Mick Jagger (F. & S. II.138)

Two famous names on one sheet

Mick Jagger (F. & S. II.138) is the opening sheet of a portfolio of ten screenprints Andy Warhol made of the Rolling Stones' singer in 1975. The ten are catalogued as II.138 through II.147 in the Feldman and Schellmann catalogue raisonne of Warhol's prints. Each was printed on a large sheet of Arches Aquarelle paper, roughly 43 1/2 by 29 inches, by the New York printer Alexander Heinrici, and published by Seabird Editions in London.

The edition was 250 numbered impressions of each image, plus 50 artist's proofs; several dealers also record three printer's proofs. What sets the portfolio apart from almost everything else in Warhol's print work is the second signature. Warhol signed in pencil at lower right, and Jagger signed in felt-tip pen at lower left, so the sitter's own hand sits on the face of his portrait.

Dealer accounts read the co-signature as a statement about celebrity, with the famous subject acting as co-author of his own image. Whatever the intent, every correctly signed impression carries the autographs of two of the best-known names of the 1970s.

Montauk, 1975

Warhol and Jagger were already collaborators. Warhol conceived and photographed the cover of the Stones' album Sticky Fingers, released April 23, 1971: a close-up of a jeans-clad crotch with a working zipper on the original vinyl. Who actually modeled for it has never been settled. Warhol did not design the band's tongue-and-lips logo, which the album also introduced; that was John Pasche's work.

Warhol owned Eothen, a private oceanfront estate near the Montauk lighthouse, in partnership with the filmmaker Paul Morrissey. After the Stones' 1972 American tour, Mick and Bianca Jagger vacationed there. In 1975 Jagger came back with the whole band. According to a detailed account of that spring, the Stones spent five weeks in a cluster of old hunting cabins on the estate, rehearsing in the stone-floored main hall for their Tour of the Americas. Jagger called the proposed rent 'a rip-off' before a deal was struck, and Warhol's associate Vincent Fremont handled logistics and security.

At the Long Island house Warhol photographed Jagger with his Polaroid camera, bare-chested and in a range of poses. Dealer accounts place those sessions in the summer of 1975, when Jagger and Bianca were renting the house; the Montauk account has the band in residence in April and May, before it flew south for warm-up shows in Baton Rouge on June 1. The tour officially opened in San Antonio on June 3, 1975, and was the band's first with Ronnie Wood on guitar.

What II.138 shows

Warhol projected the photographs, traced them into loose line drawings and then laid flat blocks of color over the result, so the shapes cut across and sometimes hide parts of the face. Dealers describe this collage-like approach as a turn toward more expressive, more abstract portraiture, and away from the press photographs he had used for Marilyn and Elvis.

II.138 shows Jagger in a three-quarter portrait. Drawn outlines define his nose, his eye and his body, and blocks of muted color, described by one dealer as green and grey and by another as blue-grey, sit over his face. Unlike several other sheets in the portfolio, which push red and pink over his mouth, this one puts the emphasis on Jagger's eye rather than his famous lips.

How to identify an impression

A genuine II.138 is a screenprint in colors on Arches Aquarelle paper, printed to or close to the edges of a sheet of about 110 by 73 centimeters. It is numbered out of 250, or marked as one of 50 artist's proofs in the form 'A.P. 24/50', signed by Warhol in pencil and by Jagger in felt-tip pen, and carries Seabird Editions' copyright inkstamp on the reverse.

Jagger's signature varies from sheet to sheet. Dealers report it in black, green or red felt pen, and catalogs have described examples in blue and in red; one artist's proof offered in 2025 had a red signature catalogued as faded. Some impressions carry extras: one sold in 2007 was dedicated by Warhol 'To Bo and Anna Bertling, with love.' That catalog also noted cracks in the ink surface, 'as is common with this print,' a condition point buyers look for.

Museums hold sheets from the portfolio. The National Gallery of Art in Washington owns impression 3/250 of II.146, with Warhol's pencil signature at lower right and Jagger's in black ink at lower left, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York holds a sheet from the portfolio, the gift of John Loring. No public collection holding of II.138 specifically is stated in the sources consulted.

From an Aspen gallery to the auction room

Many impressions went to collectors early. One artist's proof, A.P. 24/50, was bought from a gallery in Aspen, Colorado, in 1979 and stayed in private hands until it sold at auction in North Carolina on July 24, 2026, for $82,000.

