Heritage’s April 23 Prints & Multiples sale reached $2.07M as a record Hockney edition and several artist highs underscored demand for blue-chip prints.
By Intelligent Collector Staff | April 27, 2026
Heritage Auctions’ April 23 Prints & Multiples Signature® Auction finished just over $2.07 million, with the company reporting five auction records in a tightly curated 96-lot sale that drew 583 bidders. The results pointed to continued strength in the blue-chip print market, particularly when works represent key series, desirable proofs, or standout examples within an artist’s editioned output.
The top lot—and a new auction record for the edition—was David Hockney’s Lithographic Water Made of Lines, Crayon and Two Blue Washes (1978–1980), which realized $225,000. A second Hockney highlight, Hotel Acatlan, Two Weeks Later, from Moving Focus (diptych) (1985), brought $162,500, reinforcing how consistently the market rewards the artist’s technically ambitious and visually complex works on paper.
Andy Warhol’s market held steady at the top end, led by Mick Jagger (1975), which realized $150,000, with a second example selling for $84,375. The sale also featured three early proofs from Warhol’s Flowers series—each described as unsigned, unnumbered, and untrimmed—bringing $22,500, $21,250, and $21,250 for One Work, from Flowers (1970) – proof, One Work, from Flowers (1970) – proof, and One Work, from Flowers (1970) – proof.
Additional auction records cited by Heritage included Alex Katz’s Ada with Flowers (1980) at $38,750 and Roy Lichtenstein’s The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Poster (1969) at $52,500. Heritage also pointed to new highs for Wayne Thiebaud’s Down Mariposa, from Recent Etchings II (1979) at $11,250 and Jacob Lawrence’s Play (1999) at $22,500.
With a high bidder-to-lot ratio and record-setting prices spread across several artists, the sale’s results suggested buyers are remaining selective—while still paying up when the work’s edition, proof status, and place within an artist’s printmaking practice line up cleanly.