Auction introduction: With a nod to the 150th anniversary of Impressionism, this upcoming auction features Picasso’s linocut Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, a riff on Édouard Manet’s eponymous painting, simplified and rendered in exuberant colour. Roy Lichtenstein picks up this playful dialogue with the art of the past in his Bull Profile series, referencing Le taureau, a famous lithographic series by Picasso in which the bull is simplified over 11 states to its linear essence. In Lichtenstein’s post-modern version, the bull is obscured rather than revealed in primary-coloured geometric shapes and patterns. A Private Collection of Prints by M. C. Escher features eight prints by the Dutch artist renowned for his visual enigmas and includes Ascending and Descending, Sun and Moon, and Three Spheres II.
Featuring prints from the late 19th century to the Pop movement, other pieces already consigned to this auction include a collection of works by Joan Miró with a rare set of Album 13, prints by Marc Chagall, formerly from the artist’s estate, and a selection of Pop art including Trucks and Blackglama (Judy Garland) by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring’s Lucky Strike screenprints. David Hockney’s rare early Fish and Chip Shop leads a group of works by the ever popular artist.