Incollect Magazine - Issue 3

Issue 3 112 www.incollect.com silkscreen on linen from 1964 sold at Christie’s New York in 2022. A silver Car Crash silkscreen ink and spray paint on canvas sold at auction in 2013 for $105 million. Another ten of his works have sold for over $50 million dollars each. Warhol is popularly believed to have created over 10,000 artworks throughout his long career, including paintings, photographs, drawings, and most copiously, prints and multiples (objects) that were a real passion of his: Beginning in 1972, he began accompanying every new series of paintings he produced with a print portfolio. The art market website Artnet recently conducted a survey of Warhol’s market and found that his prints and multiples market is dominated by its “staggering volume.” Using data derived from their price database they noted that “since 2010, 14,776 Warhol prints and multiples have appeared at auction, with an average sell through rate of 79%.” In the first half of 2022 alone, the Artnet price database recorded “504 prints sold for a total sales value of $33,687,468.” That is an enormous amount. Artnet attributes much of the success of Warhol’s editioned works to the “wide range in price-points”. His average sale price in 2022 they noted is around $67,000, but the auction results have “ranged from $4.9 million, for a complete set of the 1967 Marilyn prints, to a $250 silkscreened exhibition poster.” Warhol’s prints in short continue to be popular not just with serious art collectors but the art loving public at large. “Wether one is speaking of first-generation icons like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein or subsequent generations from David Hockney (who doesn’t consider himself a Pop artist) to Yayoi Kusama — the market remains strong,” says Robin Starr, Vice President & Director of American & European Works of Art, Bonhams Skinner. “These artists have proven track records that only continue to climb. They attract art buyers who are focused on art as an investment. Collectors buying art they wish to live with, find the works visually appealing and often joyful.” Pop art made for excellent results at Bonhams Skinner’s recent online Prints & Photographs auction. “The Prints session was especially strong, and Andy Warhol was the star of this auction,” Starr points out. His signed Flowers mailer went way past its estimate of $20,000–30,000 to sell for $94,875. General Custer and Ingrid Bergman with Hat likewise faired well, both selling at $75,975. Works by Lichtenstein and Hockney also met and exceeded expectations in the auction. “The beauty of pop art is that it is accessible to everybody,” says Elizabeth Bowen, Marketing and Banksy, Love Is In The Air (Flower Thrower) , 2003. Screenprint, signed, edition of 50. Love Is In The Air (Flower Thrower) is one of Banksy’s earliest and most iconic images, released as a limited edition screen print in a series of 500, the first 50 of which were signed. Banksy, Very Little Helps (Tesco Flag), 2008. Screenprint, signed, edition of 299. V ery Little Helps, also known as T esco Flag, shows a group of children surrounding a flagpole. Instead of raising a flag, one of them is raising a Tesco branded bag while the other two are pledging their allegiance with their hands on their hearts, against a serene blue background. A clear reference to Tesco’s famous slogan “Every little helps” Banksy denounces the presence of the supermarket chain on almost every high street in Britain and, in some ways, its forcing out of diversity and independence.