An important event this month that is likely to get less notice is the print sales in London. The Wall Street Journal has been paying attention and pulls out these fine examples. But more to the point of the broader health of the art market, the print sales seem to suggest continued demand for art by established names with deep markets. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn remains a bellweather and Margaret Struder offers this telling quote from Sotheby’s Jennie Fisher, admittedly an interested party, “People want to have a Marilyn on the wall.” Christie’s broad-ranging sale of works from Old Master to Contemporary print-makers is this week on Thursday and Sotheby’s sale is on the following Thursday:
German expressionists were among the 20th century’s most skilled printmakers. Christie’s will be offering Max Beckmann’s 1921 image, “Self-Portrait with Bowler Hat,” which is estimated at £70,000-£100,000. In it, Beckmann takes on the style of a dandy, but his eyes, which look uneasily to the future, speak to the uncertainty of life in the interwar era.
German expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s famed Alpine landscapes are among the prints to be sold at Sotheby’s London on Sept. 24. In “Berggruppe” (1919), a rare lithograph in cobalt blue, pink, black and green, Kirchner captures the wild and rugged beauty of the high mountains (estimate: £30,000-£50,000).
Prints Charming (Wall Street Journal)
