In 1985, at the height of his meteoric rise and at the very moment when the AIDS crisis was devastating the communities he belonged to, Keith Haring produced Three Lithographs, a suite that distills his visual language into three stark, monumental statements.
Introduction
With each lithograph executed in black lithographic line with strategic red interventions and framed by a hand-drawn red border, the portfolio stands as one of the most direct and politically charged graphic works of Haring’s career and exemplifies his ability to transform a universal pictographic vocabulary into a vehicle for confrontation, solidarity, and warning. Lithography was particularly suited to Haring’s graphic approach: it allowed him to maintain the immediacy of his drawn contour, a thick, confident black line, while achieving uniform saturation across the edition.
The red is not decorative. It functions structurally. It marks danger, activation, contagion, speech, and energy. In this suite, red becomes the visual equivalent of an alarm system. The framing red border is equally important. It turns each composition into a contained arena, a social laboratory in which power, fear, and cooperation unfold.
Plate I: Cock Fight
Despite the apparent simplicity of the composition, Cock Fight is one of the most confrontational images in the suite. The large figure dominates the field, gripping the smaller figure at the crotch while red radiating lines mark the point of contact. The red cross in the upper right corner transforms what could appear as rough play into something far more charged.
The title eliminates ambiguity. This is not protection. It is aggression, sexualized power, dominance. Haring reduces violence to pictogram, and by doing so, he removes all narrative distraction. There is no setting, no psychological backstory, no moral instruction. Just bodies and force. The red radiance functions like a warning signal: sex and danger collapsing into a single graphic burst. In 1985, in the shadow of the escalating AIDS crisis, the imagery becomes impossible to read innocently. Pleasure, vulnerability, contagion, and control are compressed into one frozen gesture.
Plate II: Red Tongue
Red Tongue abandons bodily interaction and zooms into a distorted, almost mask-like head. Eyes misaligned, mouth open wide, tongue rendered in red: this is an icon of psychic rupture. The red tongue is not playful. It burns across the composition like a wound. The surrounding black motion marks suggest vibration, panic, distortion. The image resonates with anxiety: a portrait of hysteria, perhaps collective.
In the mid-1980s context, silence around illness, sexuality, and fear was deadly. This screaming head can be read as a refusal of silence. The mouth is open; the body speaks. It is protest rendered as pictogram. Formally, this plate demonstrates Haring’s extraordinary ability to balance cartoon simplicity with expressionist intensity. The face is both universal and grotesque, childlike and tragic.
Plate III: People Ladder
The final lithograph is arguably the most iconic of the three. Two vertical columns of stacked figures rise upward, bodies interlocked in rhythmic repetition. Each figure emits radiating lines around the head: activation, awareness, and vitality. This is collective structure. Survival as architecture.
Yet the image is not naïvely optimistic. The bodies are compressed; the climb is relentless. Support requires weight-bearing. Community requires effort. In the context of 1985, when public institutions were failing marginalized communities, this image reads as a manifesto: we hold each other up because no one else will. The dotted ground anchors the composition: a recurring Haring motif suggesting terrain, foundation, or urban pavement. These are not abstract beings; they are city bodies.
Release Context and Legacy
By 1985, Keith Haring was internationally recognized. His subway drawings had become legendary. His first major gallery exhibitions had solidified his reputation. Yet this period also marked the beginning of overt activism in his work. Unlike his later Pop Shop Prints (which pursued radical accessibility), Three Lithographs belongs to a more formal, institutional print tradition. Published through Edition Schellmann, the suite bridges street immediacy and established printmaking lineage.
This portfolio stands at the crossroads between underground urgency and global recognition. Today, Three Lithographs occupies an important place in Haring’s print market. It captures a transitional moment: early enough to retain raw immediacy, mature enough to display compositional control. Haring reduced the human condition to a handful of lines, and somehow made those lines carry the weight of an era.
