DALLAS, TX.- Prints and multiples proved their ongoing stability and desirability in the current art market on April 16 when Heritage sold just over 100 lots — including works by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Joan Mitchell, Pablo Picasso and David Hockney — for $2,427,481 in its Prints & Multiples Signature® Auction. In the two hours of lively bidding, only one work went unsold while a handful of works tied with or broke their previous auction records.

Leading the auction at $325,000 was Warhol’s 1984 trial proof screenprint Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus,1482, from his series Details of Renaissance Paintings. Botticelli’s instantly recognizable image of the goddess on the half shell became even more iconic via the King of Pop Art’s indelible interpretation, and the hammer price matched a previous record for the work.

“Andy Warhol's trial proofs are experimental prints that test colors and techniques before finalizing his numbered edition,” says Holly Sherratt, Heritage's Director of Modern & Contemporary Art in San Francisco. “Each unique proof provides a rare glimpse into Warhol’s creative process, making them highly exciting and coveted at auction due to their rarity and insight into pop art themes.”

While that leading lot matched its previous record, another Warhol work broke its previous auction record: His single 1986 screenprint Letter to the World (The Kick), from his series Martha Graham, sold for $81,250. Warhol’s picture of the beloved choreographer is based on a famous photograph of Graham by Barbara Morgan (in itself a popular seller in Heritage’s Photography category).

Works by Warhol’s friend and mentee, Keith Haring, broke three records in the auction — not surprising given the artist’s rock-solid standing with collectors. His 1990 screenprint Untitled (Plate 10), from his series The Blueprint Drawings, sold for $41,250, and two of his Lucky Strike screenprints from 1987 sold for $27,500 and $22,500.

Another record was broken with the sale of Salvador Dalí’s 1976 charming photolithograph Manhattan Skyline, which went for $26,250, and proved the ongoing strength of Heritage’s relationship with the artist’s editioned work.

Other highlights in the April 15 auction included another iconic Warhol screenprint, 1981’s Mickey Mouse, from his Myths series, which sold for $206,250 and came to Heritage from the collection of Dick Grace of Grace Family Vineyards in Napa County. A 1982 lithograph by Joan Mitchell titled Sunflowers I (diptych) reached $81,250, and another untitled screenprint by Haring, this one from 1988, sold for $62,500. Pablo Picasso’s editioned work had a good day at the races as well, with his 1969 earthenware vase Visage aux yeux rieursselling for $55,000, and his 1959 linocut Portrait de Jacquelinegoing for $52,500.

“The amazing works in this auction came from all over North America — the East and West coasts and points in between — as well as other continents far and wide,” says Frank Hettig, Heritage's Vice President of Modern & Contemporary Art. “The success of the auction proves again not only Heritage’s strength in the category, but that we are an expanding leader and an international auction house.”