Warhol's Birth of Venus hammers for $68,500 in San Francisco

An Andy Warhol screenprint of a detail from Sandro Boticelli's Birth of Venus made $68,750 at Bonhams' Prints and Multiples sale in San Francisco on October 22.

Warhol produced four variations of the image in 1984. They all feature an appropriation of Boticelli's iconic portrait of Venus in Warhol's pop art style that pays homage to the old masters.  

Warhol Venus Bonhams
Warhol produced a series of prints showing details from classic paintings

The print is signed and numbered 41 of an edition of 70.

David Hockney's Walking Past Two Chairs (1984-1986) made $50,000.

Hockney Two Chairs Bonhams
Hockney's Two Chairs is part of an experimental series that explores perspective

The print, numbered 22 of 38, comes from the 1985 Moving Focus series - an experiment in cubism that combined traditional western fixed-point perspective along with the eastern concept of multiple plains of view.

Hockney is one of the most renowned British artists of the 20th century, and his work traditionally performs well at auction.

In 2009, his painting Beverly Hills Housewife sold for $7.9m - a record price for the artist.

Apres La Pique, a print by Pablo Picasso, also sold for $50,000. Dating to 1962 and numbered 12 of 50, the linocut displays a hunting scene in muted colours.

Picasso and Matisse pioneered linocut as a fine art method in the 1930s, inventing a groundbreaking method that resulted in the destruction of the original plate - making each print unique.

We have this postcard of Picasso's Absinthe Drinker, signed by the artist.

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