Waddington’s major Editions auction, held online from November 18-23, features excellent work by blue-chip names—Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Damien Hirst, and Andy Warhol—to name a few. Our specialists have selected six highlights from the auction to explore in greater depth below, though we also invite you to browse the full gallery to see more work by Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Damien Hirst, Sam Francis, Guido Molinari, General Idea, Micah Lexier, David Blackwood, Alex Colville, Takao Tanabe and Christopher Pratt.
Pablo Picasso – JACQUELINE AU CHAPEAU NOIR, 1962
Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline Roque met in 1953 in the South of France, while Picasso was working with the Madoura Atelier in Vallouris. Jacqueline was the cousin of Suzanne Ramié, who ran Madoura with her husband Georges. At the time, Jacqueline was working as a salesperson at the workshop. Jacqueline became Picasso’s muse, following the end of his relationship with Françoise Gilot. She would become Picasso’s second wife, remaining with the artist until his death in 1973.
His first linocut of Jacqueline was made in 1955, Jacqueline with a Scarf, a rather figurative portrait. Subsequent depictions became increasingly abstract. The print on offer in our Editions auction, Jacqueline au chapeau noir, was printed by Arnéra in Vallauris in 1962. It is one of the strongest abstract portraits of Jacqueline made during a period spanning almost 20 years.
Picasso settled in his villa, Notre-Dame-de-vie, in Mougin in 1961. The South is ever-present in his life and in Jacqueline au chapeau noir, his wife is depicted as a Toreador wearing a montera—the hat traditionally in the folk costumes of the Iberian peninsula, which is most commonly associated with bullfighters. The palette is strong and warm, with brown and black highlighted with beige and red ink. In his biography of Picasso, John Richardson writes: “It is her image that permeates Picasso’s work from 1954 until his death, twice as long as any of her predecessors. It is her body that we are able to explore more exhaustively and more intimately than any other body in the history of art. It is her solicitude and patience that sustained the artist in the face of declining health and enabled him to be more productive than ever before and go on working into his ninety-second year. And lastly it is her vulnerability that gives a new intensity to the combination of cruelty and tenderness that endows Picasso’s paintings of women with their pathos and strength.”
Bottom: Lot 88 – Damien Hirst (b. 1965), British, 4088, AND I DIED THIS YEAR, FROM THE “CURRENCY” SERIES, 2016. Sheet 7.9 x 11.8 in — 20 x 30 cm. Estimate $15,000-$20,000
Damien Hirst – KEUKENHOF (VEIL), H4-8, 2020 and 4088, AND I DIED THIS YEAR, FROM THE “CURRENCY” SERIES, 2016
Damien Hirst is a rock star in the art world. Born in 1965, he was awarded the Turner Prize at the astonishing age of 30 years old. His fast-paced career allowed him to quickly obtain the acknowledgment of institutions, collectors, the auction world, and even the general public.
Due in part to his great success and fame, Hirst can be a divisive figure. Hirst began collaborating with Heni Editions in London, successfully creating a strong production of new editions including NFTs. The two works featured in our Editions auction are the fruit of this collaboration, Keukenhof (Veil), H4-8 and 4088, And I Died This Year from the “Currency” series, combine his famous dot motif with the theme of death, which the artist considers to pertain to his entire oeuvre.
Hirst notes: “I was always a colourist. I’ve always had a phenomenal love of colour…I mean, I just move colour around on its own. So that’s where the Spot paintings came from—to create that structure to do those colours, and do nothing. I suddenly got what I wanted. It was just a way of pinning down the joy of colour.”
As the most playful practitioner of the Colour Field movement, in these two prints Hirst displays his strong commitment to colour. The harmony flowing from these compositions is striking – Hirst offers a remarkable splash!
After Marc Chagall – COUPLE DANS LES MIMOSAS, FROM “NICE AND THE CÔTE D’AZUR”, 1967 [CS. 32]
Created in collaboration with master printer Charles Sorlier in 1967, the moonlit embrace of a couple gently hovering above the shores of the Côte d’Azur in Couple dans les mimosas encapsulates Marc Chagall’s ability to render intimacy through figuration and colour. The near-divine scene, with its subjects engulfed in a vibrant aura of mimosa flowers reflects the ongoing inspiration that the natural colourscape of the region provided for Chagall.
