Picasso among the pottery and prints at Menzies timed oline auction

Ten Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) pottery pieces and prints by some of Australia’s best-known artists are part of Menzies timed online Prints & Multiples Sydney auction ending from 6.30pm Wednesday August 30 at 12 Todman Avenue, Kensington.

While there are several high-priced items among the 110 lots, many are estimated for only a few thousand dollars and will no doubt appeal to first time auction goers looking to buy a work by a well-known artist.

For those buyers looking for iconic status, it is difficult to go past the Picasso pottery pieces. The one with the highest catalogue estimate at $20,000-$30,000 is lot 43, Cavalier et Cheval 1952 – a white earthenware partially engraved ceramic pitcher with coloured engobe and glaze. The remainder of his pottery works can be found from lots 42 to 51.

A Picasso etching and aquatint entitled Portrait de Pierre Crommelynck 1966 is lot 53.

The highest estimated work in the auction at $30,000-$40,000 is a colour lithograph (lot 23) entitled Red Lamp 1992 by American pop artist the late Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).

During the 1960s – along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and James Rosenquist – he became a leading figure of the new art movement with his work defining the premise of pop art through parody and influenced by popular advertising and the comic book style.

An offset lithograph (lot 66) entitled The Cat 1980 by iconic Australian artist Brett Whiteley carries the same estimate as the Picasso pottery piece and is one of nine of his works in the auction (lots 65-73).

Melbourne artist George Baldessin (1939-1978) is another with multiple works (seven) – the highest of these being lot 39, Recurring Pears 1971 at $15,000-$25,000. Tragically, he died aged 39 from injuries he received in a motor car accident.

Cressida Campbell is becoming an increasingly popular auction choice and the woodblock print Bondi Baths 1984 (lot 1) at $18,000-$25,000 is bound to appeal – along with her Protea 1978 (lot 2).

Margaret Preston’s (1875-1963) hand coloured woodblock (lot 4) entitled Sydney Heads II 1925 is definitely worth a second look at a $20,000-$25,000 estimate, along with Richard Avedon’s Andy Warhol 1969, printed 2002 (lot 29) at $15,000-$20,000 – while several works are listed at $12,000-$18,000.

These include Invader’s giclée print entitled Prisoners 2007 (lot 8), Liu Ye’s etching and aquatint Miffy with Mondrian 2011 (lot 20) and Zhang Huan’s gelatin silver print To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain 1995 (lot 21).