NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announces the two-day sale of Prints & Multiples taking place over three sessions from April 26-27. This diverse sale of over 275 lots and includes a rare selection of early etchings by Joan Miró and master prints by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Lucian Freud.

Leading the sale is Jasper Johns (b. 1930) Flags I, executed in 1973 (estimate: $800,000-1,200,000), praised as being the most painterly and vivid of all his silkscreen works, it is large in scale, and rendered in rich, multi-layered color, the work is a masterpiece of Johns’ career as a print-maker. With the help of master printer Hiroshi Kawanishi at Simca Artist Prints, Inc., Johns devised a series of thirty-one screens used in five stages that allowed him to create a richness and depth of color rarely seen in silkscreened works.

Also featured is Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) Booster, from Booster and Seven Studies, executed in 1967 (estimate: $80,000-120,000). This work was one of the most technically ambitious attempted at the time and is a rare example of a self-referential work by the artist. The center subject of the print is a set of his own x-rays, which was transferred in full scale to a series of lithographic stones.

Unprecedented in scale, Rauschenberg and his collaborator Kenneth Tyler created the largest work ever printed on a hand-operated lithographic press at that time.

Other contemporary highlights include Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) Nude with Blue Hair, executed in 1994 (estimate: $350,000-450,000), Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Myths, the complete set of ten screenprints in colors, executed in 1981 (estimate: $400,000-600,000), as well as works by Keith Haring, including Andy Mouse, executed in 1986 (estimate: $100,000-150,000).

Highlighting the modern section is Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Buste de femme d'après Cranach le Jeune, a linocut executed in 1958 (estimate: $350,000-450,000). This work is thought to be the most important of the artist’s color linocuts and is a virtuouso performance, using incredibly complicated technical skill to create an image of striking vitality.