Session Time: 11:00 AM Central Time, Thursday, April 23

Curators' Picks: April 23 Prints & Multiples Signature Auction
Our curators picked their favorite items from our upcoming Aril 23 Prints & Multiples Signature Auction.
| Frank's Picks Frank Hettig | Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art, Dallas
David Hockney Lithographic Water Made of Lines, Crayon and Two Blue Washes, 1978-1980
David Hockney's Lithograph "Water Made of Lines, Crayon and Two Blue Washes" has always intrigued me for the way it transforms something as fluid and elusive as water into a carefully constructed visual language. Rather than painting water realistically, Hockney builds it out of lines, marks, and layered washes of blue. Even the title feels almost like a set of instructions, as if he's letting you in on exactly how the image is built.
Lynda Benglis Ghost Dance, 1992
Richard Tuttle Swift Confirmation, 1998
There's something about "Ghost Dance" by Linda Benglis that feels almost alive to me, like it's caught mid-movement. The surface is so tactile-you can almost feel where Benglis pushed and shaped it with her hands-and that sense of touch makes it feel really immediate and physical. I love how the gold leaf catches the light, giving it this strange mix of weight and weightlessness, like it's both solid and somehow shifting at the same time. Tuttle's Swift Confirmation seems to be doing similar things in completely different ways. Benglis's piece feels physical and expressive-like a gesture that's been pressed into bronze, still carrying the energy of her hands. Tuttle's work, on the other hand, feels much quieter and more internal. It's smaller, more subtle, but it has this sense of a moment just coming into being-like an idea or feeling taking shape for the first time. In a way, both works are about transformation.
| Holly's Picks Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art, San Francisco
Andy Warhol Ingrid Bergman with Hat, from Ingrid Bergman, 1983
Ingrid Bergman with Hat (1983) is based on a film still from Casablanca, an image embedded in the visual culture of cinema. Produced shortly after Bergman's death and late in Warhol's career, the work belongs to a period in which he returned to film stars with renewed focus, consolidating ideas that had defined his practice since the 1960s. Warhol consistently used publicity images, recasting portraiture as something shaped by mass media and reproduction. As in his portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, Bergman is presented as a figure inseparable from her image, her identity formed through circulation. In keeping with his broader engagement with mortality, from the Death and Disaster series onward, the work holds in tension the persistence of the image and the absence of the person, fixing a fleeting cinematic moment as an enduring cultural form.
Roy Lichtenstein Wallpaper with Blue Floor Interior, 1992
I had the privilege of visiting Gemini G.E.L. in the early 1990s while Wallpaper with Blue Floor Interior was in progress and recall seeing scraps in the studio trash marked with Lichtenstein's handwritten notes. I was tempted to rescue them, though of course I didn't, a moment that revealed the close collaboration between artist and printers. Completed in 1992, the work extends across five vertical panels, each over eight feet high and together more than twelve feet wide. Its production required numerous screens, multiple printers, and exact registration across all panels. The composition draws on imagery from furniture catalogs, rendered in Ben-Day dots and sharply defined lines. Installed in a living room, the work creates a doubling effect, placing a constructed interior within a real one and collapsing the distinction between lived space and its constructed image. Influenced by artists such as Matisse, Lichtenstein reconsiders the interior through the logic of mechanical reproduction, using scale, panels, and layers to construct an image that operates as an architectural space rather than a picture.
