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Munch, Picasso, Johns and More Lead Prints & Multiples Sale

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The leading artists of the modern and contemporary periods highlight Sotheby’s Prints & Multiples auction in New York. Wonderful selections of works by Edvard Munch from The Estate of Mary Cross and Pablo Picasso ceramics from The Estate of Maxine Pines as well as special examples of Picasso’s printmaking are offered alongside Jasper Johns early lithographs, 0-9 and Two Maps II, a serene Barnett Newman lithograph and Lucian Freud’s momentous etched portrait Kai.   

Prints & Multiples
New York | 27–28 October

Munch, Picasso, Johns and More Lead Prints & Multiples Sale

  • Edvard Munch, Angst. Estimate $400,000–600,000.
    Nowhere does the artist’s preoccupation with loneliness, alienation and ultimately, death, present itself better than in the masterful lithograph Angst, executed in 1896. The subject matter of figures in a funereal procession set against a psychologically turbulent landscape epitomized the artist’s inimitable ability to confront the viewer with an intense human mortality. Angst is considered a synthesis of Munch’s most famous work, The Scream, of 1894. Notably, in executing the lithograph in 1896, the artist dropped the horizon to its lowest point.


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  • Edvard Munch, Two Human Beings (The Lonely Ones). Estimate $30,000–50,000.
    Unlike most of the artist’s graphic works, The Lonely Ones cannot be associated with any existing painting (the one painting titled Two Human Beings, was lost at sea in 1901). Nevertheless, the image stands as one of Munch’s greatest achievements in depicting the dichotomy of two people being close together physically, yet very much apart.



    *A colour woodcut of this image, created in 1899, sold for $2,033,000 in the Sotheby’s London Prints & Multiples auction on 27 September, 2016.

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  • Pablo Picasso, Portrait de jeune fille, d'après Cranach le jeune.II. Estimate $500,000–700,000.
    This linoleum cut from 1958 is significant in that it is a “reduction linocut” meaning that the composition was produced by the artist further cutting away from the linoleum block for each color. It is a proof, signed in red pencil, dedicated in orange and blue pencil 'pour Lauguier [t]on ami’.

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  • Pablo Picasso, Jacqueline lisant. Estimate $80,000–120,000.
    Two very rare experimental working proofs of linoleum, cut on the same sheet, 1962. This unique work provides incredible insight into the artist’s creative and technical processes. Picasso, working with his master printer, Arnéra, was constantly experimenting with superimposing different blocks/images as well as trying out different ways of inking the blocks.

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  • Pablo Picasso, Joueur de diaule. Estimate $10,000–15,000.
    From 1947, this the first of Picasso’s over 500 ceramic editions produced with Madoura, comes from The Estate of Maxine Pines, a wonderful collection of more than 30 Picasso ceramics which showcases the artist’s mastery of the medium.


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  • Chuck Close, Self Portrait/Color. Estimate $100,000–150,000.
    In 2005, Chuck Close began collaborating with Magnolia Editions’ Magnolia Tapestry Project (MTP) to create a series of limited-edition woven textiles. Applying contemporary computer analytics to the traditional style of Jacquard weaving, MTP facilitated Close’s exploration of portraiture in a new medium.

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  • Jasper Johns, 0 Through 9. Estimate $70,000–100,000.
    This lithograph, from 1960, was Jasper John’s third with ULAE and the first example of his juxtaposing numbers on top of one another, a composition he would revisit many times in various mediums.

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  • Barnett Newman, Untitled. Estimate $70,000–100,000.
    This lithograph, executed in 1961, utilizes the artist’s iconic ZIP motif, in a dramatic black and white composition which highlights the brushwork of ink being applied to the stone.


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  • Roy Lichtenstein, Brushstroke I. Estimate $150,000–250,000.

    Hand-painted cherry wood wall-mounted sculpture, 1986. The artist stated "[The Brushstroke] was the way of portraying this romantic and bravura symbol in its opposite style, classicism…”

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  • Wayne Thiebaud, Cigars. Estimate $80,000–120,000.
    This elaborately hand-colored soft ground aquatint was worked with water soluble pencils and gouache throughout the 1980s. It is unique and inscribed accordingly, a wonderful example of Thiebaud elevating traditional printmaking technique to simultaneously exemplify his mastery of colour.

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  • 
Robert Rauschenberg, Booster. Estimate $80,000–120,000
    Booster was, at the time, the largest scale lithograph to have been printed by hand and it was conceived with a spontaneity reflecting the stream of consciousness expression of the era and the innovative techniques of artist and printer. The focal point of the print depicts an x-ray negative super-imposed on lithographic stones, of Rauschenberg himself, naked but for his boots. This is juxtaposed with smaller components comprising minutiae such as current media images and an astrological map.


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