Three Lithographs is a set of three large lithographs that Keith Haring made in 1985, published by Edition Schellmann in an edition of 80, and commentators read it as one of his earliest responses to the AIDS epidemic, which had been identified in the United States only four years earlier. The subject is serious, but the drawing is not: the figures are the same bold, cartoon-like outlines that had made his name in the subway, so the portfolio sets a grave theme against a deliberately playful line, playful on the surface and weighty underneath.
Haring was open about wanting humour to carry difficult messages. Of his safe-sex campaign he told Rolling Stone in 1989: “I wanted to make something that communicated the message with a sense of humor. The whole subject is so morbid and antihumor.” Commentators read the three plates as a sequence that begins with a blunt, almost comic image of sexual transmission, passes through a monstrous face standing for the illness itself, and ends with the People Ladder, where figures hold one another up on their shoulders. The large format gives that contrast room to land, and for collectors drawn to the more outspoken side of Haring’s printmaking, Three Lithographs is a portfolio about a subject he would go on to address publicly, drawn in his most recognisable line.
For more information or to buy Keith Haring Three Lithographs prints, contact our specialists via info@alexyellop.com. Discover more Keith Haring signed prints for sale or find out more about selling your Keith Haring prints.
-
Keith Haring Three Lithographs Portfolio (Littmann p.39-41)
Explore the complete Three Lithographs portfolio or individual works for sale -
Browse by series
Discover Iconic Haring Prints by series-
Untitled 1–6 (1982) Portfolio
-
Fertility Portfolio
-
Montreux Jazz Festival
-
Free South Africa
-
Ludo
-
Three Lithographs
-
Andy Mouse
-
Bad Boys
-
Lucky Strike
-
Untitled 1–4 (1987)
-
Apocalypse
-
Growing
-
Pop Shop I
-
Pop Shop II
-
Pop Shop III
-
Pop Shop IV
-
Pop Shop V
-
Pop Shop VI
-
Chocolate Buddha
-
Pyramid
-
Stones
-
The Story of Red and Blue
-
The Valley
-
Totem
-
Untitled Etchings (1989)
-
Blueprint Drawings
-
Flowers
-
Icons
-
White Icons
-
Single Prints
-
-