NEW YORK, NY.- Christies presents the sale of Prints & Multiples taking place October 29 30. The two day blockbuster sale features 446 lots, with a particularly significant representation of the Post-War and Contemporary category as well as Cubist masterpieces in the medium. Highlights from the sale include prints by Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Henri Matisse, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Cy Twombly among others.
The sale is one of the most comprehensive surveys of Cubist prints to have appeared on the auction market in many years. Courageous experimentalists, Cubist artists work overthrew all prevailing concepts of beauty and produced the most radical artistic revolution since the Renaissance. Exemplifying this group of works are prints by Cubisms founding fathers, Georges Braques Etude de nue (Nu) - estimate: $18,000-$25,000, and Pablo Picassos final and most complex Cubist graphic to be published LHomme á la Guitare (estimate: $25,000-$35,000). Previously dissatisfied with the results of the printing plate, Picasso discarded the design and did not rediscover LHomme á la Guitare until 1929 making this print one of the few works initiated in the early World War I years to be very rarely available on the market.
The sale also encompasses a strong selection of Impressionist & Modern prints, which can be seen in the top lot of the sale Edvard Munchs , Madchen auf der Brucke (The Girls on the Bridge) estimate: $700,000-$1,000,000) together with Ernst Ldwig Kirchners Picknick der Badenden (estimate: $500,000 - 700,000). Created in 1909, Picknick der Badendens is one of the largest, most vibrant, and ultimately most significant of the Moritzburg works in lithography.
The Collection of David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg serves as the foundation for the impressive Post-War & Contemporary art section. Legendary supporters of young emerging artists and their local art community, the Ruttenbergs amassed one of the most varied collections of influential post-war printmakers. In 1981, The David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation was established to provide a lasting platform for the Ruttenbergs arts patronage. Among this notable collection is a complete set of Andy Warhol Ads (estimate: $250,000-350,000).
In addition to the works from the Ruttenbergs collection, the sale will offer and unprecedented group of prints from Roy Lictensteins Reflections Series (including Reflections on Girl, estimate: $60,000-$80,000). In 1988 Lichtenstein began work on a group of Reflections paintings, in which the central image is partly obscured by reflective streaks, as if behind glass or reflected in a mirror. Work began in 1989 on the seven works in this series, which combine a variety of printing techniques. These multimedia prints reference the complete span of Lichtensteins imagery from throughout his career with their iconic Pop and comic images. Another unprecedented auction highlight is a complete set of Keith Harings The Blueprint Drawings (estimate: $180,000-$220,000).