Five Ways to Make Money in the American Pop Print Market

If you’re a stock market investor, you’re probably familiar with the term “defensive stocks.” This refers to stocks which are known for slow but steady growth. The equivalent in the art market are prints by Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol. These three artists are among the safest bets around. When the art market experiences some turbulence, you’ll be able to sleep at night if you own some of their better prints.

Art collecting has always been about acquiring artists who will survive the test of time - and avoiding those who won’t. This is especially true for the print market. For example, Jim Dine is a talented painter with relatively little demand for his prints. Should the art market go south, you will find there will be no demand for his prints. Many others fall into this category including James Rosenquist and Tom Wesselmann. Even a great artist like Robert Rauschenberg is a little iffy. The “flight to quality” (also a securities term) during tough times holds especially true for the print market. Better yet, if you buy quality to begin with, you won’t have to worry about occasional market gyrations.

Even though all the above artists are international in status, they will forever be associated with the state of California - including David Hockney (who’s British). While each artist has his own distinct identity, one thing they share in common is their work was influenced by California’s unique sense of light and space. This resulted in art that took its own sweet time to develop, free of the New York gallery scene’s pressure cooker environment.

Since these artists resided in California, their work took a little longer to attain the market highs of their New York counterparts. This presented collectors with buying opportunities - especially with their prints. While none of these artists’ paintings are undervalued, their prints are still reasonable. Sam Francis’s colorful lithographs are a downright bargain. Wayne Thiebaud’s better graphics run a close second.

During the 1980s, when the art market began its current ascent, dealers would obsess over the financial potential of a major artist with an upcoming retrospective. The thinking was that if Jasper Johns had a big survey show at MoMA, there would be a trickle-down demand for his prints. While all of this seemed logical, it never played out that way. People who bought paintings continued to buy paintings; they never bought prints too. It was just one of those things that has remained true to this day. The right idea is to sell before a retrospective, not buy in anticipation of a price jump.

One example of a significant painter, not known for his prints, is Jean-Michel Basquiat. During his brief lifetime, Basquiat only produced a handful of prints, which have become much sought-after. But then a funny thing happened posthumously. The artist’s sisters, Jeanine and Lisane, signed deals to publish a group of serigraphs which were copies of their brother’s paintings. The results have been controversial. On the one hand, the silkscreens themselves are ravishing. They capture the edgy beauty of Jean-Michel’s art. Yet, they will always be surrounded by controversy because Jean-Michel never approved them and obviously never signed them.

From a market perspective, these Basquiat prints tend to do well in both the private market and at auction. Personally, as an art authenticator, I have a little trouble with a print that the artist never touched. But I’m probably in the minority. With that in mind, if a collector is looking for an investment in the contemporary print market, buying Basquiat’s posthumous prints is probably a good call.

Richard Polsky is the owner of Richard Polsky Art Authentication and Richard Polsky Art Fraud Prevention which specialise in authenticating the work of seven artists including: Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Roy Lichtenstein.