&nbsp;Roy Lichtenstein’s Water Lilies with Cloud offers a bold re-interpretation of Monet’s renowned water lily motif, viewed through a Pop art lens.&nbsp; This experimental work, painstakingly printed on stainless steel, challenges conventional ideas of beauty and originality.&nbsp; Though inspired by Impressionism, it is a distinctly Contemporary portrayal of nature which explores the tranquillity of Giverny with an industrial twist.

Roy Lichtenstein’s Water Lilies with Cloud

Sotheby’s Prints &amp; Multiples auction comprises an outstanding collection of modern and contemporary works from an Important Private Collection. The group is led by Warhol’s iconic Marilyn&nbsp;and Mao&nbsp;prints, each represented here in five different colourways, giving viewers insight into Warhol’s strategy of repetition and slight alteration. Upon close examination of these important works, along with their divergent colour combinations, one notices slight differences in registration at times the subjects’ features are coherent and properly aligned, while in other instances they are fragmented and askew. So instead of the same form repeated over and over, in these celebrated portfolios, Warhol exploited the possibility of finding difference in uniformity. This important collection also comprises several important prints by Francis Bacon, alongside editioned sculptures by Salvador Dalí, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Ai Weiwei.

Property from an Important Private Collection

Keith Haring’s Totem&nbsp;is a large-scale sculpture that embodies his lifelong fascination with images as a universal language. Haring studied semiotics while at the School of Visual Arts in New York; there he became fascinated by the potential for signs and symbols to communicate directly and intuitively. Intimately tied to this was the artist’s fascination with Egyptian hieroglyphics and ancient symbols, which he expertly blended with modern-day technology and his own iconic and instantly recognisable motifs such as the barking dog and radiant baby.

Keith Haring’s Totem

Two Nudes exemplifies the mastery of Lichtenstein’s final years of print production – the monumental work illustrates both a perfected technical approach to the medium while presenting a reinterpretation of his most iconic earlier subjects. The figures in this composition are taken from a 1963 comic book entitled ‘Girls’ Romances’. In his interpretation of this source material, Lichtenstein removes the clothing of the protagonists and adds references to his earlier series such as Mirrors, Waterlilies, Interiors and Imperfects. As scholar Sheena Wagstaff puts it, ‘Lichtenstein’s Nudes series, created in the last four years of his life, are a profoundly innovative and active meditation upon the relationship of creation and perception.’ (Wagstaff, in Exh. Cat., Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, 2012, pp. 103-104)

Roy Lichtenstein’s Two Nudes, State I

Warhol made trial proofs as part of the printing process, using them to explore colour and compositional variations before completing the final edition. These impressions of Annie Oakley and General Custer from the Cowboys and Indians portfolio, along with Satyric Festival Song from the Martha Graham series, are distinguished by vivid colour combinations, offering unique insights into the artist’s working method and one of his last major series.

Andy Warhol’s Trial Proofs

London

Director | Head of Department, EMEA | Prints

Yessica Marks

Director | Head of Sale | Prints

Charlotte North

Deputy Director | Specialist | Prints

Jennifer Strotz

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Sotheby’s London’s Prints &amp; Multiples auction, open for bidding from 17–24 September, comprises some of the most important and sought after editioned works created in the 20th and 21st centuries. The sale is led by Roy Lichtenstein’s iconic Water Lilies with Cloud and Two Nudes, State I, alongside Andy Warhol’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Chairman Mao and rare trial proofs of Annie Oakley and General Custer from the Cowboys and Indians portfolio. Other highlights include Keith Haring’s monumental Totem, Pablo Picasso’s Femme au Chapeau à fleurs and M. C. Escher’s Smaller and Smaller.