| Rebecca's Picks Rebecca Lax | Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, New York
Jasper Johns Shrinky Dink 1, 2011
Jasper Johns Shrinky Dink 2, 2011
In this auction, we offer two prints from Jasper Johns' Shrinky Dink series. Rendered in subtle palettes, these intaglio etchings highlight Johns' meticulous and highly sophisticated plate work. The silhouetted boy in both compositions is a self-referential image of the artist as a young child, derived from his Four Seasons etchings, also published by Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), New York, in 1987. Johns' imagery is rooted in reflection, spanning the biographical, art historical, and cosmological. References to Holbein, Grünewald, and Picasso appear throughout. The restrained palette of black, gray, and sepia emphasizes the intricacy of the etched surfaces. In Shrinky Dink 2, handprints flank the central image while thumbprints activate the background. In Shrinky Dink 1, Johns incorporates key motifs from his oeuvre: stars referencing the American flag, a reversed alphabet, and the classic positive-negative profile illusion forming a vase shape, alongside delicate sign language imagery. The male and female profiles are of the artist's family members, usually in honor of his grandparents who raised him from childhood. ULAE is one of the preeminent print publishers and workshops in the world, established by Tatyana Grosman (1904-1982) in 1957, and was instrumental in Johns' early engagement with printmaking. Much of the ULAE print archive has been acquired by, and is now held in the permanent collections of, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
John Baldessari Studio, 1988
John Baldessari's Studio print distills many of the artist's core concerns: authorship, the mechanics of art-making, and the quiet absurdity of the studio itself as both a physical and conceptual space. Rather than presenting the studio as a romantic site of inspiration, Baldessari treats it as a self-critical, analytical environment, with a line of "critics" and potential dealers standing behind the creator at his easel. Baldessari often incorporates photographic imagery from Hollywood films (he had an archive of still), text, and his iconic use of flat, colorful dots as a form of censorship. His dots obscure photographic faces, creating an immediate censure of identity and meaning. The result is a kind of visual deadpan, where humor and critique operate simultaneously. In Baldessari's hands, the studio becomes less a sanctuary of creativity and more a stage for questioning how art is produced and understood. He emphasizes selection and arrangement, shifting the role of the artist from maker to editor. Studio reflects a broader conceptual strategy that defined Baldessari's practice: the idea that meaning in art is not inherent, but constructed, contingent, and often slightly ridiculous. Please see the two other Baldessari prints we have in the auction, from the Stonehenge series published and printed by Mixografía® and if you seek more biographical information on the artist, watch this video, narrated by Tom Waits, A Brief History of John Baldessari (YouTube)
| Desiree's Picks Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, Beverly Hills
Jasper Johns Flag (Moratorium), 1969
This is one of my favorite works by Jasper Johns because of how it invites the viewer to participate in an optical game. Flag incorporates a small white dot at the center that activates a striking optical afterimage. When the viewer fixes their gaze on this dot and then looks away, especially at a blank wall, the complementary colors of the altered flag reconfigure in the eye, producing the illusion of a more "correct" red, white, and blue American flag. This effect turns the act of seeing into a participatory experience, where the image is completed not on the canvas but in the viewer's vision. By doing so, Johns blurs the boundary between object and perception, suggesting that even familiar symbols like the flag are not fixed, but contingent on how and where we look.
Pablo Picasso Vase au décor pastel (A.R. 190), 1953
Picasso's Vase au décor pastel exemplifies his inventive approach to ceramics, where he treats the vessel not just as a functional object but as a surface for painterly experimentation. On the front, Picasso paints a stylized face, using fluid lines that echo his broader exploration of portraiture across media. The soft pastel decoration wraps around the form, integrating this visage with the contours of the vase so that image and object become inseparable. Both playful and expressive, the face animates the vessel, transforming it into a character-like presence while blurring the boundary between sculpture, painting, and everyday object.
| Taylor's Picks Taylor Curry | Director, Modern & Contemporary Art, New York
Pablo Picasso Faunes et chèvre, 1959
Picasso's linocuts from Vallauris, created between 1950 and the early 1960s with master printer Hidalgo Arnéra, mark a key moment in his printmaking. This example Faunes et chèvre stands out for its rich, saturated inks and velvety surface, highlighting the innovation and painterly quality that define this body of work, and it would fit seamlessly into any collection.
Harland Miller Who Cares Wins (Large), 2014
Harland Miller's Who Cares Wins (Large) (2014) sits firmly within his most recognizable series, where he reworks the classic Penguin cover into bold, text-based compositions. The scale matters here. It gives the work a real presence, with clean, saturated color and that crisp screenprinted finish. The phrase itself is classic Miller. Dry, slightly ironic, but not without a hint of sincerity. It lands quickly and sticks. This is a sharp, highly recognizable example with real impact on the wall, and exactly the kind of piece collectors tend to gravitate toward within this body of work.
