Iconic Lichtenstein Print Brings $540,500 at Heritage Auctions

Dallas, TX - Nude with Blue Hair - a monumental work combining the talent of artist Roy Lichtenstein and the printmaking expertise of John Hutcheson - sold for $540,400 in Heritage Auctions’ Modern & Contemporary Art - Prints & Multiples Auction April 17 in Dallas. The sale was 97 percent sold by value and achieved $2,406,000, well above the overall presale estimate.

“The Lichtenstein was a printer’s proof from the collection of John Hutcheson, a Master Printer who worked with hundreds of well-known artists such as Frank Stella, David Hockney, and Helen Frankethaler,” Holly Sherratt, Heritage Auctions' Director of Modern & Contemporary Art, San Francisco, said. “The sale price is one of the highest prices ever for the work.”  

The 154 lots on offer featured a group of 11 artworks by Andy Warhol, which claimed four of the auction’s top 10 lots. Grevy's Zebra, from Endangered Species, 1983, brought $75,000 and Liz, 1964, a portrait of Elizabeth Taylor from an edition of approximately 300, sold for $55,000 - more than twice its estimate. Warhol’s Untitled, from Flowers Portfolio, 1970, sold for $52,500 and $1, 1982, signed, numbered and published by the artist, realized $42,500.

Marquee lots included artist David Hockney’s Amaryllis in Vase, from Moving Focus, 1984, which sold for $75,000 and Lichtenstein’s Forms in Space, 1985, the artist’s iconic interpretation of the American flag created especially to benefit the Institute of Contemporary Art, which ended at $53,750.

Cheese Mold Standard with Olive, 1969, by Ed Ruscha, reached $50,000. Two additional prints from Hutcheson’s private collection came from his personal relationships with artists Frank Stella and Joan Mitchell. Stella’s Pumpkin Moonshine, from Polar Coordinates II (variant), 1979, sold for $50,000 and Mitchell’s Sunflowers I (diptych), 1992, realized $42,500.

A ceramic vase titled Vase deux anses hautes, created by Pablo Picasso in 1952 from an edition of 400, sold for $40,000. 

Additional highlights include:

·         Warhol’s Turtle, 1985, published to coincide with the 1985 film Turtle Diary written by Harold Pinter, brought $37,500

·         Figure au visage coupé assise dans un intérieur, 1929, an etching by Henri Matisse, sold for three times its estimate to end at $37,500 

·         Target with Four Faces, 1979, by Jasper Johns, sold for $33,500

·         The Witch, from Warhol’s celebrated Myths series executed in 1981, sold for $32,500