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Holly's Picks
Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art, San Francisco
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This auction presents a group of prints by Donald Sultan,
ranging from the crisp outline of Martini to the dramatic
density of Black Roses. A highlight is Fish from Fruits and
Flowers, a screenprint that brings a school of fish to life through layered
blacks and grays, their eyes breaking through the darkness with flashes of
light. The composition balances abstraction and representation, turning a
simple subject into an image that feels graphic, rhythmic, and animated.
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Mark Tobey (1890-1976) was an Abstract Expressionist whose
"white writing" style combined Western abstraction with Asian calligraphy,
music, and his Bahá'í faith to create meditative fields of rhythm and light. A
central figure of the Northwest School, his paintings pioneered an "all-over"
approach in which webs of calligraphic marks covered the entire surface and
influenced artists such as Jackson Pollock. The Awakening-Night, from
Homage to Tobey reflects these ideas in etching, where white lines
course across a dark ground to suggest spectral forms that hover between
abstraction and recognition.
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Desiree's Picks
Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, Beverly Hills
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As a Los Angeles native, this print resonates with me so
much. It transforms the iconic Hollywood sign into a moody, cinematic
vision. Against a misty backdrop streaked with rain, the landmark appears both
monumental and fragile, evoking the glamour and melancholy intertwined in Los
Angeles's cultural mythology. Ruscha's characteristic blend of text, landscape,
and atmosphere gives the work a cinematic quality, part celebration and part
critique. It is fleeting, enigmatic and dreamlike, like Hollywood itself.
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I love this print because it captures an intimate and tender
moment that reflects both Picasso's classical grounding and modern sensibility.
The work, created during his return to Barcelona after World War I, shows
Picasso's deep engagement with themes of maternity and protection. The mother's
enveloping shawl conveys warmth and security, while the simplified, almost
sculptural forms reveal his dialogue with tradition and his search for timeless
human expression. This print exemplifies the balance of emotional depth and
formal restraint that defines much of Picasso's work.
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Taylor's Picks
Taylor Gattinella | Consignment Director, Modern & Contemporary Art, New York
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Jacob Lawrence's Stained
Glass Windows is a striking screenprint that draws inspiration from
the bold colors and rhythmic patterns of stained-glass design. Created late in
his career, the work reflects Lawrence's ongoing exploration of cultural
heritage, spirituality, and community. With this piece, Lawrence transforms the
traditional medium of stained glass into a modern visual language that speaks
to hope, faith, and perseverance. It is one of several fantastic examples of
Lawrence's printmaking presented in this auction.
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Though he is better known as one of the greatest songwriters
and influential musicians, Bob Dylan is also a prolific visual artist. The
Beaten Path is a series of limited-edition prints in which Dylan
explores the American landscape through everyday scenes of motels, diners, gas
stations, and backroads. Rather than focusing on people, Dylan highlights the
built environment and the quiet beauty of ordinary places. The series reflects
both nostalgia and commentary on the changing face of America, blending realism
with his distinct artistic voice. Also, on offer in the auction,
are several prints from Dylan's Asia Series.
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Rebecca's Pick
Rebecca Lax | Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, New York
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Artist Kim Jones was diagnosed with Perthes, a polio-like
illness, as a child, confining him to a wheelchair and leg braces from ages
seven to ten. Thirteen years later, he served in the Vietnam War as a Marine
(1967-68). These formative experiences deeply influenced his artistic practice.
Jones earned his BFA from CalArts in 1971 and MFA from Otis
Art Institute in 1973. He was part of a groundbreaking circle of conceptual
artists-including Chris Burden, Suzanne Lacy, Paul McCarthy, and Barbara T.
Smith-who used body-based performance to confront war, violence, civil rights,
and sexual politics. I've long been fascinated by Jones' work-especially his haunting Mudman performances
I personally encountered in SoHo during the 1980s, and his intricate war-game
drawings. This print celebrates the power of the female form overtaking
electricity-she even wears an electric crown. It was published by Exit Art, the
pioneering NYC non-profit led by Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo.
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Hannah's Picks
Hannah Ziesmann | Cataloger and Associate Specialist, Fine Arts, Dallas
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David Hockney's The Boy in the Hidden Egg balances
wit and tenderness with effortless grace. At first glance, the oversized
speckled egg draws a smile and a chuckle - its scale exaggerated, its surface
whimsically dense with spots, and a bird standing just beside it, peering at
its unlikely charge with a kind of puzzled expression. As the viewer looks
closer, a delicately outlined figure of a boy is revealed within the shell,
curled up, held in quiet suspension. The image becomes unexpectedly intimate: a
portrait of retreat, introspection, and safety. There's something profoundly
comforting about the boy's posture, gently enclosed in this improbable womb,
observed by a bird that seems both bemused and bewildered. Hockney invites us
into a space where absurdity and tenderness coexist - a reminder that humor and
vulnerability are never far apart.
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Lynne Yamamoto's Serv ICE, part of the Way
In, Way Out: Exit Art Portfolio, transforms a seemingly simple archival
image into a quietly layered meditation on labor, memory, and representation.
At first glance, the print appears lighthearted: a woman smiles as she scoops
ice cream behind a soda fountain counter, surrounded by the nostalgic markers
of mid-century Americana. But Yamamoto complicates this scene by spacing the
phrase "SERV ICE" across the page - disrupting its readability and underscoring
the scripted roles often assigned to Asian American women within narratives of
cheerful service. A closer look reveals delicate strands of Yamamoto's hair
threaded through the surface of the print, a visceral and personal intervention
that speaks to presence, intimacy, and embodied history. With a restrained
visual language and subtle but potent interventions, Yamamoto invites viewers
to question how we frame - and are framed within - moments of cultural memory.
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Holly Sherratt
Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art,
San Francisco
HollyS@HA.com
(415) 548-5921
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Desiree Pakravan
Consignment Director,
Prints & Multiples,
Beverly Hills
DesireeP@HA.com
(310) 492-8621
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Taylor Gattinella
Consignment Director,
Modern & Contemporary Art,
New York
TaylorG@HA.com
(212) 486-3681
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Rebecca Lax
Consignment Director,
Prints & Multiples,
New York
BeckyL@HA.com
(212) 486-3736
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Hannah Ziesmann
Cataloger and Associate Specialist,
Fine Arts, Dallas
HannahZ@HA.com
(214) 409-1162
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