Three Lithographs, 1985
Three Lithographs
The complete set of three lithographs in black and red
Medium: Lithograph in black and red on BFK Rives paper
Year: 1985
Image: 30 3/8 x 37 3/4 inches (77 x 95.9 cm)
Sheet: 32×40 inches (81 x 101.5 cm)
Edition: 80
Artist’s Proofs: 20 AP
Hors Commerce: 3 HC
Printer: Matthieu Litho, Switzerland (with their blindstamp)
Publisher: Edition Schellmann, Munich and New York
Literature: Littmann pp. 38-41
Signed, dated and numbered in pencil
Plate I: Cock Fight (Littmann p. 39)
Plate II: Red Tongue (Littmann p. 40)
Plate III: People Ladder (Littmann p. 41)
2026 Auction Results
People Ladder
SHINWA AUCTION: 31 January 2026
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 13,800,000 / USD 89,185
KEITH HARING
Untitled from Three Lithographs, 1985
(Plate 3) (Littmann p.41)
Lithograph
Signed and numbered from the edition of 80
2025 Auction Results
#1. People Ladder
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
KEITH HARING (American, 1958-1990)
Untitled (from Three Lithographs) (Plate 3) (Littmann p. 41), 1985
Lithograph
Signed, dated, and numbered 19/80 in pencil
USD 100,000
#2. People Ladder
Phillips New-York: 16 April 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 88,900
KEITH HARING
Untitled, from Three Lithographs (L. p. 41), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed, dated and numbered 27/80 in pencil
(there were also 20 artist’s proofs)
#3. Red Tongue
Christie’s New-York: 26 February 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 30,240
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled, from Three Lithographs (Littmann p.40), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 37/80
(there were also twenty artist’s proofs)
#4. Red Tongue
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
2024 Auction Results
#1. People Ladder
Doyle New-York: 31 October 2024
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 108,450
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
UNTITLED (PEOPLE LADDER) (LITTMAN P. 41) from Three Lithographs, 1985
Lithograph and collotype printed in black and red on BFK Rives paper
Signed, dated and numbered 14/80 in pencil
USD 100,000
#2. Cock Fight
Heritage Auctions: 16 April 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 20,000
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Cock Fight), from Three Lithographs, 1985
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
A.P. 16/20 (artist’s proof aside from an edition of 80)
Signed, editioned, and dated in pencil, lower right
#3. Cock Fight
Karl & Faber Munich: 8 May 2024
Estimated: EUR 3,000 – 4,000
EUR 6,985 / USD 7,510
KEITH HARING (1958 Reading/Pennsylvania – New York 1990)
Untitled (Jealousy) from: Three lithographs, 1985
Colored lithograph on wove paper
One of 80 numbered copies
Signed and dated on the lower right margin of the sheet
2023 Auction Results
#1. Red Tongue
Phillips London: 8 June 2023
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 20,000
GBP 27,940 / USD 34,770
AUCTION RECORD FOR RED TONGUE
KEITH HARING
Three Lithographs: one plate (L. p. 40), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on BFK Rives paper
Signed, dated and numbered 69/80 in pencil
#2. Cock Fight
Christie’s New-York: 20 April 2023
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 21,420
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Three Lithographs: one print (Littman p.39), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 55/80
2022 Auction Results
#1. People Ladder
Germann Zurich: 30 November 2022
Estimated: CHF 30,000 – 40,000
CHF 70,000 (Hammer)
CHF 85,700 / USD 89,770
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled, from “Three Lithographs”, 1985
Lithograph printed in colors on BFK Rives paper
Editioned 59/80
Signed and dated lower right: K. Haring, 85
With blindstamp lower left: Matthieu Litho, Switzerland
#2. People Ladder
Ader Paris: 24 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 30,000
EUR 76,800 / USD 80,940
Keith HARING [American] (1958-1990)
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph
Signed, dated and numbered on 80 on the lower right
#3. Cock Fight
LA Modern: 8 September 2022
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 30,000
AUCTION RECORD FOR COCK FIGHT
KEITH HARING
Untitled (from the Three Lithographs suite), 1985
Lithograph in colors on BFK Rives
Signed, dated and numbered to right edge ‘PP 2/3 K. Haring 85’
Printer’s proof 2 of 3 apart from the edition of 80