| Walter's Picks Walter Ramirez | Consignment Director, Modern & Contemporary Art, New York
Andy Warhol Mick Jagger, 1975
Andy Warhol Mick Jagger, 1975
Andy Warhol's Mick Jagger prints are among the most compelling examples of his ability to merge celebrity culture with fine art, making them both visually striking and highly sought after by collectors. Created in 1975, the series captures Jagger's charisma through bold lines, vibrant colors, and Warhol's signature screenprinting technique. Each print is hand-signed by Jagger, adding a collaborative element that blurs the line between subject and artist. The works feel immediate and energetic, embodying the spirit of 1970s rock culture while maintaining Warhol's cool, graphic precision. Their appeal lies not only in their visual impact but also in their cultural significance, bringing together two icons at the height of their influence and yielding works that remain historically important and consistently sought after in the art market.
Andy Warhol Wild Raspberries (complete artist's book, 18 works), 1959
Andy Warhol's Wild Raspberries is a rare and engaging example of his early work, highlighting the playful wit and creativity that would later define his career. Created in 1959 with Suzie Frankfurt, the artist's book features 18 offset lithographs, many enhanced with hand coloring and collage, paired with humorous recipes that gently parody mid-century haute cuisine. With lettering by Warhol's mother, Julia Warhola, the book blurs the line between fine art and design. Both whimsical and visually refined, Wild Raspberries offers a glimpse into Warhol's early career while hinting at his later interest in consumer culture. Its rarity, charm, and historical significance make it especially desirable among collectors.
| Hannah's Picks Hannah Ziesmann | Cataloger and Associate Specialist, Fine Arts, Dallas
Raymond Pettibon Untitled (A Sea of Grinding Tectonic Plates...), 2008
A surge of ink, restless and salt-stung, dashes across the paper in Pettibon's unmistakable hand - part drawing, part thought, part weather system. Blue and black strokes lash and recoil like surf caught mid-crash, but beneath their fluidity lies something more seismic: a sea imagined as "a sea of grinding tectonic plates," where motion is not only surface but deep-time collision. In lithography - a medium itself born of pressure and resistance - this tension feels especially apt, as if the image has been pressed into being by unseen forces shifting below. His text, half-whispered and half-declared, drifts through the composition like a voice carried on wind - elliptical, knowing, and a little haunted. The sea here is not just a subject but a temperament: volatile, seductive, edged with menace, forever cresting, collapsing, and beginning again.
Faith Ringgold Tar Beach 2, 1990
There is a softness to Tar Beach 2 that extends beyond fabric and thread - a softness that seems to remember you, to hold your weight, your dreams, your story with quiet care. Faith Ringgold's quilt wraps us in more than cloth: it enfolds us in memory, community, and possibility, its layered surface - screenprint, text, and hand-stitched quilting - carrying the warmth of collective making rooted in Black American traditions. At its center, Cassie Louise Lightfoot, the story's main character, soars above Harlem on a star-filled night, her outstretched arms lifting her beyond the George Washington Bridge and the limits of the world below. In Ringgold's vision, flight is never mere fantasy - it is a radical reimagining of freedom, where the rooftop "tar beach," once a site of gathering and constraint, becomes a place of joy and launch. The work's radiant colors and careful stitching holds together a generation of voices - women who created, nurtured, and imagined beyond boundaries - reminding us that memory and possibility are, like the quilt itself, inseparably woven together.
Find these and other outstanding modern and contemporary prints in Heritage's Prints & Multiples Signature Auction. The auction's session is 11:00 AM Central Time, Thursday, April 23. Sincerely,
|  | Frank Hettig Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art Dallas FrankH@HA.com (214) 409-1157
|  | Holly Sherratt Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art, San Francisco HollyS@HA.com (415) 548-5921
|  | Desiree Pakravan Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, Beverly Hills DesireeP@HA.com (310) 492-8621
|  | Rebecca Lax Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, New York BeckyL@HA.com (212) 486-3736
|  | Taylor Curry Director, Modern & Contemporary Art, New York WalterC@HA.com (212) 486-3503
|  | Walter Ramirez Senior Consignment Director, Urban Art, New York WalterR@HA.com (212) 486-3521
|  | Hannah Ziesmann Cataloger and Associate Specialist, Fine Arts, Dallas HannahZ@HA.com (214) 409-1162