J. Levine Auction & Appraisal in Scottsdale featured works from artists Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol that raked in a total of $336,000. A total of 6,629 bidders from 25 countries took part in the auction.
Warhol’s Flowers, a signed-and-dated 1964 offset lithograph, sold for $14,400 to an Arizona bidder. Its estimated value was between $10,000 and $20,000.
The “Flowers” series has been adored but there’s still debate five decades later as to whether the work was inspired by — or stolen from — “Modern Photography” editor Patricia Caulfield. Caulfield sued Warhol, and the issue was settled out of court. From then on, Warhol created work based on his own photographs.
On Friday, auction-house director Josh Levine clarified that a 1987 letter from famous auction house Christie’s, which accompanied the Warhol and shows Christie’s acceptance of the work for sale, incorrectly referred to the piece as “a signed screenprint.”
Levine said Gary Arseneau, a Florida artist and blogger on fakes and forgeries, pointed out a discrepancy in how the letter described the Warhol work vs. what was listed on the auction-house website. Silkscreens are considered better quality and are more expensive than lithographs.
Warhol did both silkscreens and 300 offset lithographs for the 1964 “Flowers” series.
“I wish it was (a silkscreen). It’s more valuable,” Levine said. “The process is a different process, and sometimes until it’s in your hands, you can’t tell. This is an offset lithograph.”
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