LOS ANGELES, CA.- Old Master, Modern & Contemporary prints came to auction at Bonhams & Butterfields on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, bringing more than $1.9-million and setting multiple auction records during a simulcast sale between the auctioneer’s two California salesrooms.

Picasso linocuts were of interest to an international pool of bidders. The auction’s top seller was Femme au Chapeau, 1962, signed and annotated by Pablo Picasso. The work sold above its estimate, bringing $48,800. Additional imagery of women by the master garnered above estimate prices as well: Petite Tête de Femme couronnée sold for $45,750 and Femme au Chapeau à Fleurs blossomed to bring $36,600. A rare textile by Picasso, Le peintre et son modèle, c. 1970, an Aubusson wool tapestry from an edition of five depicting an artist painting a sleeping model, sold for $39,650.

A pair of Marc Chagall lithographs and four Warhols also made the sale’s Top Ten. A bidder paid $39,650 – an auction world record price - for Chagall’s Pl. 10, from Le Cirque, 1968, and the same price was realized for his earlier work La Bastille, 1954. Andy Warhol’s screenprint Mick Jagger, 1975, sold for $39,650, nearly doubling its pre-sale estimate, while two variations of his iconic Mao screenprints each sold for $36,600. Warhol’s John Wayne, 1986, brought $35,380, selling within estimate.

Strong collector interest was anticipated for an Edgar Degas monotype Pauline and Virginie Cardinal Bavardant avec des Admirateurs, 1880-83, which sold for an auction world record, bringing $24,400. Rarely seen at auction, the print was originally purchased at one of Degas's sales in Paris in 1918 by Henri Béraldi (1849-1931), an important print and book collector, author and publisher.

Additional record prices were set in the Bonhams & Butterfields October sale, including a new auction record for the Roy Lichtenstein lithograph Cathedral #3, from Cathedral Series, 1969, which brought $27,450. Bidders also competed for lithographs by Edward Ruscha. Ruscha’s lithograph Gas, 1962, signed, dated and numbered 3/10, brought a record $21,960, while Hollywood, 1969, numbered 13/18, sold for an auction record at $27,450. Earlier this year Bonhams set an auction record (at $194,000) for Ruscha’s 1966 screenprint Standard Station. The October sale included a print of Standard Station, signed, dated and annotated “trial proof,” which sold for $48,800.

“We're pleased to see such strong results from the Fall prints offering, including additional auction record prices for Edward Ruscha’s prints – for which Bonhams & Butterfields has consistently raised the bar. An international audience participated in the sale, with strong prices throughout the offering,” said V.P. and Prints & Photos Dept. Director Judith Eurich.