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Curators' Picks: April 23 Prints & Multiples Signature Auction
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Frank's Picks
Frank Hettig | Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art, Dallas
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As an art historian, I am drawn to moments when artists appropriate symbols beyond their own traditions. Salvador Dalí's Menorah (Le Chandelier de la Paix) reflects this impulse. Though rooted in Catholic culture, Dalí treated religion as a reservoir of powerful forms rather than fixed belief.
By adopting the menorah — an ancient symbol of Judaism and endurance — he pays homage to Jewish continuity, particularly in a postwar context. Yet his treatment is distinctly theatrical, transforming a ritual object into a universal emblem of peace and survival.
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Jenny Holzer's Truisms (12 postcards) returns to the core of her practice, where language itself carries the work. The short statements appear clear at first, yet quickly reveal a sense of absurdity and contradiction-each phrase challenging the certainty of the next. Presented in the modest, familiar format of postcards, the work feels accessible and direct, but the content resists easy resolution. This tension is what gives the piece its lasting impact: it invites reading, but unsettles interpretation, leaving meaning open, unstable, and continuously shifting.
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Rebecca's Picks
Rebecca Lax | Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, New York
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A beautiful, large horizontal color lithograph by Terry Winters, this proof is initialed and dated by the artist and comes from a very small edition of 21. The blue plate run shows detailed tusche washes contained within the artist's iconic diamond-shaped black grid made from lithographic crayon. Throughout his impressive career, Winters has continually returned to the grid as a means of structuring his biomorphic, abstract imagery, developing complex systems built from the gestural marks, of lines, and dots. This edition was published by the venerable Universal Limited Art Editions in New York, coming out of a deep, historical collaboration between printshop and artist.
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This is a playful edition from a series of wood trays fabricated and editioned by the artist Andrea Zittel. Designed to be used, it functions as both object and furniture. It can be displayed on an existing surface or adapted as a low side table with added legs (think Eames-style supports), allowing flexibility in height and presentation.
This example is from the "A-Z Sorting Tray" series, with 14 different designs produced in November 2001, each in an edition of 7 (with 4 artist's proofs per design). It was acquired by the consignor directly from Susan Inglett Gallery in New York that same year. Many of these editions have since sold out through the gallery.
Zittel's practice operates at the intersection of art, design, and architecture, and this work reflects her ongoing exploration of living systems and functional structures. While not intended for liquids, it is well suited for organizing papers, books, and other dry objects.
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Holly's Picks
Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art, San Francisco
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Nathan Oliveira's Copper Plate Nude
prints, produced at Crown Point Press, present the human figure in a direct, pared-down format. A leading figure in the Bay Area Figurative movement, Oliveira used the body to convey psychological presence; here, the figure is isolated, frontal, and exposed, formed through acid-bitten tonal fields rather than line. Surfaces often retain ghost textures from reused plates, while the figure holds a tension between physical weight and dissolution. Printed at Crown Point Press — known for collaborations with artists such as Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud — these works reflect his interest in the expressive potential of the copper plate. Produced in small editions, they push aquatint toward a more painterly result and are held in major collections including the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art.
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Wolf Kahn, a prominent figure of the second generation of the New York School and a longtime student and assistant to Hans Hofmann, developed a distinctive approach that fused Color Field painting with landscape imagery. Best known for his depictions of barns, trees, and the Vermont countryside, he reduced these motifs into simplified forms organized by bands and fields of color. His monotypes are unique works, not traditional editions, created by transferring ink from a zinc plate to paper in a single impression. Working with ink washes and crayon, Kahn used the medium to explore a wide range, from luminous, open compositions defined by radiant color to more compressed, darker images built from dense pigment and minimal chromatic accents, unified by a strong sense of atmosphere.
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Desiree's Picks
Consignment Director, Prints & Multiples, Beverly Hills
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I'm drawn to this portfolio so much because of its subtlety and almost meditative quality. Comprised of 14 editions, these works portray Martin's exploration of subtle grids, horizontal bands, and restrained palettes, where faint lines and delicate washes create a sense of stillness and introspection. Rather than emphasizing gesture or expression, her works invite slow looking, encouraging viewers to engage with nuance, balance, and repetition. Created in the final decade of her career, this group reflects her enduring commitment to simplicity and transcendence, offering a deeply contemplative experience grounded in precision and calm.
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This print reflects Francis' dynamic engagement with color, movement, and open space that defines his mature work. Created during a period when Francis was deeply invested in printmaking, the work balances vibrant, gestural bursts of color with areas of white space, allowing the image to feel both expansive and energetic. The layering and fluidity of the forms evoke a sense of spontaneity. As part of his broader exploration of abstraction, SFE.011 demonstrates Francis's ability to translate the immediacy of his painting practice into the print medium, resulting in a work that is both visually striking and technically sophisticated.
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Frank Hettig
Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art
Dallas
FrankH@HA.com
(214) 409-1157
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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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Rebecca Lax
Consignment Director,
Prints & Multiples,
New York
BeckyL@HA.com
(212) 486-3736
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