited edition prints by leading artists, such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, and Jasper Johns.
The two day sale features over 590 lots with estimates ranging from $2,000 to $800,000 with an impressive variety of Modern American, Modern European, and Post- War and Contemporary Prints. The sale is estimated to realize in excess of $10 million dollars.
Modern American
The lots in this classical section of the sale include works by George Bellows, Edward Hopper, James McNeill Whistler, and Grant Wood. Dempsey and Firpo, 1923-24, by George Bellows is a particular highlight. Bellows was sent by the NY Evening Journal to capture the fight between heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey and Luis Firpo. Bellow’s lithograph portrays the moment when Firpo knocked Dempsey out of the ring and includes a small self-portrait of himself as a spectator in the lower left corner. This impression is signed by the artist, his printer Bolton Brown and by both of the boxers (image left- estimate: $50,000-70,000).
Also included are Edward Hopper’s Evening Wind (estimate: $40,000-60,000); a superb impression of
The Palaces by James McNeill Whistler (estimate: $22,000-28,000); and Approaching Storm by Grant
Wood (estimate: $7,000-9,000).
Modern European
Marc Chagall’s Four Tales from Arabian Nights, 1948, (image leftestimate:
$350,000-450,000) leads the 259-lot Modern European
section. Notable lots include a complete set of Henri Matisse’s
twenty color pochoirs for Jazz, 1947, (estimate: $250,000-350,000)
and Joan Miró’s Le lézard aux plumes d’or, 1971, (estimate: $50,000-
80,000). Included in the Pablo Picasso lots is a rare collection of 10
proofs once part of the artist’s personal collection of his own prints,
each bearing the collection stamp of Marina, the artist’s granddaughter. Estimates range from
$2,000-$6,000. Edgar Degas’s Femme nue debout, à sa toilette, 1891-1892, is an unusually large and
successful image of the artist’s celebrated theme of the woman bathing (estimate: $80,000-120,000).
Among the ten works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is a particularly good example of Le Jockey,
1899, with remarkably fresh and bright colors (estimate: $80,000-100,000).
Post-War & Contemporary
One of the most popular areas for current print collectors, our 293-lot Post-War section contains
prints by Bacon, Haring, Indiana, Lichtenstein, Motherwell, Murakami, Rauschenberg, Ruscha,
Warhol, and Wesselmann.
Post War highlights include five complete sets of 10 screenprints by Andy Warhol: Cowboys and
Indians (estimate: $120,000- 180,000), Flowers (estimate: $400,000-600,000), Electric Chairs (estimate:
$80,000- 120,000), Mao (estimate: $800,000- 1,200,000), and Mick Jagger (estimate: $350,000-
450,000).
Other American masters represented in the sale include Jasper Johns and
Richard Diebenkorn. Eight lots feature Johns, with Flags I, 1973 leading the
group (estimate: $400,000-600,000). Other works include Two Maps I, 1966
(estimate $100,000-150,000) on black Fabriano, and Skin with O’Hara Poem
(estimate: $25,000-35,000). Large Bright Blue and Large Light Blue, from Eight Color
Etchings 1980 by Richard Diebenkorn lead his six-lot selection. Both bright
aquatints are fresh to the market and have not appeared together for many
seasons estimate: $150,000-200,000).
Auction: Prints and Multiples April 29 and 30
Viewing: Christie’s Galleries at Rockefeller Center April 25- 28
Estimates do not include buyer’s premium
