Christie’s specialists share their standout lots from Contemporary Online

‘It’s also a fun dialogue between the two fathers of Pop Art: Wesselmann and Roy Lichtenstein. Wesselmann is incorporating Lichtenstein into this work and paying homage to one of his contemporaries. The same image also served as the inspiration for a print series that followed. It captures your attention and is a cool example of two incredibly impactful artists of the Pop Art generation interacting with one another.’

‘Among the most autobiographical works of Warhol’s early career, this publication offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s private life while introducing ideas that would later become central to his practice.

‘Consisting of hand-coloured prints accompanied by his mother, Julia Warhola’s, distinctive calligraphy, the portfolio reveals an early exploration of repetition and variation. The cats are afforded the same attention and individuality that Warhol would later devote to movie stars, consumer products, and cultural icons.’

‘The Chevron series works executed in the 1980s showcase a range of colour applied in various depths, thick or thin, creating this nuanced gestural quality. He is still using the same patterns and bright colours that define the series, but when you get up close, you see this fantastic surface that makes is particularly special.’

‘The exhibition was Guo-Qiang’s response to mass media after 9/11. There are images of airport security checkpoints, reality television, even Harry Potter, alongside heavy imagery from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s a very visceral piece, and you can almost feel the physical aspect of the rubbing technique.

‘My favourite element is that he signed each sheet in both Chinese and English. Guo-Qiang was born in China but living in New York, so it reflects his experience of something that impacted the whole world.’

‘With Untitled (1966), we have a beautiful example of a Mitchell work that was executed during a pivotal year for the artist. She was going through a lot emotionally and living in France at the time. It was a moment when she was pouring her heart and soul into her work and created many large canvases with sombre colours. But she was also working on paper, which is what we see here. It’s a very gestural, impactful work that captures the same emotional tenor of those other paintings but on a smaller scale. It’s a special, intimate look at what the artist was experiencing at one of the most defining times of her life.’

‘This is a lithograph in eight colours printed on two pieces of handmade Sekishu paper that are hand-sewn together. It was made when Dill was focused on New England settler ideas of divinity, heaven, hell and salvation. The text quotes Jonathan Edwards, a theologian and preacher in colonial Massachusetts. It’s particularly interesting that it’s printed on Sekishu paper, which is delicate, and juxtaposed against this intense and foreboding message. It captures the duality of that period in America and is a great example of printmaking at its best.’

‘I think it’s such an interesting way to present printmaking. The final work has hand-drawn circles and lines to show where the sheets are meant to lie, and they’re held in place with red push pins. He’s bringing all the elements of printmaking together and intentionally placing the sheets in their final spaces. You can see the line of the etching, you can see the plate mark, and where he tilts that sheet, you can see his intention as an artist.’

‘When you look at this collage, it is like you are looking at an object through a microscope or staring up at the sky at night. This particular work is full of shape and colour, something we might have seen in the space surrounding her figures in her earlier works. Hoff becomes increasingly aware of this space, the human form suddenly disappears, and in its stead is a composition full of kaleidoscopic arrangement.’