NEW YORK, N.Y.- Phillips de Pury & Company announces the highlights from the upcoming Modern and Contemporary Editions Auction at 450 Park Avenue.
“A graphic winter wonderland will kick off auctions at Phillips de Pury & Company in 2012 at the Park Avenue galleries. The 270 lots of classic to cutting edge modern and contemporary artist’s editions, with a range of estimates, will appeal to the widest variety of collectors – young and old, new and experienced”. Kelly Troester and Cary Leibowitz, co-Directors, Modern and Contemporary Editions at Phillips de Pury & Company.
Modern European prints set the historic stage with classic works by Paul Klee Der Seiltänzer (Tightrope Walker), 1923 (est. $20,000-30,000) and Kopf – Bärtiger Mann, 1925 (est. $3,000-5,000), two of the earliest, whimsical (yet so Modern) lithographs in the sale. George Braque’s simply elegant Oiseau verni (Oiseau VII), 1954 (est. $5,000-7,000) has a layer of hand-applied, painterly, varnish brushed by the artist on top of the lithographed image.
The female form continues to entice with a rare impression of Henri Matisse’s Buste de femme, 1942-43 (est. $8,000-12,000) a lithograph printed in a small edition of 25 and incorporates the beautiful technique of Chine collé where the image is printed simultaneously on a much more delicate piece of paper and attached to a stronger support in one run through the press.
Included is another key example of Man Ray’s iconic graphic image of Kiki de Montparnasse titled Le violin d’Ingres, 1969 (est. $2,000-4,000) which pays homage to Ingres’ female nudes and also a musician by adding the f-holes of a stringed instrument on top of the figure. The French jargon of the work’s title means ‘hobby’ which makes for a funny play of two artist’s hobbies in the same work of art: Ingres and music - Man Ray and Kiki.
The work of American art of the 1920’s-30’s in New York is represented by Martin Lewis’ Quarter of Nine, Saturday’s Children, 1929 (est. $10,000-15,000) which becomes a study of light through precise etched line work illustrating Park Avenue at 34th Street.
A comprehensive livre d’artiste of modern French artists is contained in Regards sur Paris portfolio, 1962 (est. $10,000-15,000) published by André Sauret and contains 33 lithographs and text by various Parisian writers.
Modern sculpture continues to attract attention at auction, and, as such, the inclusion of Lynn Chadwick’s bronze with black patina figure Walking Cloaked Figure, 1980 (est. $15,000-25,000) is predicted to be as popular as another Chadwick sculpture offered in the Evening Editions auction on October 25th, 2011 and brought over the high end of the estimate. A two-part green patinated bronze sculpture by Lucio Fontana Concetto Spaziale, Natura, 1968 (est. $12,000-16,000) combines the artist’s love of material-surface texture, volume and dimension. The jewel-like and ever so clever sterling silver multiple of a stink stopper by Marcel Duchamp, Bouche-Evier, 1964-67 (est. $4,000-6,000) was produced in bronze and stainless steel in addition to the sterling silver being sold here.
Quite fittingly—the January Editions sales top lot is Andy Warhol’s Flash-November 22, 1963, (est. $40,000-60,000) a complete portfolio of eleven iconic screenprints based on the JFK assassination. Warhol began using tabloid headlines for his paintings beginning in the early sixties. This portfolio contains news clippings along with text based on teletypes from the same event and was not created until nearly 5 years later in 1968.
Featured on the back cover of the Editions Catalogue is Jasper Johns’ Face with Watch, 1996 (est. $12,000-18,000) a richly colored aquatint and etching printed at ULAE which employs the artist’s esoteric symbols.
On the front cover is Roy Lichtenstein’s, Mirror #1, from Mirror series, 1972, as well as his other well known art about art such as Morton A. Mort, from the Expressionist Woodcut series, 1980 (est. $6,000-8,000) and Cathedral #6, from the Cathedral series, 1969 (est. $6,000-9,000).