#4. Cock Fight
Bukowskis Stockholm: 26 April 2022
Estimated: SEK 125,000 – 150,000
SEK 155,o00 (Hammer)
SEK 193,750 / USD 19,945
Lithograph in colors
Signed and dated, numbered AP 12/20 in pencil
2021 Auction Results
#1. People Ladder
Christie’s online: 20 July 2021
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 112,500
AUCTION RECORD FOR PEOPLE LADDER
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled, from Three Lithographs, 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 77/80
USD 100,000
#2. People Ladder
Ader Paris: 14 December 2021
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 30,000
EUR 97,040 / USD 98,065
Keith HARING [American] (1958-1990)
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph
Signed, dated and numbered on 80 on the lower right
#3. Red Tongue
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 31 July 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,000,000
JPY 3,200,000 (Hammer)
JPY 3,728,000 / USD 33,980
KEITH HARING
from THREE LITHOGRAPHS, 1985
Lithograph
Signed
From the edition of 80
#4. Cock Fight
Wright Chicago: 15 July 2021
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 22,500
KEITH HARING
Cockfight (from the Three Lithographs series), 1985
Lithograph in colors
Signed, dated and numbered to right edge ‘76/80 K. Haring. 85’
#5. Cock Fight
Estimated: EUR 12,000 – 15,000
EUR 15,840 / USD 17,920
KEITH HARING (1958 Kutztown, PA/USA – 1990 New York)
Untitled from Three Lithographs,1985
Color lithograph on vellum
Signed, dated and numbered 31/100
2020 Auction Results
#1. Three Lithographs, 1985
SBI Art Auction: 31 October 2020
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 9,775,000 / USD 93,450
COMPLETE SET
Keith HARING
Three Lithographs (Littmann p.39-41), 1985
Lithograph, the complete set of 3 works
Signed, dated and numbered on the lower right (each)
From the edition of 80
#2. Cock Fight
Van Ham Cologne: 10 December 2020
Estimated: EUR 5,000 – 7,000
EUR 8,750 / USD 10,600
KEITH HARING (1958 Kutztown, PA/USA – 1990 New York)
Untitled from Three Lithographs,1985
Color lithograph on vellum
Signed, dated and numbered 12/80
Cock Fight
Karl & Faber Munich: 8 May 2024
Estimated: EUR 3,000 – 4,000
EUR 6,985 / USD 7,510
KEITH HARING (1958 Reading/Pennsylvania – New York 1990)
Untitled (Jealousy) from: Three lithographs, 1985
Colored lithograph on wove paper
One of 80 numbered copies
Signed and dated on the lower right margin of the sheet
Heritage Auctions: 16 April 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 20,000
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Cock Fight), from Three Lithographs, 1985
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
A.P. 16/20 (artist’s proof aside from an edition of 80)
Signed, editioned, and dated in pencil, lower right
Christie’s New-York: 20 April 2023
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 21,420
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Three Lithographs: one print (Littman p.39), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 55/80
LA Modern: 8 September 2022
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 30,000
AUCTION RECORD FOR COCK FIGHT
KEITH HARING
Untitled (from the Three Lithographs suite), 1985
Lithograph in colors on BFK Rives
Signed, dated and numbered to right edge ‘PP 2/3 K. Haring 85’
Printer’s proof 2 of 3 apart from the edition of 80
Bukowskis Stockholm: 26 April 2022
Estimated: SEK 125,000 – 150,000
SEK 155,o00 (Hammer)
SEK 193,750 / USD 19,945
Lithograph in colors
Signed and dated, numbered AP 12/20 in pencil
Estimated: EUR 12,000 – 15,000
EUR 15,840 / USD 17,920
KEITH HARING (1958 Kutztown, PA/USA – 1990 New York)
Untitled from Three Lithographs,1985
Color lithograph on vellum
Signed, dated and numbered 31/100
Wright Chicago: 15 July 2021
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 22,500
KEITH HARING
Cockfight (from the Three Lithographs series), 1985
Lithograph in colors
Signed, dated and numbered to right edge ‘76/80 K. Haring. 85’
Van Ham Cologne: 10 December 2020
Estimated: EUR 5,000 – 7,000
EUR 8,750 / USD 10,600
KEITH HARING (1958 Kutztown, PA/USA – 1990 New York)
Untitled from Three Lithographs,1985
Color lithograph on vellum
Signed, dated and numbered 12/80
Phillips London: 6 June 2019
Estimated: GBP 7,000 – 9,000
GBP 17,500 / USD 22,220
KEITH HARING
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph in black and red, on BFK Rives paper, with full margins.
