PRESS RELEASE
PHILLIPS OPENS NEW YORK SEASON WITH
DUAL EDITIONS & WORKS ON PAPER AUCTIONS
Live Editions Sale to be Held on Saturday, 7 February
Online Sale from 2-10 February Includes Made in L.A.: Property from the Collections of Master Printer Jean Milant and Cirrus Editions
Ed Ruscha Judy Chicago
Cheese Mold Standard with Olive, 1969 Mary, Queen of Scots, 1973
Estimate: $60,000 - 90,000 Estimate: $1500 - 2000
To be offered in the Live Auction To be offered in the Online Auction
NEW YORK – 20 JANUARY 2026 – Phillips is delighted to announce highlights from its first New York auctions of the season, comprising two Editions sales this February. The live auction on 7 February — taking place for the first time on a Saturday — will feature more than 150 works spanning Modern masters to contemporary favorites, from Marc Chagall, Louise Bourgeois, and Andy Warhol through to Phillip Guston and Banksy. Highlights include Banksy’s iconic 2004 screenprint, Girl with Balloon. Originally spray-paint stenciled in locations across London in the early 2000s, the image ranks among one of artist’s most recognizable scenes. Ed Ruscha’s Cheese Mold Standard with Olive, 1969, features one of his most celebrated subjects, the Standard gas station, a site he passed frequently while road-tripping from his hometown of Oklahoma City to Los Angeles. Highlights continue with Jennifer Bartlett’s fresh, colorful, and energetic screenprint portfolio, House, 2003, alongside Vija Celmins’ serene, and hyperdetailed Drypoint - Ocean Surface (Second State), 1985. Other works of note include Sam Francis’ unique monotype Untitled, 1982, and Robert Motherwell’s painterly Black with No Way out, from El Negro, 1983, as well as works by Jonas Wood, Bruce Nauman, and others.
The online auction, open for bidding from 2-10 February, presents over 100 additional lots, including 40 works from the collection of Tamarind-trained master printer and Cirrus Editions founder, Jean Milant, who developed this “new California atelier of prints” into a distinctive American art institution, operating as a combined gallery, print publisher, and workshop in Hollywood. Milant’s inventiveness and technical mastery, combined with the exceptional quality of Cirrus’ prints, helped establish a lasting legacy defined by artistic risk‑taking and a pivotal reimagining of the boundaries of contemporary printmaking. Many of the prints offered display his dedication to experimentation and beauty, including a group of images and text-based lithographs by longtime collaborator Ed Ruscha. These include iconic works such as Raw, 1973, and IF, 2000, among others. Also included are a number of works by other of Milant’s collaborators, including John Baldessari, Jonas Wood, and Judy Chicago. Today, Milant’s legacy as a champion of Los Angeles and its artists persists through Cirrus’ ongoing operations in the city. Now in its 55th year of operations, Cirrus remains a testament to Milant’s inventive and collaborative spirit, the strength of Los Angeles’ artistic community, and the ever‑expanding technical possibilities of printmaking.
Other online sale highlights include Yves Klein’s Table Bleue KleinTM / Klein Blue (designed in 1961), Emma Webster’s hand-colored lithograph La Nouvelle Epoque (The New Era), 2021, a delightful selection of Max Ernst lithographs, and works by Bruce Nauman, Takashi Murakami, and many others.
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