NEW YORK, NY.- Roy Lichtensteins Nude with Blue Hair, 1994, one of the artists most iconic prints, highlights
Bonhams sale of Modern & Contemporary Prints & Multiples on November 1, which has been in the same US collection for twenty years (estimate: $450,000-550,000). Roy Lichtensteins Nude with Blue Hair, 1994, currently holds the world auction record as the artists most expensive graphic on paper.
Created in 1994 together with his Nudes Series prints, Lichtenstein returns to his early Pop vocabulary but with an updated twist. With the expertise of master printer Kenneth Tyler, the artist employed innovative printing methods to enhance the volume of his cartoon-like female figure, adding diagonal stripes to his signature Benday dot patterns, and employing relief printing to create depth. His cartoon woman is now life-sized, gazing directly at the viewer as if poised to step out of her giant cartoon strip.
Deborah Ripley, Bonhams Director of Prints & Multiples, comments: With its astounding scale at almost five feet tall, Nude with Blue Hair is considered Lichtenstein's most important graphic work on paper. It demonstrates contemporary printmaking at its height during the 1980s under the brilliant direction of Kenneth Tyler and the printing team at Tyler Graphics.
Additional highlights include:
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Rebel Without a Cause (James Dean), from Ads (F.&S.II.355), 1985 (estimate: $100,000-125,000)
Andy Warhols (1928-1987) Giant Panda, from Endangered Species (F. & S. II.295), 1983 (estimate: $50,000-70,0000)
David Hockney (b.1937) Lithographic Water Made of Lines (Tokyo 203), 1978-1980 (estimate: $40,000-60,000)
Robert Rauschenbergs (1925-2008) Signs, 1970 (estimate: $15,000-30,0000