Bonhams & Butterfields is pleased to announce the February 27th Sunset Estate Auction in Los Angeles.  The sale will feature more than 150 lots of David Hockney's most sought after posters from the estate of actor, writer, and director Paul Bartel.  Works of note will include several of Hockney's most iconic pieces, related to the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Hawaiian Opera, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Olympic posters, the 'swimming pool' series, and locations in and around Southern California. 

Morisa Rosenberg, Director of Works on Paper, said, "This is one of the largest offerings of David Hockney posters to be featured at public auction in recent years.  Bonhams & Butterfields is thrilled to present these highly sought after works."

Hockney posters of note from the Estate of Paul Bartel include Parade, 1981 (est. $2,000-$3,000); Photocollage: Scenes from Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica (est. $1,000-1,200), Photocollages (A Wider Perspective) (est. $500-700) and David Hockney Piscines de Papier: Paper Pools, 1980 (est. $400-600) as well as a diverse lot highlighted by Los Angeles Bicentennial, David's Evening on Wheels and Artist's Design for Dance (est. $800-1,200).

Actor, writer and director Paul Bartel was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 6, 1938. His interest in film began at an early age. Bartel went to the movies often and by the time he was 11, animation had captured his imagination.  At the age of 13, after deciding that he wanted to direct, Bartel spent a summer working at UPA Studio in New York. 

He went on to study at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he produced several documentaries and animated shorts.  It was this work that helped to earn Bartel a Fullbright Scholarship to study film in Rome, Italy.  While in Europe, one of the short theatrical films he produced, Progetti, was presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1962. 

Bartel directed military films and documentaries for a few years. While working in New York as an assistant production manager, he wrote, shot, and directed a few scenes, which eventually became The Secret Cinema.  It was this film and a follow-up short, which led Bartel to direct a horror feature titled Private Parts (1972).

He became a second unit director on the hit film Big Bad Mama in the early 1970s, which led to his next directing job on Death Race 2000 (1975).  Bartel followed with the similar spoof-style Cannonball (1976), which included cameos by Sylvester Stallone and Martin Scorsese.

Bartel wrote, directed, and starred in the 1982 comedy Eating Raoul, which became his best-known film.  The story, which satirized decadence, greed, and superficial middle-class values, went on to become a cult classic that inspired a stage musical adaptation.

Bartel's additional film credits included Lust in the Dust (1986), with Tab Hunter and Divine; Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990); The Usual Suspects (1995); Basquiat (1996); and Hamlet (2000), among others.

Additional highlights from the February 27th Sunset Estate Auction will include: a George III style mahogany serving table, in the manner of Adam (est. $3,000-4,000), a French gilt bronze figure of the Crouching Venus (est. $2,000-3,000), an Italian Neoclassical walnut kneehole desk (est. $2,500-3,500), a Victorian silver four piece tea and coffee set by Hayne and Cater (est. $2,000-2,500) and a large collection of pewter table articles (est. $1,000-1,500).

Preview: February 25-26, 2011, Los Angeles

Auction: February 27, 2011, Los Angeles