SOLD: Jasper Johns, "Cups Four Picasso," Lithograph on Hanga paper, 1973; Signed and dated J Johns ’73 in pencil, lower right and numbered 31/39 in pencil, lower left; Framed.
The majority of my posts regarding specific works of art in this blog will be within the artistic medium of prints. Original prints are a wonderful way in which to collect blue chip artists (those artists that have withstood the test of time and are actively being collected and shown by the world's greatest museums and galleries) without having to win the lottery. The price range for an original print would be in the range of a Salvador Dali woodcut in the hundreds of dollars to a rare Picasso etching priced over the million dollar mark. From the late 19th century till today, original prints were and are being made by major artists and are a wonderful way to collect art and thereby build a collection. This is the primary way that I have collected art and it is the focus of the Gallery. (I will have further posts regarding commercial/local artists; of which I also collect btw.)
Posters from a "print shop" are not original prints, they are posters. If viewed under a jeweler's loop or magnifying glass the "print" will ben-day dot; meaning it will appear to be made up of a series of color saturated dots that when viewed from a distance blend into pure colors that make up the image. These dots are the result of being printed by a laser jet printer. Posters are a type of lithograph called an offset, but are, in most cases, not considered an original work of art. Original lithographs are also referred to as stone lithographs. Stone lithography is a chemical technique employing the use of actual stones or in today's world, steel plates that are used to print inks onto a support medium; usually paper. (More about various techniques in future posts.)
An original print can be a stone lithograph, etching, serigraph, drypoint, mezzotint, aquatint, woodcut, linocut, etc. The medium used to create the work is not as important as the fact that it was created by the artist's hand or under direct supervision, the work is unique to that medium, and it is printed in a known edition size. After the printing of the edition, the plates, stones, screens, etc. are destroyed or defaced; so that no more prints can be made. The resulting original print may or may not be individually numbered and/or signed.
The Jasper Johns original stone lithograph pictured above is an excellent example of John's work because of the use of one his most famous and used pictographs; that of facing profiles of Pablo Picasso and the resulting empty space forming a chalice or vase. In this print, the negative and the positive space is alternated between grey scale and color spectrum between the separated images. The bottom of the print also has a classic John's image, the narrow spectrum line running the length of the deckled edged sheet. This work is signed, dated, and the total edition size is only 39. If you have any interest in adding this work to your collection, please contact me.
What did Andy Warhol think of Jasper Johns? Click on the short video below:
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