Andy Warhol artworks highlight of print sale

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Warhol’s set of Car Crashes is a part of ‘Death and Disaster series, which artist created between 1962 and 1964. The piece will be one of the highlights of the auction.

Works by British artists will take center stage at this autumn’s sale of Old Master, modern and contemporary prints at Sotheby’s London on Sept. 19, 2012, Artdaily.com reported.

Alongside prints by leading international artists including Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch and Andy Warhol, the Sotheby’s sale will place special emphasis on works which celebrate the “best of British”: exceptional works depicting famous British motifs and made by leading British artists, the Artdaily.com article said.

The Sotheby’s sale will comprise a selection of nearly 200 masterful works showcasing 500 years of printmaking. While great artist’s works on canvas often attract more attention, many leading artists have experimented with print media with equal success.

A remarkable group of ten etchings by Lucian Freud will spearhead the British section of the sale.

Highlights include “Pluto,” “Kai” and “A Couple,” a print that Freud gave to his housekeeper, the present owner, in 1982. The Best of British section of the sale will also feature several examples of Freud’s print portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, including a complete set of four silkscreen prints in color with diamond dust from his 1985 series, “Reigning Queens.”

Color prints by Warhol

The sale also includes three exceptional color prints by Andy Warhol, which appropriate motifs from some of Edvard Munch’s most universally recognized works. Striking, unique and ground-breaking, “The Scream (After Munch),” “Eva Mudocci (After Munch),” and “Madonna and Self- Portrait with Skeleton’s Arms (After Munch)” are rare and enterprising offerings from Warhol – representing a meeting between two of the finest artists of the twentieth century. Alongside these three unique works and many more by the artist in the sale, the Sotheby’s auction will also include Andy Warhol’s “Car Crash,” one of the most powerful, challenging and provocative works made by any artist in the post-World War II era.

“Car Crash,” a silkscreen print, is based on an unidentified press photograph. This image of a mangled car with its driver lying contorted and face down in the wreckage uses what is arguably the most extraordinary and disturbing source image of all those used in Warhol’s famous and seminal “Death and Disaster” series.