Early Pop Print by Lichtenstein Leads Contemporary Art at Swann

  • NEW YORK, New York
  • /
  • June 17, 2020

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Roy Lichtenstein, Reverie, color screenprint, 1965. Estimate $100,000 to $150,000.

New York—Swann Galleries will offer a sale of Contemporary Art on Thursday, June 25 with a standout selection of paintings and works on paper from notable Abstract Expressionists, Pop Artists, street artists of the 1980s, alongside contemporary multiples.

            Leading the sale is Roy Lichtenstein’s celebrated color-screenprint Reverie, 1965—one of the artist’s first pop prints, expected to sell for $100,000 to $150,000. Additional Pop Art features by Robert Indiana’s The American Dream, a 1997 portfolio with complete text and 30 color screenprints ($10,000-15,000); James Rosenquist’s Horse Blinders (East), color lithograph and screenprint with pressure-sensitive bright silver foil, 1972 ($4,000-6,000); and one Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s soup can color screenprints, Consommé (Beef), 1968 ($20,000-30,000).

            A stellar group of works by Abstract Expressionist artists of the New York school includes a run of prints and drawings by Louise Nevelson from the ex-collection of Albert Argentieri, who often photographed Nevelson’s works. Highlights from the offering include Circus Wagon, aquatint and etching, circa 1955 ($3,000-5,000), and Two Seated Women, pen and ink, 1930s ($4,000-6,000). Further notable works feature Willem de Kooning’s 1980 color lithograph Figures in Landscape #6 ($12,000-18,000); Helen Frankenthaler’s vibrant 2005 color screenprint Southern Exposure ($8,000-12,000); Joan Mitchell’s 1972 color aquatint Sunflower VI ($4,000-6,000); Jackson Pollock’s bronze sculpture of a head, modeled circa 1930-33, cast in 1963 ($15,000-20,000); and Robert Motherwell’s 1989 color lithograph Wave ($15,000-20,000).

Further notable works in abstraction include Richard Diebenkorn’s 1986 color aquatint Folsom Street Variation III (Primaries) ($25,000-35,000); Sam Gilliam’s 1990 color screenprint For Xavier ($4,000-6,000); and Julie Mehretu’s 2013 color lithograph Untitled (Pulse) ($4,000-6,000).

Helen Frankenthaler, Southern Exposure, color screenprint, 2005. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.

            Works from the British school of artists include Barbara Hepworth’s Clinic #3, a 1947 pencil on cardstock sketch of a doctor and patient scene ($70,000-100,000); Lucian Freud’s Head and Shoulders, etching, 1982 ($10,000-15,000); David Hockney’s 2019 eight-color inkjet print from an iPad drawing Spring (No. 778, 17th April, 2011-2019) of a view looking outside a window ($8,000-12,000); and Damien Hirst’s Manganese Chloride, color woodcut, 2011 ($2,000-3,000).

Paintings by Richard Hambleton make up some of the top lots in the sale. Known for painting hundreds of the figure silhouettes around New York in the 1980s, he later transformed this motif to canvas and works on paper, broadening his reach. Acrylic on canvas works include Rodeo, 2003 ($50,000-80,000) and Shadow Head, 2007 ($20,000-30,000), and Shadowman, a 1994 acrylic on paper ($10,000-15,000) also features.

Other works by postwar and contemporary icons include Richard Anuszkiewicz’s Masked Triad, oil on three-dimensional wood construction, 1993 ($30,000-50,000); George Condo’s Jazz Edge, acrylic on canvas, 1999 ($30,000-50,000); and Jeff Koons’s Balloon Monkey (Blue), porcelain with chromatic coating, 2017 ($12,000-18,000).

Barbara Hepworth, Clinic #3, pencil on cardstock, 1947. Estimate $70,000 to $100,000.

While current restrictions will not allow for in-person examination of the material, Swann Galleries staff will prepare condition reports and provide additional photographs of material on request. Advance order bids can be placed directly with the specialist for the sale or on Swann’s website, and limited, pre-arranged phone bidding will be available. Live online bidding platforms available will be the Swann Galleries App, Invaluable, and Live Auctioneers. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com and on the Swann Galleries App.

Contact:
Kelsie Jankowski
Swann Auction Galleries

kjankowski@swanngalleries.com


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