LAMBERTVILLE, NJ.- Rago/Wright announced the spring presentation of Post War & Contemporary Art at auction on May 22nd, featuring a robust offering of high-value artworks from artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Among the more than 100 works on offer, top lots include Andy Warhol’s complete 1972 Mao Portfolio (est. $600,000-800,000) and Jeff Koons’s 1992 canvas Puppy (est. $500,000-700,000), accompanied by works from Günther Förg, Joan Miró, Dana Schutz, Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alex Vinogradov, Damien Hirst, Sol LeWitt, J.B. Blunk, Tony Smith, Keith Haring, Louise Lawler, Sheila Hicks, and many more.

Leading the auction is Warhol’s Mao Portfolio (est. $600,000-800,000),an infamous and controversial work published in 1972 that reflects the political and cultural zeitgeist of the early 1970s. As both a prescient consumer of media and extremely influential artist, Warhol’s fascination with Mao Zedong was, in large part, attached to how the leader’s reputation and political power circulated as an image: “I have been reading so much about China,” Warhol said in 1971. “They don’t believe in creativity. The only picture they ever have is of Mao Zedong. It’s great. It looks like a silkscreen.” By appropriating Mao’s propaganda portrait and literally rendering it as a silkscreen, Warhol made the complex geopolitical moment his own; the complete portfolio was co-published by Styria Studio, Inc. and Castelli Graphics in an edition of 250 and is today one of Warhol’s most iconic and widely recognized works of art. Additional Warhol works on offer in Post War & Contemporary Art include the 1967 screenprint Marilyn Monroe (est. $150,000 -200,000), the 1978 drawing Self-Portrait (est. $60,000-80,000), and the c. 1983 work New York Post, Front Page (Judge Blasts Lynch) (est. $60,000-80,000).

A second major lot on offer is Jeff Koons’s Puppy (est. $500,000-700,000), a massive work of oil inks on canvas that represents and commemorates the artist’s monumental 43-foot tall sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier, also called Puppy. The sculpture was first installed in conjunction with Documenta IX in 1992, sited on the front courtyard of Residenzschloss Arolsen, a Baroque/Rococo castle in Hesse, Germany, not far from the art fair. Koons subsequently painted a single large-format, photorealistic rendering of the installation as well as the artist's proof, which is the work now offered at auction.

In addition to these significant works by Warhol and Koons, Post War & Contemporary Art presents a selection of exceptional paintings and works on paper. Among these are Günther Förg’s 1988 abstraction Untitled(est. $200,000-300,000), the collaborative 2003 oil painting Our Best World (est. $150,000-200,000) from Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alex Vinogradov, Dana Schutz’s 2001 Roller Coaster (est. $100,000-150,000), Frank Bowling’s Old Altarpiece (est. $60,000-80,000), and Kenneth Noland’s Rangely (est. $60,000-80,000). Significant works on paper include a recently discovered work from Roy Lichtenstein (est. $50,000-70,000), an untitled Keith Haring ink drawing (est. $50,000-70,000), and a colored pencil drawing by Yoshitomo Nara (est. $40,000-60,000).

The auction also presents several remarkable works of sculpture spanning a variety of media and eras. Among the highlights are Joan Miró’s bronze Tête à tête (est. $100,000-150,000), Sol LeWitt’s Cube Structure Based on Five Modules (3 2 1 2 3) (est. $80,000-120,000), and Tony Smith’s bronze Source (est. $70,000-90,000). Maquettes from renowned artists include Henry Moore’s 1968 Maquette for Two-Piece Sculpture No. 11 (est. $30,0000-50,000) and Isamu Noguchi’s 1971 Black Sun maquette (est. $15,000-20,000). Showcasing poetic intersections of the human hand and natural world are J.B. Blunk’s 1983 redwood burl Mage (est. $70,000-90,000) and Shigeo Toya’s Inner Garden I (est. $20,000-30,000), both hewn from wood.

Thematically, this event features an especially strong showing of works by defining women artists across disciplines. These include photographic works such as Louise Lawler’s diptych Painting, Photograph and Photograph, Painting (est. $30,0000-50,000) and Catherine Opie’s C-print Untitled #3 (Icehouses) (est. $20,000-30,000), as well as Sheila Hicks’s 2019 fiber work Zacateca (est. $30,000-50,000) and the Louise Nevelson assemblage Black Cryptic (est. $10,000-15,0000). Additional highlights include Jenny Holzer’s Untitled (from the Living Series: When You've Been Someplace) (est. $7,000-9,000) and Nancy Spero’s Untitled (from the War Series) (est. $6,000-8,000).

“We are thrilled to offer such a strong presentation of Post War & Contemporary Art this spring,” says Rago/Wright Chief Operating Officer and Senior Specialist of Fine Art Meredith Hilferty. “The breadth and quality of these works truly reflects the high bar that Rago/Wright strives for.”