Having permanently relocated to the Côte d’Azur in 1950 alongside other modernist heavyweights such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Chagall began creating a series of gouaches in homage to the atmosphere and flora of his new home. The twelve gouaches eventually turned into the Nice and the Côte d’Azur portfolio published by Fernand Mourlot in 1967.
The remarkable colouration achieved by Sorlier in collaboration with Chagall for these lithographs ultimately transcended colour printing into an art form of its own.
Pablo Picasso – FRANÇOISE, 14 JUIN 1946 [B. 401; M. 45]
Françoise Gilot, subject of one of Pablo Picasso’s earliest lithographs, Françoise,14 juin 1946, led a fruitful career as a painter and ceramicist up until her passing in June 2023 at the age of 101. Picasso mirrors the elements of spontaneity and fluidity found in Gilot’s works as the continuous, swirling lines dominate the portrait of his then-muse.
The pair’s decade-long relationship, which began in the spring of 1943, was marked by periods of intense turmoil and passion while also aligning with Picasso’s foray into the art of printmaking. Working alongside Paris-based publisher Fernand Mourlot, Picasso began experimenting with lithography through the image of Françoise. Having produced over a dozen lithographs featuring her, the lithograph on offer in Waddington’s November Editions auction is perhaps one of Picasso’s most virtuosic as the voluminous forms capture the vitality of the subject and their relationship.
Ultimately, Françoise,14 juin 1946 represents an increasingly rare moment of calm in the couple’s relationship, marking the early years of their romance and a year before the birth of their first child, Claude.
Andy Warhol – VEGETARIAN VEGETABLE, FROM “CAMPBELL’S SOUP II”, 1969 [F. & S. 56]
Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans might be the most defining image not only of the artist’s oeuvre but of the entire Pop Art movement. With humour and irony, they are a comment on the mass-production, mass-media and material consumption present in American culture.
The dominant artistic style when the Soup Cans were made was Abstract Expressionism, which focused on gestural brushstrokes or large areas of painted colour in order to access the individual, the emotional and the contemplative. In contrast, Warhol and the Pop movement celebrated the mundane, the repetitive, and the commercial. Instead of carrying on the fine art tradition, Pop looked at comic books, movies, tabloids, and advertising—popular culture, where the term Pop derives its name.
The Soup Cans marked a turning point in Warhol’s career. Silkscreen was a technique that had originally been invented for commercial use, and would become Warhol’s signature medium. Silkscreen helped to further erase any impression of the artist’s touch, and better match the precise designs of the cans. He released two screen print portfolios, Campbell’s Soup Cans I in 1986 and Campbell’s Soup Cans II in 1969. Each contains ten screen prints, which mimic the paintings exhibited at the Ferus Gallery in 1962. He released the portfolios through Factory Additions, a company created by Warhol to distribute his printed works.
The Soup Cans became one of Warhol’s most famous series, and by 1964, Soup Can prints were selling for $1,500 each—about $15,000 USD in today’s money. Warhol’s Soup Can became the ultimate representation of his oeuvre. When gracing the cover of Esquire magazine, Warhol was pictured drowning in tomato soup. Even his autobiography, “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol” borrows Campbell’s iconic white and red graphic punch.
ABOUT THE AUCTION
Held online from November 18-23, the Editions auction features the S.P. Family Collection, a strong selection of prints by modern masters including Pablo Picasso’s Jacqueline au chapeau noir and Francoise, Marc Chagall’s Couple in Mimosas, and Joan Miró’s Querelle d’amoureux. Alongside this collection are iconic prints such as Andy Warhol’s Vegetarian Vegetable, from Campbell’s Soup II, Henri Matisse’s Portrait de Claude D., Joan Miró’s La Cascada, and Damien Hirst’s Keukenhof (Veil) and Currency Series. Also included are several prints by Sam Francis, a timely addition on the occasion of his centennial, and select works by Canadian artists such as Jack Bush, Guido Molinari, General Idea, Micah Lexier, David Blackwood, Alex Colville, Takeo Tanabe and Christopher Pratt.
Please note certain lots are not onsite and are not available for in-person preview.
Please contact us for more information.
On view at our Toronto gallery:
Sunday, November 19 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Monday, November 20 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Tuesday, November 21 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Or by appointment.
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Meet the Specialists
Goulven Le Morvan
Director, International Art, Montreal
Alicia Bojkov
Consignment Specialist, International Art