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International Edition
May 24, 2012 Last Updated: 6:30:AM EDT

Holding Steady

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Holding Steady

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by Roman Kraeussl
Published: November 1, 2010

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Over the past decade, prints have accounted for a significant chunk of fine-art auction revenue. Although most of these works—which range from lithographs and silkscreens to etchings and drypoints—are relatively affordable, with more than half selling for less than $5,000 over the past 10 years, many examples have fetched upwards of $100,000. We looked at three artists with strong print and painting markets—Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sam Francis, and Andy Warhol— to determine how the two media compare. Below are line graphs of the art price indexes for their paintings and prints, based at 100 in January 2000; on the opposite page are bar graphs of the volume of prints and paintings sold by each artist at auction. Because of the low price point needed to participate and its relatively high liquidity, the print market offers opportunities for smart investment in addition to aesthetic rewards. Of course, prints, although less volatile than some other media, are not immune to contractions in the art market, as our art indexes make clear. Overall, however, none of the three artists’ works in the medium lost value over the past decade, despite all the ups and downs the economy experienced during that period. A $100,000 investment in a Warhol print in 2000 would have quadrupled in value by 2010.

Basquiat, Francis, and Warhol indexes 2000–2010
The values of prints and paintings, based at 100 in January 2000

Graph 1

volume of jean-michel basquiat paintings and prints sold 2000–2010
Far more Basquiat paintings than prints sold in the first half of the decade, but the trend reversed in 2007, the year his 1981 painting Untitled set a record for the artist, selling for $14.6 million at Sotheby’s New York.


volume of andy warhol paintings and prints sold 2000–2010
Silkscreening was one of Warhol’s primary processes, but those done on canvas are considered paintings rather than prints.

Graph 3

volume of sam francis paintings and prints sold 2000–2010
Francis created an enormous body of lithographs, screenprints, and etchings, which together have a bigger collecting base than his paintings.

Graph 4

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