NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s fall auction of Prints & Multiples totaled $8.3 million last week in New York. The sale was driven by property emerging from distinguished private collections, including a group of mesmerizing prints by Edvard Munch from the Estate of Mary Cross, as well as prints by contemporary artists, such as Barnett Newman, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.
Mary Bartow, Head of the Prints Department in New York, noted: “It is always a privilege to be entrusted with the sale of prominent private collections, which last week included the estates of Mary Cross and Maxine Pines. In addition to achieving impressive prices for master printmakers Edvard Munch and Pablo Picasso, we received notable interest in Contemporary works, signifying continued interest and appreciation for this field.”
Appreciation for Edvard Munch, one of the most significant and influential artists in the world of printmaking, reached new heights with the sale of Property from the Estate of Mary Cross, which totaled $1.4 million. Her passion and in-depth study for this Norwegian artist was swiftly matched by collectors, with interest in the room and on the telephones. Angst (Woll 63; Schiefler 61) lead the group of prints offered in the evening session; estimated at $400/600,000, the lithograph, considered a synthesis of the artist’s most famous work, The Scream, achieved $826,000. Two Human Beings (The Lonely Ones) (W. 13; S. 20), a feat by the artist in conveying physical proximity yet emotional distance, tripled the pre-sale estimate of $30/50,000, achieving $112,500 while a remarkable etching of The Girls on the Bridge (W. 232; S. 200) sold for $87,500 (estimate $30/50,000). An oil on canvas painting of this latter theme will appear at auction in two weeks’ time, as a highlight of the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale.
Introduced to the public in a Contemporary Art sale last month, prints and multiples from the Estate of Maxine Pines were pursued by collectors in the room and on the telephones. 100% sold, her collection of ceramics by Pablo Picasso fetched a total of $344,375 (estimate $217,500/325,500), with Tête de chèvre de profil (A. R. 153) being the top lot. Mrs. Pines’s collection also included Barnett Newman’s Untitled, a ‘Zip’ lithograph from 1961, which achieved $137,000 in the evening session (estimate $70/100,000).
A private collection of sixty-six Picasso ceramics, A Life in Art: Lord & Lady Attenborough, will take place in London on 22 November 2016. Public exhibition opens 17 November.
Contemporary prints and multiples from private American collections were sought after in this autumn’s prints sale. Jasper John’s 0 Through 9 (ULAE 3), a signed lithograph from 1960, attracted interest in the room and online, fetching $137,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $70/100,000. During the last session of the Prints & Multiples sale, Roy Lichtenstein’s Bull Profile (C. 116-121) sold for $262,000 (estimate $80/120,000). A complete set of six line-cuts with lithography and screenprint in color, the work was consigned by a San Francisco private collection.
