The Art of Hollywood Icons

On 8 May, the German auction house Kunst & Design Auktionshaus Schops Turowski is focusing on art and design. The sale of over 600 lots includes art by Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol and Günther Uecker, designer furniture by Gerrit Rietveld, Verner Panton and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as well as silver by Georg Jensen, glass by Émile Gallé and ceramics by Lucie Rie.

The first of the familiar faces looks at us from a 1984 101.6 x 81.3 cm screen print by Andy Warhol. It is the likeness of American actress Grace Kelly, who had died in a car accident two years earlier and had married Prince Rainer of Monaco in 1956. The print comes from a Trial Proof Edition Prints series comprising only twenty copies. Each copy in this small series is unique, which distinguishes it from Warhol's actual Grace Kelly edition.

Between 1963 and 1968, Andy Warhol created a number of lithographs of famous stars such as Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. The most famous of these works, however, portrays Marilyn Monroe, who died in 1962. The screen print Four Multicolored Marilyns (Reversal Series) from 1979 based on the original is up for auction.

Another iconic series by Warhol is his Flowers from 1964. He created the printed versions on the occasion of the exhibition of seven painted works of the same motif in the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. The present copy bears the gallery's label on the reverse.

Another colour lithograph from the auction is Striped Jacket by Alex Katz. The work, which owes its title to the pattern of the jacket, was published in 1981 in an edition of 58 copies.

Also worth highlighting is the painting Believe it or not by the African-American artist Michael Ray Charles. Charles explores the perception of African Americans throughout history and how these stereotypes still affect their self-perception today.

An untitled work by Sigmar Polke has the highest estimate of the sale. The work, created from synthetic resin varnish and gouache over a multicoloured offset lithograph, is one of 30 unique pieces that Polke created in 1983 as the annual gift of the Mönchengladbach Museum Association.

13 lots are works by Joseph Beuys, whose 100th birthday is on 12 May. One of them is the unique Fish (spawning catfish), a woodcut that is an early print by the artist.

Among the photographs in the auction, we encounter another Hollywood icon in James Dean. The works were all taken by Roy Schatt. One, including the one shown here, comes from the portfolio 'JAMES DEAN NEW YORK 1954 BY ROY SCHATT' published in 2000 and comprising 15 photographs. Only two copies of the 15 motifs were produced.

Let's switch to three-dimensional art, where we encounter some works by the 'grande dame of ceramics', Lucie Rie. Particularly noteworthy is the Sgraffitto vase from 1977. Rie created the vase with a slim neck and wide plate mouth made of porcelain, which she covered with a brown, bronze-coloured shimmering manganese glaze and a decoration of vertical parallel lines.

This approx. 325cm-high sculpture made of stainless steel and sheet steel is part of the Volume series by Ron Arad. This sculpture is believed to be an early object in the series with which Arad explored opposing concepts, of which is the most famous is the Big Easy armchair.

Instead of using polished steel, the sculptural works of art continue with the bright colours of the Memphis Group from Milan, whose designs were to shape the 1980s. The Casablanca shelf at hand is a design by Memphis co-founder Ettore Sottsass.

Finally, let's go back to the 1960s. The designer group Archizoom was founded in Florence in 1966, and they created the modular Safari seating group. This seating group consists of two armchairs and two two-seater sofas, which can be set up individually or joined together to form a large flower in a leopard print.

The auction will take place on 8 May and bidding will take place by phone or in writing.

Discover more from Kunst & Design Auktionshaus Schops Turowski here