LONDON.- Phillips announced highlights from the Evening & Day Editions auctions in London. Comprised of 304 lots, the auctions will present a rich selection of editions by Pop, Modern, and Contemporary artists. Led by Andy Warhol’s Queen Elizabeth II, the Evening & Day Editions auctions will also feature highlight works from Alex Katz, Francis Bacon, Keith Haring, Grayson Perry, David Hockney, Pablo Picasso, as well as works by two artists of the Grosvenor School: Sybil Andrews and Lill Tschudi. The Evening Sale will be held on 14 June at 5pm with the Day Sale following on 15 June at 12pm.
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond, Head of Sale and Auctioneer, said, “We are delighted to present our June Evening & Day Editions auctions in London, which follow the wonderful successes of our Spring auctions in New York. From the Grosvenor School to Warhol’s iconic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and a remarkable complete set of Picasso’s original etchings for Georges Louis Leclerc’s Histoire Naturelle, our June auctions celebrate the broad scope of exceptional editions in their many and varied forms. We look forward to welcoming visitors to the preview exhibition in London which will be open to the public from 6 June ahead of our auctions on 14 and 15 June.”
Leading the Evening Sale is Andy Warhol’s Queen Elizabeth II. A key figure in the Pop Art movement of the 1960s, Warhol achieved fame with his revolutionary series of silkscreened prints and paintings. Choosing to depict everyday objects such as his much-celebrated soup cans, Warhol also chose as his subject matter famous figures such as the Queen, or celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Mick Jagger. The artist’s use of mechanical methods of reproduction, notably the commercial technique of silk screening, wholly revolutionized artmaking. Further highlight works by Warhol to feature in the Evening & Day Editions auctions include a selection of the artist’s famous Campbell’s soup cans, Camouflage designs, and two unique trial proofs.
Further Pop Art highlights include a selection of Keith Haring works amongst which are Dog and Totem. Cast in 1989, the same year in which the artist was diagnosed with AIDS, the sarcophagus shape of Totem recognises man’s mortality but hints at an embalmed, immortal afterlife. For Haring, who had been drawn to the imagery of ancient and primitive cultures throughout his career, the symbolic spiritualism of a totemic object made it the perfect form for his own idiosyncratic visual lexicon of signs and symbols. Within the confines of the concrete sarcophagus outlines, Haring’s energetic and busy figures are pushing the boundaries in which they’ve been encased. Reflective of Haring’s own history, challenging societal norms, Totem captures the vitality of life but reminds us of its impermanence.
Having first experienced painting en plein air in 1949 at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Alex Katz returned to his outdoor studies in the 1960s when he began painting flowers during summer residences in Maine. As shown in the present work, Flowers, which will be offered in the Evening Sale this June, Katz’ floral subjects are depicted in tightly cropped compositions. Clever splashes of colour indicate lush petals and broad, criss-crossing strokes imply leaves and stems, all overlaid on lively backgrounds of flat colour. Blending abstraction and representation, Katz’s studies of blooms are intimate, yet expansive.
A highlight of the Evening Sale, Francis Bacon’s Deuxième version du triptyque is a later reworking of his iconic triptych titled Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, which was completed 44 years earlier. Set before a deep scarlet backdrop, three distorted figures – part man, part beast – roar with monstrous rage. In this later work, where Bacon has chosen a blood-red void and given the figures more space to breathe, the palpable angst crawling against a setting of isolation presents the torment that is so archetypal to Bacon’s oeuvre.
Contemporary highlights of the Evening & Day Editions auctions include works from Julian Opie, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, and Grayson Perry. Shown here is The American Dream, printed by Perry in 2020. Made in response to the artist’s travels in the U.S., during filming for his Channel 4 series ‘Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip’, The American Dream captures a world of conflict rooted in social media.
Among the Modern pieces to be offered in the Evening & Day Editions auctions are works by Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. A highlight of this section is a complete set of 31 original etchings by Picasso. In 1936 Picasso was asked to produce a suite of etchings to illustrate the renowned encyclopaedic publication Histoire Naturelle (published in 44 volumes between 1749-1788). The publication classified different animal species based on patterns and observations. This was a wonderful opportunity for Picasso who had a deep love and fascination for animals. Using a range of intaglio techniques that included etching, drypoint, and lift-ground aquatint, the artist created his own menagerie of thirty-one animals, insects, and birds.
From 1925 to 1940, The Grosvenor School of Modern Art served as an influential artistic hub during the inter-war years. As part of the informal curriculum, the British artist Claude Flight taught a class focused on the linoleum cut technique. His most notable pupils were Cyril Power, Sybil Andrews, and the Swiss-born artist Lill Tschudi. The Evening & Day Editions auctions this June feature works from both Andrews and Tshudi. Together, they became known as the Grosvenor School and were the driving force behind the revival of linoleum cut printmaking in Britain. As a group, the Grosvenor School artists focused on depicting modern life in an aesthetic influenced by pre-war movements such as Futurism, Cubism and Vorticism. In doing so, they aimed to create a new art that was representative of a new age.
