Christie’s has announced two Andy Warhol screen prints of Queen Elizabeth II, on view within The Art of Literature: Auction Highlights Exhibition, part of London Now, taking place from 6th – 14th June.
Created in 1985, Warhol’s Reigning Queens series brought together four ruling monarchs, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Margarethe II of Denmark, Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The series was issued in two editions, a standard edition of forty, and a Royal Edition of thirty with diamond dust. (Illustrated above right, blue screen print), Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens (Royal Edition), 1985, (estimate £200,000-300,000) and (illustrated above left, red screen print), Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens (Royal Edition), 1985, (estimate £250,000-350,000) both from the ‘diamond dust’ Royal Edition. The source image for Warhol’s celebrated portrait of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II was the official photograph taken by the Royal photographer Peter Grugeon (1918-1980), released for the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.
The two works are on view in parallel with the celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, commemorating her coronation in June 1953. Her Majesty The Queen will become the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of service, as well as being the third longest-reigning monarch in the world and the longest-reigning female monarch in history.
Andy Warhol is very much in the news, following the recent record-breaking sale on 9th May 2022 at Christie’s New York, where the Shot Sage Blue Marilyn by Andy Warhol sold for $195 million from The Collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann Evening Sale, establishing it as the most expensive 20th-century artwork to sell at auction.
Both works will be offered in the Post-War and Contemporary Art sale on 1st July at Christie’s London.
Images: Art of Literature: Auction Highlights Exhibition (Illustrated left), red screen print, Andy Warhol, Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens (Royal Edition), 1985, (estimate: £250,000-350,000) (illustrated right) blue screen print, Andy Warhol, Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens (Royal Edition) 1985, (estimate: £200,000-300,000)