Signed, dated and numbered ‘AP 16/20’ in pencil
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 80
Bonhams Los Angeles: 7 May 2019
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 18,825
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Three Lithographs: one plate (L. p. 39), 1985
Lithograph in red and black on wove paper
Signed in pencil, dated and numbered 3/80
Phillips London: 7 June 2017
Estimated: GBP 6,000 – 8,000
GBP 8,750 / USD 11,320
KEITH HARING
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph in red and black on wove paper
Signed, dated and numbered 28/80 in pencil
Red Tongue
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
Christie’s New-York: 26 February 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 30,240
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled, from Three Lithographs (Littmann p.40), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 37/80
(there were also twenty artist’s proofs)
Phillips London: 8 June 2023
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 20,000
GBP 27,940 / USD 34,770
AUCTION RECORD FOR RED TONGUE
KEITH HARING
Three Lithographs: one plate (L. p. 40), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on BFK Rives paper
Signed, dated and numbered 69/80 in pencil
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 31 July 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,000,000
JPY 3,200,000 (Hammer)
JPY 3,728,000 / USD 33,980
KEITH HARING
from THREE LITHOGRAPHS, 1985
Lithograph
Signed
From the edition of 80
Phillips London: 6 June 2019
Estimated: GBP 7,000 – 9,000
GBP 17,500 / USD 22,220
KEITH HARING
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph in black and red, on BFK Rives paper
Signed, dated and numbered ‘PP 1/3’ in pencil
(a printer’s proof, the edition was 80 and 20 artist’s proofs)
Phillips New-York: 24 April 2018
Estimated: USD 7,000 – 9,000
USD 15,000
Lithograph in colors on Rives BFK paper
Signed, dated and numbered 41/80 in pencil
People Ladder
SHINWA AUCTION: 31 January 2026
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 13,800,000 / USD 89,185
KEITH HARING
Untitled from Three Lithographs, 1985
(Plate 3) (Littmann p.41)
Lithograph
Signed and numbered from the edition of 80
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
KEITH HARING (American, 1958-1990)
Untitled (from Three Lithographs) (Plate 3) (Littmann p. 41), 1985
Lithograph
Signed, dated, and numbered 19/80 in pencil
Phillips New-York: 16 April 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 88,900
KEITH HARING
Untitled, from Three Lithographs (L. p. 41), 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed, dated and numbered 27/80 in pencil
(there were also 20 artist’s proofs)
Doyle New-York: 31 October 2024
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 108,450
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
UNTITLED (PEOPLE LADDER) (LITTMAN P. 41) from Three Lithographs, 1985
Lithograph and collotype printed in black and red on BFK Rives paper
Signed, dated and numbered 14/80 in pencil
Germann Zurich: 30 November 2022
Estimated: CHF 30,000 – 40,000
CHF 70,000 (Hammer)
CHF 85,700 / USD 89,770
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled, from “Three Lithographs”, 1985
Lithograph printed in colors on BFK Rives paper
Editioned 59/80
Signed and dated lower right: K. Haring, 85
With blindstamp lower left: Matthieu Litho, Switzerland
Ader Paris: 24 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 30,000
EUR 76,800 / USD 80,940
Keith HARING [American] (1958-1990)
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph
Signed, dated and numbered on 80 on the lower right
Ader Paris: 14 December 2021
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 30,000
EUR 97,040 / USD 98,065
Keith HARING [American] (1958-1990)
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph
Signed, dated and numbered on 80 on the lower right
Christie’s online: 20 July 2021
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 112,500
AUCTION RECORD FOR PEOPLE LADDER
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled, from Three Lithographs, 1985
Lithograph in black and red on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 77/80
Phillips London: 6 June 2019
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 20,000
GBP 52,500 / USD 66,790
KEITH HARING
Three Lithographs: one plate, 1985
Lithograph in black and red, on BFK Rives paper
Signed, dated and annotated ‘HC’ in pencil
(one of 3 hors commerce impressions, the edition was 80 and 20 artist’s proofs)
Bonhams Los Angeles: 24 October 2017
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 43,750
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Plate 3, from Three Lithographs (L. p. 41), 1985
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil, dated ’85’ and numbered 41/80
Complete Sets
SBI Art Auction: 31 October 2020
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 9,775,000 / USD 93,450
COMPLETE SET
Keith HARING
Three Lithographs (Littmann p.39-41), 1985
Lithograph, the complete set of 3 works
Signed, dated and numbered on the lower right (each)
From the edition of 80
Sotheby’s New-York: 28 April 2017
Estimated: USD 7,000 – 10,000
USD 47,500
COMPLETE SET
KEITH HARING
Three Lithographs (Littmann pp. 38-41), 1985
Three lithographs printed in colors on Arches wove paper
Each signed in pencil, dated and numbered 46/80