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12 Eye-Catching Prints by Andy Warhol, Alex Katz, Jonas Wood & More

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With starting bids ranging from $50 to $55,000, Sotheby’s Prints & Multiples Online auction has a work of art for everyone. Modern and Impressionist examples by Miró, Chagall, Renoir and Signac join contemporary works by Hockney, Johns and Hirst, among many other highly collectible names. Click ahead to see the 12 top highlights, chosen by our prints experts in New York.

Prints & Multiples Online 
1–15 December | Online

12 Eye-Catching Prints by Andy Warhol, Alex Katz, Jonas Wood & More

  • Andy Warhol, Grace Kelly (Feldman & Schellmann II.305). Starting bid $55,000.
    “Grace Kelly embodied a real-life fairytale; a stunning, self-possessed Hollywood star who left behind her acting career to marry the prince of Monaco. Warhol captures her ‘glacially cool’ elegance, immortalising the famous beauty and fashion icon in his screenprint from 1984. The print was published two years after Kelly’s tragic death to raise funds for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, where Kelly was born.” –Chanler Rutherfurd 

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  • Jeff Koons, Dom Pérignon Balloon Venus. Starting bid $26,000.
    “This multiple’s shiny magenta surface and bulbous shape, designed to resemble a balloon figure, make it instantly recognisable as a work by Jeff Koons. The artist created this multiple in collaboration with Dom Pérignon; it is designed to hold a bottle of champagne in its pink suede-lined recesses. I love that Koons chose the figure of Venus of Willendorf, a small Paleolithic limestone sculpture believed to be an icon of fertility, as the inspiration for this work. By combining his signature balloon aesthetic with a luxury brand and references to ancient fertility figures, the artist creates a work bursting with celebratory, extravagant spirit.” –Hadley Newton 

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  • David Smith, Untitled (Not in Schwartz). Starting bid $5,000.
    “Although David Smith is best known as a sculptor, he experimented with printmaking throughout his career and created over thirty linocuts, etchings and lithographs between the late 1920s and early 1950s. Like the majority of his prints, this rare, untitled work was never published in an edition and only two impressions are known to have been pulled from the plate. I love the image, and I think it’s fascinating to think about how it was produced – given the uneven edges of the paper, it’s easy to imagine the artist finishing the etching in the plate and picking up whatever sheet of paper was available to print on, just so he could see how it turned out.” –John Maher 

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  • Jonas Wood, Eight Etchings. Starting bid $5,000.
    “I particularly like the group of prints by Jonas Wood we have in this sale (lots 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135). I love the incongruity of his potted plants; the simplicity of the compositions made monumental by their scale and the juxtaposition of the rich, pure colours with the monochromatic pattern and decoration of the vases. I also find the portfolio of eight etchings depicting different interiors to be very interesting. While Wood’s paintings of interiors are large, vibrant and colourful, this portfolio offers a more intimate view of the artist’s style. Of his interiors, Jonas Wood has said, ‘I’m interested in exploring the spaces that I’ve inhabited and the psychological impact they’ve had on me and my memories of them, and then I can create a new memory of that space.’” –Chanler Rutherfurd 

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  • Henri Matisse, Poèmes de Charles D’Orléans (Duthuit Books 28). Starting bid $1,900.
    “Looking through this book, I was struck by Matisse’s charming and whimsical lithographs created especially for a selection of poems by Charles d’Orleans, the medieval poet. Matisse began reading his work in 1943 and became intrigued and fascinated by the poet’s depictions of court life. The artist’s interest in exploring medieval themes is represented by the repetition of the fleur-de-lis, a symbol traditionally associated with the French monarchy, in many colours and patterns.” –Hadley Newton 

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  • David Hockney, An Image of Gregory (Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo 276; Tyler 285). Starting bid $8,000.
    “Hockney’s An Image of Gregory is one of his most popular and iconic prints. Depicting the artist’s assistant and longtime companion, Gregory Evans, the work is one of a number of the artist’s prints in which Picasso’s influence is clear. Hockney fractures the depiction of Gregory, not only in the image itself but also by printing the upper portion of the two-part work on several sheets of paper collaged together. He also contained the portions in two separate but interlocking frames of his own design, further emphasising the manner of production and depiction, rather than just pure portraiture.” –John Maher 

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  • Yoshitomo Nara, Beh!. Starting bid $12,000.
    “I love this Yoshitomo Nara print, it is so relatable to the daily grind. It is also more playful compared to some of his more unsettling representations of children holding knives.” –Chanler Rutherfurd 

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  • Francis Bacon, Étude du corps humain d’après Ingres (Sabatier 19). Starting bid $3,500.
    “With this lithograph, one of only 21 in the artist’s oeuvre, Bacon offers a surreal, disquieting adaptation of a classical nude. As the title indicates, this print references a painting by Ingres, Le Bain turc [1862]. Bacon takes the torso and thighs of one of Ingres’s figures and places them in a landscape of geometric planes, de-familiarising and abstracting the human form. I think this print is a particularly interesting and salient example of both Bacon’s interest in art history and his ability to challenge and reinvent familiar art subjects.” –Hadley Newton

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  • Otto Dix, Lili, die Königin der Luft (Karsch 40/II). Starting bid $4,200.
    “Translating as Lili, the Queen of the Air, this print from Dix’s Zirkus (Circus) portfolio has the psychologically dark, slightly menacing quality that characterises so much of the artist’s work. Dix was fascinated by circus performers, who lived on the fringes of society in relative freedom from social norms but subject to physically dangerous conditions. In this print, Lili’s situation is unclear – is she raising her arms in triumph or falling, off balance, into the net meant to protect her?” –John Maher 

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  • Alex Katz, Blue Umbrella (Maravell 121). Starting bid $4,800.
    “I find Alex Katz’s Blue Umbrella to be quite striking. It depicts his wife, Ada, his most frequent muse, standing in the rain. The exact meaning of the image is unclear. The grey background and persistent, heavy rain evokes a cold and dreary day, yet Ada does not seem to be much bothered by it. Her bright paisley scarf stands out amidst the grey. She seems unknowable, her rosy lips slightly upturned, she looks resolutely beyond the viewer.” –Chanler Rutherfurd 

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  • Keith Haring, Untitled (from Pop Shop I) (Littmann P. 83). Starting bid $6,000.
    “I’ve always loved the black lines in Haring’s Pop Shop prints – they have this wonderful rich, viscous quality and sit on top of the colours like thick strokes of paint. It’s a texture that’s impossible to reproduce in a photo, but it makes viewing the works in person all the more striking.” –John Maher 

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  • Joan Miró, Le Caissier (Dupin 487). Starting bid $12,000.
    “The Cashier demonstrates the artist’s tendency to pair abstract compositional elements with allusions to representational subjects. The viewer is compelled to closely inspect the organic, sinuous forms of the composition and to search for the hint of a face or the round keys of a cash register. This print also has a wonderful textural quality, demonstrating the artist’s mastery of intaglio techniques.” –Hadley Newton 

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