I get it. You’re young and not quite able to splurge on high-priced art, but you’ve graduated from you Ebay art buying days. Friends ask me all the time to point them in the direction of great art/great value. I always say the same thing: Prints!
There are a few misconceptions about prints. Some novice collectors assume that since the work is printed in a edition of, say, 50, that it’s not an original or that the artist wasn’t involved in the process. Au contraire. Oftentimes artists opt to leave their quiet studios for a bit and collaborate with printmakers to explore this other form of image-making. So, what you see on paper is what the artist created while in the print studio. Masters like Picasso made thousands of printed works, and pretty much every great contemporary artist, has produced an edition (some of the best being published by Pace and Gemini). By working in multiples, prices can remain lower than for a painting or sculpture by the same artist. Here’s a look at a lovely print exhibition on view and highlights from last week’s print auctions:
Bernard Cathelin (1919 – 2004) lithograph exhibition, Bouquet de Fleurs, on view at Galerie Mourlot, curated by yours truly. Prices range from $1,200 – $3,800.
A selection of prints that appeared on the auction block last week in NYC, ranging from pre-war to present. While, yes, prints by million-dollar modern artists don’t always come cheap, some of the results might surprise you. Clockwise from top left: Francis Bacon, Richard Diebenkorn, Christopher Wool, Adolph Gottlieb, Leon Polk Smith, and Kenneth Noland.
In the market for affordable art? Websites like Artsy and Artspace allow you to select your price range and browse works that fit your style and budget, with prints, photographs, and works on paper being the most cost-effective.