One market tracker counts 29 auction sales of II.138 since its first appearance at auction in 1999. The public record shows the price climbing. Impression 88/250, the one dedicated to the Bertlings, sold in September 2007 for 19,700 pounds. Impression 43/250 brought $32,500 in October 2010, and 35/250 brought $43,750 in October 2012, against an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.

In 2021 impression 236/250 was offered in a sale of property from the collection of Dee and Tommy Hilfiger. In October 2023 impression 56/250, from a private collection in Ohio and estimated at $60,000 to $80,000, sold for a reported $126,000, the highest US-dollar result found for the print. The same tracker reports hammer prices between March 2023 and June 2025 ranging from 85,000 pounds down to 51,325 pounds.

The numbers

Medium

Screenprint in colors on Arches Aquarelle (rough) wove paper

Dimensions

Sheet about 43 1/2 x 29 in. (110 x 73 cm); individual catalogs give 1107 x 734 mm, 1110 x 733 mm and 1114 x 737 mm

Catalogue raisonne

Feldman & Schellmann II.138 (portfolio II.138-147)

Edition

250, plus 50 artist's proofs; dealers also list 3 printer's proofs

Printer / publisher

Alexander Heinrici, New York / Seabird Editions, London

Current owner

Impressions are in private hands; the National Gallery of Art (an impression of II.146) and the Museum of Modern Art hold sheets from the portfolio, but no public holding of II.138 itself is stated

Timeline

1. Apr 23, 1971

   The Rolling Stones release Sticky Fingers, with a cover conceived and photographed by Warhol.

2. 1972

   After the Stones' American tour, Mick and Bianca Jagger vacation at Eothen, Warhol's Montauk estate.

3. Apr 1975

   The Stones move into Eothen for five weeks of rehearsals before their Tour of the Americas.

4. Jun 3, 1975

   The tour opens in San Antonio, after warm-up shows in Baton Rouge on June 1.

5. 1975

   Warhol photographs Jagger with a Polaroid at the Long Island house; Seabird Editions publishes the ten-print Mick Jagger portfolio, II.138-147, in an edition of 250 plus 50 artist's proofs.

6. 1979

   Artist's proof A.P. 24/50 of II.138 is bought from a gallery in Aspen, Colorado.

7. 1999

   II.138 makes its first recorded appearance at auction.

8. Sep 19, 2007

   Impression 88/250, dedicated by Warhol to Bo and Anna Bertling, sells for 19,700 pounds.

9. Oct 27, 2010

   Impression 43/250 sells at auction for $32,500.

10. Oct 31, 2012

    Impression 35/250 sells at auction for $43,750.

11. 2021

    Impression 236/250 is offered from the collection of Dee and Tommy Hilfiger.

12. Oct 24, 2023

    Impression 56/250 sells for a reported $126,000.

13. Jun 2025

    An impression of II.138 sells for a hammer price of 51,325 pounds.

14. Jul 24, 2026

    Artist's proof A.P. 24/50, held since 1979, sells at auction in North Carolina for $82,000.

The world in 1975

• Apr 30, 1975

  Saigon falls and the Vietnam War ends.

• Jun 20, 1975

  Jaws opens in 409 theaters across the United States.

• Jul 17, 1975

  An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit.

• Jul 30, 1975

  Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing in Detroit.

• Aug 25, 1975

  Bruce Springsteen releases Born to Run.

• Oct 1, 1975

  Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manila.

• Oct 11, 1975

  Saturday Night Live premieres; Billy Preston, the Stones' keyboardist on that summer's tour, is among the first musical guests.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Mick Jagger (F. & S. II.138) is number 50 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (51 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Jagger signed every sheet in the portfolio himself, in felt-tip pen at lower left, next to Warhol's pencil signature.
• The Rolling Stones rehearsed for their 1975 tour at Warhol's Montauk estate, and Jagger called the proposed rent 'a rip-off' before agreeing to a deal.
• Warhol did not design the Stones' tongue-and-lips logo, though he did create the zipper cover of Sticky Fingers, the album that introduced it.
• Jagger's signatures turn up in black, green, red and blue ink, and some red ones have faded.
• One impression carries a handwritten dedication from Warhol: 'To Bo and Anna Bertling, with love.'
• A catalog called cracks in the ink surface common with this print.
• Billy Preston, who toured with the Stones in 1975, was one of the first musical guests on Saturday Night Live that October.