artnet Auctions is offering an outstanding collection by leading contemporary artists like Christo, Robert Graham, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and others on offer.
Untitled (Inverted Crucifix), 1984, by Keith Haring is the top lot in the sale. This 60 x 60 inch painting in day-glo orange acrylic is offered in pristine condition for the serious collector (estimate: $850,000-$1,200,000). Other contemporary highlights include a blackboard painting by Neo-Expressionist David Salle (estimate: $9,500-$14,500), an oil painting by Russian contemporary artist Alexander Kosolapov (estimate: $40,000-$50,000), and a fabulous and rarely-seen suite of 30 screenprints in grey, on Japanese ragpaper, 1973, by American minimalist Agnes Martin (estimate: $150,000-$200,000).
The mid-century and the 1960s figure prominently in this sale; a large-scale, 1962 mixed media collage on burlap canvas by Italian Gruppo Nucleare painter Piero Manzoni (estimate: $120,000-$201,000) is complemented by a vibrant 1966 canvas painting by “artist’s artist” Fairfield Porter, Forsythia and Trees in Bud (estimate: $120,000-$180,000), and a period 1964 tempera painting by abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler (estimate: $25,000-$45,000). Included in this section are two remarkable Madoura ceramics by Pablo Picasso in one of the artist’s iconic images which recurs throughout his œuvre: PAIR Male + Female Wood-Owls , 1969, both hand-painted (estimate: $18,500-$24,500); and a rarely-seen and unusual 1958 pastel urban landscape entitled New York City by Marc Chagall (estimate: $120,000-$150,000).
Photographic works are a distinctive presence in the sale, and include a silver print by Imogen Cunningham, Magnolia Bud (estimate: $14,000-$16,000), a 1988 color photogravure, Tiger Orchid (from Flowers suite), by Robert Mapplethorpe (estimate: $8,000-$10,000), and two vintage gelatin silver prints by Man Ray.
The sale also features modern masterworks by Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso, and a collection of early twentieth century paintings by Philip Guston, Lemonade and Doughnuts (Variation), ca. 1942 (estimate: $30,000-$40,000), Milton Avery, Still Life, ca. 1935 (estimate: $20,000-$25,000) and Raymond Jonson, Transparent Disks, 1934 (estimate: $20,000-$30,000).
Rounding out the sale are sculptures by some of the most celebrated sculptors of the last century including Harry Bertoia and Leonora Carrington, and Latin American works of art by Jesús Rafael Soto, Francisco Toledo, Arturo Elizondo and Mario Carreño.
Image: Mario Carreño, Paisaje (Landscape) Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba, 1942. Oil on canvas, 31 x 23.5 inches. Estimate: $600,000-900,000
