A starting bid of $100 for works by Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein may sound too good to be true. But Artnet Auctions’ inaugural NO RESERVE sale makes that dream a reality. Until September 1, 37 works by these art world favorites and many more are online for auction, with no barriers to entry.
When a work of art is put up for auction, the parties generally agree on a floor price – the reserve – below which there is no sale. “No reserve” means that the artwork can be sold at any price, without reaching this floor. Whether you are a brand new collector or a seasoned collector, NO RESERVE presents a rare opportunity to bring home works by Claes Oldenburg, Ed Ruscha, Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, and many more, at extremely attractive prices.
“No reserve means fair market value will prevail,” explained Jason Rulnick, Senior Contemporary Art Specialist at Artnet Auctions. “It’s a chance for new collectors to bid on exceptional pieces without consequence, and potentially bring home a work below its suggested estimate.”
Read on to learn about three outstanding Pop Art prints included in this sale. And don’t wait to bid, each of these works has already exceeded 40 auctions, and the number keeps climbing.
Andy Warhol, Unidentified woman, 1982
Andy Warhol, Unidentified woman (1982). East. $40,000 to $60,000.
In 1964 Andy Warhol rented a studio loft on East 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan known as The Factory. The space, which moved four times between 1964 and 1987, was a hub for movie stars, models and artists who became fodder for the artist’s prints and films.
Warhol worked day and night in his studio, aka “the factory”, painting, mass-producing silk screens and creating short films. The space became the site of numerous artistic collaborations, performances and parties, frequented by the artist’s entourage of drag queens, socialites, models, musicians and other artists known as the Warhol Superstars . Unidentified woman (1982) depicts the elegant side profile of a fashionable young woman, possibly one of Warhol’s Superstars.
The print is estimated between $40,000 and $60,000, reflecting the high demand for Andy Warhol’s work. According to the Artnet price database, in 2018, Unidentified woman (1982) made $32,500 at Phillips New York. At the time of publication, the current bid for this screen print is $6,500, offering an opportunity to collect a stellar work of art at an amazing price.
Jasper Johns, Untitled1980
Jasper Johns, Untitled (1980). East. $20,000 to $30,000.
Jasper Johns’ untitled lithograph includes a repertoire of images – targets, primaries and numbers – that the artist has examined and re-examined for nearly three decades. Throughout his career, Johns merged his gestural application of painting with the depiction of mundane objects, paving the way for the Pop Art movement.
However, less frequently discussed is the artist’s prolific printmaking, which is central to his artistic practice. Untitled (1980) is a color lithograph from an edition of 60 by Gemini GEL publisher
Another print of this print last appeared at auction in 2019, when it sold to its current owner for $47,500, according to the Artnet price database. Now, with a current bid of $15,000 and rapidly rising, this coin is close to hitting its $20,000-$30,000 estimate.
Roy Lichtenstein, Mirror #9 (from the Mirror series), 1972
Roy Lichtenstein, Mirror #9 (from the Mirror series) (1972). East. $8,000 to $12,000.
Mirrors were a common motif in Roy Lichtenstein’s work, symbolically reflecting the artist’s fascination with perception and representation. For more than 20 years, Lichtenstein painted mirrors of all shapes and sizes, representing the canonical objects of art history through his own visual lexicon of Ben-Day dots and austere primary colors.
Rather than using mirrors to symbolize vanity or as a means of achieving three-dimensionality, Lichtenstein’s mirrors are flat and empty, a nod to his interest in the superficiality of 20th-century advertising.
Earlier in 2022, an impression of Mirror #9 fetched $20,312 at Bonhams in New York, the Artnet pricing database reveals. With 46 bids pending and counting, demand for this piece is high, but there’s still time to grab this work from an iconic era in Lichtenstein’s career at a great price.
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