Twenty lots of strong Minimalism including: Sol LeWitt, four plates from Vertical Not Straight Lines Not Touching on Color, 1991 (est. $10,000-15,000), Brice Marden, I; II; and III, 1983 (est. 7,000-9,000), Cy Twombly, Untitled, from Hommage à Picasso portfolio, 1973 (est. $3,000-5,000), Robert Mangold, Five Color Frame, 1985 (est. $2,000-3,000), Donald Judd, three plates from Untitled portfolio, 1974 (est. $5,000-7,000), Robert Ryman, First Conversion, 2003 (est. $9,000-12,000), Richard Serra, Weight and Measure, 1993 (est. $5,000-7,000), Richard Tuttle, The Edge portfolio of 13 etchings in colors with embossing, 1998 (est. $6,000-9,000).
A varied selection of photo-based works which straddle the conceptual: Joseph Beuys, Documenta, circa 1983 (est. $1,000-1,5000, offered at no reserve), Cindy Sherman, Untitled (Mrs. Claus), 1990 (est. $1,000-1,500), John Coplans, Self-Portrait (front hand, thumb up middle), 1988 (est. $3,000-5,000), John Baldessari Blue Masterstroke Over Red Diagram and Two Cowboys, 1989 (est. $3,500-4,500), McDermott & McGough, Travel to the Bosom of the Earth, 1997 (est. $2,000-3,000), Thomas Struth, Museo del Prado Room 12, Madrid, 2005 (est. $2,000-3,000), Jack Pierson, Luxemburg, 1999 (est. $3,000-4,000), Andres Serrano, Klansman (Nighthawk of Georgia, V), 1990 (est. $2,500-3,500), Sophie Calle, Mother; Father; Sister; Brother, 1990 (est. $10,000-15,000), Ed Ruscha Sherwin-Williams Turpentine, from Product Still Lifes, 1961-1999 (est. $4,000-6,000), Marcel Broodthaers, Portraits Photographiques, 1974-83 (est. $8,000-12,000), Duane Michaels, Who is Sidney Sherman?, 2000 (est. $6,000-8,000), Elmgreen & Dragset, Carved & Craved portfolio, 2009 (est. $1,500-2,000), Vik Muniz, Scissors, 2002 (est. $8,000-12,000), Laurie Simmons, Walking Petit Four, from Independent Curators 15th Anniversary portfolio, 1990-91 (est. $2,500-3,500).
Artists creating and defining the personal is political. Beginning with Bruce Nauman Life Mask, 1981 (est. $4,000-6,000) and Vito Acconci, Big Brick, 1984 (est. $2,000-3,000) nearly 40 years ago and continuing with a more recent generation of artists, Ellen Gallagher, Ruby Dee, 2005 (est. $4,000-6,000), Robert Gober, Untitled, 2000 (hand with drain) (est. $4,000-6,000), Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (for Parkett), 1994 (est. $8,000-12,000) and Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh, Out of Darkness to the Light, 2008 (est. $8,000-12,000).
Abstract Expressionists came into their own in post-war America and helped form a new vocabulary in painting. Offered examples of their prints include Jackson Pollock’s, Untitled, 1944 (est. $4,000-6,000) an early figurative work, two examples of lyrical lithographs, one by Willem de Kooning’s, Valentine, 1971 (est. $5,000-7,000) in black and white, and another by Helen Frankenthaler, Sunshine after Rain, 1987 (est. $10,000-15,000) in colors, with Lee Krasner, two prints from the Free Space series, 1975-76 (est. $2,500-3,500) two dynamic screenprints in colors, one from the deluxe edition with collage, Sam Francis’s vibrant lithograph, Untitled, 1982 (est. $3,000-5,000) and several lots by Robert Motherwell including Yellow Flight, 1986 (est. $3,000-5,000).
Contemporary sculptures and multiples continue to play an important roll in editions, by their very nature—usually are cast multiples. Striking examples by Louise Nevelson, Symphony Three, 1974 (est. $3,000-5,000), Tom Otterness Cone Figure, 2001 (est. $10,000-15,000), Kiki Smith, Tailbone, 1993 (est. $3,000-5,000), Richard Artschwager, Book, 1987 (est. $8,000-12,000), Jeff Koons, Bread and Egg (Green), 1995 (est. $2,000-3,000), and Katharina Fritsch, Schafe und Weißer Pappkarton (Sheep and White Cardboard Box), 1991 (est. $5,000-7,000).
The third Evening Editions sale will take place in New York on April 25th with a consignment deadline of February 15th with estimate values of $10,000 and above.
