In Living Color vivid post impressionist works highlight Bonhams’ October prints auction

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Bonhams announces its sale of Fine Prints, October 25, 2011 in San Francisco, and simulcast to Los Angeles, will feature a wide range of lithographs, woodcuts, etchings and screenprints spanning myriad centuries.

The sale is led by a brightly-colored lithograph of “Ambassadeurs, Aristide Bruant,” 1892, by French Post Impressionist artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (est. $30,000-40,000). The piece depicts Parisian singer and restaurateur Aristide Bruant, and demonstrates the unique style that Toulouse-Lautrec introduced to the art world at the time. Also of the same period is a poster of Fernand Toussaint’s “Cafe Jacqmotte,” 1894 (est. $20,000-40,000). Not far prior to the creation of these works, James Abbott McNeill Whistler created “Little Venice, from Twelve Etchings,” in 1880. At the opposite end of the color spectrum, this print was done in dark brown ink on antique cream laid paper (est. $12,000-18,000).

Moving farther backward in time, significant 17th century highlights of the sale will include an etching with drypoint and engraving of Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn’s “Christ Healing the Sick: ‘The Hundred Guilder Print’,” 1649, (est. $12,000-20,000), and Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn’s “A Beggar Seated on a Bank,” 1630, etching (est. $12,000-18,000). The sale will also feature the 15th century work of an engraved “The Prodigal Son,” 1496, by Albrecht Dürer ($15,000-25,000).

Bonhams’ Fine Prints Department Director Judith Eurich said of the sale, “There are a number of fine and important examples by some of the most important artists from the Renaissance to the Present including Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Chagall, Picasso, Frankenthaler and Warhol.”

Works of Pop Art, which are prominent in the sale, will include Andy Warhol’s offset color lithograph of “Liz,” 1964 (est. $25,000-30,000); a color screenprint of “Mick Jagger,” 1975 (est. $20,000-30,000); a color screenprint of “One Plate, from Flowers,” 1970 (est. $20,000-25,000); and a color screenprint of “Jane Fonda,” 1982 (est. $15,000-20,000). There will also be highlights by David Hockney, including a color paper pulp of “Sunflower,” 1978 (est. $15,000-25,000) that is Property from the Collection of Lauren Bacall (please see separate press release), and “An image of Gregory, from Moving Focus Series,” 1984-85, color lithograph with collage on two sheets (est. $14,000-16,000); as well as James Rosenquist’s “Crosshatch and Mutations,” 1986, a unique color monoprint with lithographic collage (est. $12,000-18,000).

Famous for his Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism “combines,” Robert Rauschenberg’s work is also represented in the sale with his “Plus Fours, from Hoarfrost Editions,” 1974, which features offset color lithograph and screenprint transfers on silk chiffon and two silk satin panels (est. $25,000-35,000). Additional Abstract Expressionism highlights include “Tales of Genji I,” 1998, by Helen Frankenthaler, a color woodcut on handmade paper (est. $25,000- 35,000).

A range of works by Pablo Picasso also stand out. Works of note include “Femme Endormie,” 1962, a color linocut (est. $20,000-30,000); “Grand Nu de Femme,” 1962, a tonal linocut in brown and black (est. $10,000-15,000); and “Les Danseurs au Hibou,” 1959, color linocut (est. $15,000-25,000). Earlier pieces, during a period when he embraced surrealism, include an etching of his “Sculpteur, Modèle accroupi et Tête sculptée, from La Suite Vollard,” 1933 (est. $10,000-15,000); “Rembrandt et Femme au Vile, Pl. 36, from La Suite Vollard,” 1933, etching, watermarked ‘Picasso’ (est. $10,000-15,000); and “Femme et Enfant,” 1923, lithograph on wove paper (est. $10,000-15,000). Also included in the sale is a “Nature Morte au Citron et au Pichet Rouge,” 1960, color aquatint, after Pablo Picasso (est. $10,000-12,000).

Marc Chagall is a great mentionable of the October sale, with “The Sky,” 1984, color lithograph (est. $12,000-18,000); “Le Square de Paris,” 1969, color lithograph (est. $15,000-20,000); “Daphnis et Lycénion, from Daphnis and Chloé,” 1961, color lithograph (est. $10,000-15,000); and “Les Coquelicots,” 1949, color lithograph (est. $12,000-16,000).

Additional highlights will include Emil Nolde’s “Unterhaltung,” 1917, woodcut on heavy cream wove paper (est. $20,000-30,000) and “Nadia au Regard sérieux,” 1948, aquatint by Henri Matisse (est. $18,000-25,000).