artnet Launches Prints Sale Featuring Works by Francis Bacon, Marc Chagall, Roy Lichtenstein, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Many Other Artists

NEW YORK and BERLIN - 100 prints by 40 Modern & Contemporary masters
- Estimates from US$2,000 to US$60,000
- March 12-26, 2009

From March 12-26 artnet Online Auctions (
www.artnetonlineauctions.com) will feature a special sale of original
limited edition prints (www.artnetonlineauctions.com/Prints) by 40
artists including Francis Bacon, Marc Chagall, Roy Lichtenstein, Henri
Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

(Photo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090312/NY82886 )

Pop Art

Leading the sale is an exceptional group of Pop Art prints by Andy Warhol
and Roy Lichtenstein. Twenty works by Andy Warhol range from the 1950s
through the 1980s, including four 1968 screenprints from his Death and
Disaster series. Included in this group is Flash - November 22, 1963
(Jackie), which depicts a glamorous 1960s Jackie the day of President John F.
Kennedy’s assassination (estimate: US$7,000 - US$9,000), and Electric Chair,
1971 (estimate: US$10,000 - US$15,000).

The sale also celebrates Roy Lichtenstein with eight prints from
1974-1996. Among the highlights is Virtual Interior: Portrait of a Duck
(BAT), 1995. Lichtenstein created this work for renowned art collector
Michael Ovitz during his tenure as President of Walt Disney Company. This is
an exceptionally rare work as this edition was never sold publicly and only
one has ever appeared at auction (estimate: US$25,000 - US$35,000). Other
rare editions include Rouen Cathedral #4, 1969, inspired by the works of
Claude Monet (estimate: US$9,000 - US$12,000) and Art Critic, 1996, the
artist’s tongue-in-cheek homage to Picasso’s Cubist period (estimate:
US$25,000 - US$30,000).

Other Pop highlights include two of Jasper Johns’ iconic Target prints,
Target, 1973 (estimate: US$10,000 - US$12,000) and Target with Plaster Casts,
1990 (US$12,000 - US$15,000). The target image was an important element in
Johns’ early work and figured prominently in the Metropolitan Museum of New
York’s 2008 Jasper Johns retrospective. Other Pop artists featured in the
sale are Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist and Tom
Wesselmann.

Contemporary Art

Contemporary highlights include works by Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel
Basquiat, Marlene Dumas, and Robert Rauschenberg. Study for the Human Body,
1975 by Francis Bacon is a characteristic example of the artist’s use of bold
and muted colors to highlight amorphous and twisted human figures set in an
enclosed, artificial space (estimate: US$22,000 - US$25,000). An example of
Robert Rauschenberg’s visual wit, Chronosaur, 1993 depicts overlayed images
of dinosaurs chewing on clocks (estimate: US$8,500 - US$9,500). Jean-Michel
Basquiat’s tour de force Jawbone of an Ass, 1982-2005, embodies the artist’s
stream of consciousness technique, covering the surface in drawings and text
that present a multiplicity of ideas. This particular edition is signed by
Gerard Basquiat, Jean-Michel’s father and the Executor of the Basquiat Estate
(estimate: US$18,000 - US$22,000).

Modern European

Rounding out the sale are ten works by Modern masters including Marc
Chagall, M.C. Escher, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso. Three works
by Marc Chagall are among the artist’s finest from the 1950s to 1970s.
Maternite, 1954 reflects the Russian-born artist’s nostalgia for his native
country (estimate: US$16,000 - US$18,000); Winter: Daphnis and Chloe, 1960
depicts a popular myth and frequent subject of the artist; (estimate:
US$25,000 - US$30,000); The Magic Flute III, 1972, is a complex later work
evoking a fantastic array of characters from Mozart’s comic opera, one of
Chagall’s most cherished subjects (estimate: US$12,000 - US$15,000).

“This auction offers collectors the opportunity to acquire works by some
of the most important artists of the 20th-21st century” said Hans Neuendorf,
CEO of artnet Worldwide. “We are delighted to offer such an exciting range of
prints.”

View the sale at www.artnetonlineauctions.com/Prints

Sale Contacts:
Deb Ripley
Senior Prints Specialist
dripley@artnet.com
+1-212-497-9700 Ext. 174

Max Wolf
Auction Specialist
mwolf@artnet.com
+1-212-497-9700 Ext. 399

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Press contact:
Sarah Bradley
artnet Worldwide Inc.
61 Broadway, 23rd floor
New York, NY 10006-2701, U.S.A.
Tel: +1-212-497-9700 ext: 197
sbradley@artnet.com

Source: artnet

Media, Sarah Bradley, artnet Worldwide Inc., +1-212-497-9700, ext: 197, sbradley at artnet.com ; NOTE TO EDITORS: Images available upon request. ; Photo: https://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090312/NY82886