Spring Sale of Prints & Multiples at Christie's

New York—Christie’s is pleased to announce the two-day sale of Prints & Multiples taking place over two sessions on April 19-20. This sale includes nearly 200 lots spanning the 20th to 21st centuries featuring modern works by Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso—and contemporary editions by Chuck Close, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Bruce Nauman, and Andy Warhol, among others.

The auction is led by two complete series of ten screenprints by Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Myths, executed in 1981 (estimate: $450,000-550,000); and Cowboys and Indians, executed in 1986 (estimate: $300,000-500,000). Another highlight is Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), Accident, executed in 1963 (estimate: $40,000-60,000), considered to be one of the most important prints in his oeuvre. Rauschenberg pulled only a handful of impressions before the lithographic stone broke in the course of printing. Rather than start again, he welcomed the rupture, visible as a long diagonal crack that bifurcates the stone, resulting in a sweeping diagonal that tears apart a field of gestural ink strokes.

Other Post-war and Contemporary editions include a selection of prints by Bruce Nauman (B. 1941) from The Collection of Earl and Camilla McGrath, iconic editions by David Hockney (B. 1937), including three lots from his Water Made of Lines series, and an important early print by Jasper Johns (B. 1930), False Start II, executed in 1962 (estimate: $100,000-150,000).

Highlighting the Modern section are classic works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), led by his Nature morte au verre sous la lampe, a large-scale and highly complex linocut executed in 1962 (estimate: $200,000-300,000). Other featured works by Picasso include the early etching Le Repas Frugal, 1904 (estimate: $150,000-250,000), and his later Portrait de Jacqueline, linocut in colors, executed in 1959 (estimate: $100,000-150,000).

Prints

19-20 April 2017

20 Rockefeller Center, New York, NY, 10020

• Auction
  19 Apr, 2pm (Lots 1 - 70)
  20 Apr, 2pm (Lots 71 - 181)
• Viewing
  New York, Rockefeller Center
  14 Apr, 10am - 5pm
  15 Apr, 10am - 5pm
  17 Apr, 10am - 5pm
  18 Apr, 10am - 5pm

Image: PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973), Nature morte au verre sous la lampe, linocut in colors, 1962, Estimate: $200,000-300,000.