Russian artist Vladimir Tretchikoff, who died in 2006, claimed that by the end of his career he had sold half a million large-format reproductions of the print worldwide.
The portrait of a young Chinese girl with distinctive green-hued skin and ruby lips could fetch up to £500,000 ($800,000).
The painting will form part of Bonhams’ South African art sale on March 20.
Vladimir Tretchikoff, who grew up in Russia and Shanghai, eventually settled in South Africa in 1946 and painted the Chinese Girl in Cape Town in 1952.
His model was Monika Sing-Lee, then 17, whom he spotted working at her uncle’s launderette in Sea Point, Cape Town.
According to Vladimir Tretchikoff’s biographer Boris Gorelik, the image – also known as the Green Lady – went on to become “one of the most important pop culture icons in Britain and the Commonwealth in the 1950s”.
Its popularity led to Vladimir Tretchikoff being called the “king of kitsch” – a moniker he hated, insisting he was a serious artist.
The painting was brought directly from the artist by a woman in Chicago when Vladimir Tretchikoff was touring the US in the 1950s. It has remained in the same family for the past 60 years.
“The combination of lustrous golden silk and the blue-sheen of the model’s skin combine to produce an otherworldly glow: a luminescence that is the leitmotif of Tretchikoff’s best works,” said Giles Peppiatt, director of South African Art at Bonhams.
Chinese Girl will be exhibited in New York and Johannesburg prior to its sale.
7UQ1o9488lkQuincy Jones, the celebrated musician and producer who worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray…
Misleading allegations, rumours and outright lies about voting and fraud are flooding online spaces in…
At least 158 people have died in Spain's worst flooding disaster in generations. On October…
Google has been fined two undecillion (a two followed by 36 zeroes) roubles by a…
Embarking on a home remodel is an exciting journey, promising enhanced comfort, increased property value,…
The US presidential candidates continued to campaign across key swing states on October 20. Footage…