LONDON.- Phillips presents highlights from the Evening & Day Editions Sales, showcasing works by an array of Modern and Contemporary masters. Highlights include a rare series of six lithographs by Cy Twombly, a notable group of works by Pop artists including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, an exceptional collection of Richard Hamilton prints, and property from The Edwin C. Cohen Family Collection. With a total of 280 lots, the Day Sale will be held on 7 June at 2pm (lots 62-280), and immediately followed by the Evening Sale at 6.30pm (lots 1-61).
Robert Kennan, Head of Editions, Europe, said, “Following Phillips’ 10th anniversary Editions sale in April in New York, which achieved the highest total for the category in company history, we aim to build on this momentum in London as we present works by the most significant artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The sale brings together museum-quality, original artist prints and multiples by established blue chip artists as well as new cutting edge contemporary names. Among the important collections is a group of works by Richard Hamilton from a single owner Important German Collection.”
Leading the sale are the Cy Twombly’s Untitled, 1971 lithographs (estimate: £300,000 - 400,000). This series comes to auction for the first time, following a period of permanent residency in the same American private collection since 1971. Created in 1971 at Robert Rauschenberg’s studio, which was established with the express purpose to work in tandem with visiting artists, the series encapsulates Twombly’s enduring artistic concerns towards mark-making and script, yet also embodies a specific moment of virtuosity under the guidance and collaborative spirit of Rauschenberg. Each of the six lithographs in this series has been printed with a carefully chosen, varying combination of ink and paper: indigo, grey and black each on white Arches, brown on a tan Canson, grey on an olive Canson and russet red on a cream Arches.
A further highlight is Pablo Picasso’s Blind Minotaur led by a little Girl in the Night, from the Vollard Suite (estimate: £60,000 - £80,000). The Minotaur first appeared in a charcoal drawing in 1928 (Centre Pompidou, Paris), but it was only in 1933 that Picasso focused his attention on the mythic beast in a group of etchings in the Vollard Suite. At the time, Picasso was embroiled in a passionate affair with the young Marie-Thérèse Walter, who is the current focus of a major exhibition at Tate Modern. This work is an extraordinary example of Picasso's facility with printmaking. Picasso achieved the surreal effect through burnished aquatint, a method similar to mezzotint, in which the artist worked from dark to light.
Works by Roy Lichtenstein include Reflections on Girl, from Reflections Series, 1990 (estimate: £60,000 - 80,000). The present work is from the Reflections series, in which Lichtenstein returned to the popular culture subject matter that he had addressed in the 1960s.
The Evening Sale also includes Andy Warhol’s iconic set of Skulls, executed in 1976 (estimate: £60,000 - 80,000). The skulls perfectly demonstrate the artist’s ability to manipulate and appropriate imagery to create a visual icon.
A further highlight of the Evening Sale is Flexible by Jean-Michel Basquiat (estimate: £40,000 - 60,000). This image explores the human figure, a predominant and reoccurring theme in Basquiat’s work. The artist found inspiration for his work through a broad variety of topics, from urban culture, music, poetry and graffiti to Christian, African and Native American cultural histories, a practice that is particularly evident in this work. Basquiat was recently the subject of his first large-scale exhibition in the UK at the Barbican Art Gallery, which has subsequently moved to The Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt. Phillips New York will offer the painting which was the direct inspiration for this edition for auction this week, in the May 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale.
The Important German Collection includes a selection of works by Richard Hamilton, amassed from the late 1960s onwards and brought to the market for the first time. This Collection includes iconic and eclectic examples of Hamilton’s printmaking. Always eager to embrace new technologies and techniques, these works demonstrate Hamilton’s investigation of nearly every process of printmaking, as seen in Release, 1972 (estimate: £15,000 - 20,000).
Having set two new world records for a KAWS painting and a sculpture in the 20th Century and Contemporary Art Day Sale in March 2018, Phillips will once more offer KAWS works in the form of two sets of 10 screen prints: Ups and Downs, 2013 (estimate: £20,000 - 30,000), and Man's Best Friend, 2016 (estimate: £25,000 - 35,000), which makes its auction debut in Europe, offered for the first time outside of Asia.
Illustrating the back cover of the sale catalogue is a detail of Grayson Perry’s Map of Nowhere, 2008 (estimate: £18,000 - 20,000). Based on the 14th century Mappa Mundi, Perry’s signature style uses a combination of image and text to create a fascinatingly intricate and individualistic map that celebrates his signature world view.
Phillips is thrilled to present a group of nine works from The Edwin C. Cohen Family Collection. The four pillars of The Cohen Family Collection are: Literature, Poetry, Spirituality and Portraiture, specifically Self-Portraits. The emphasis on portraits is emphatic in the nine works making their debut in the June sale. Highlights include Lucian Freud’s Girl Holding her Foot (estimate: £12,000 - 18,000), and Gerhard Richter’s Guildenstern (estimate: £15,000 - 20,000).
