In 1987, Keith Haring created a portfolio of five screen-prints commissioned by British American Tobacco for Lucky Strike. This body of work depicts boxes of Lucky Strike cigarettes, the top-selling brand of cigarettes of the 1930s and ‘40s, alongside some of the artist’s signature illustrations. All five pieces in this portfolio are screen-prints, a method of printing that allows the artist to maintain bold colors and precise line.
1. Lucky Strike #1 (L. pp. 76-77)
Lucky Strike: One Plate
Medium: Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Year: 1987
Image: 11 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches (28.6 x 19.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 11/16 x 8 1/4 inches (29.5 x 21.1 cm)
Edition: 30
Artist’s Proofs: 6 AP
Publisher: Pierre Keller, Switzerland
Literature: Littmann p. 77
Signed and numbered in pencil
In this work, Haring illustrates a peculiar figure in yellow, blue, red and white atop a green background. The figure’s entire body is composed of cross contours that renders her into disfigurement. She is adorned in a red dress that mimics popular women’s attire of the 1930s and ‘40s, the most lucrative period for Lucky Strike cigarettes. The woman smokes a “lucky,” and from its smoke arises the Lucky Strike logo above the figure’s head. This imagery mimics visual advertising for cigarettes, but alongside the deformed figure, it propagates the adversities of smoking to the masses.
2. Lucky Strike #2 (L. p. 78)
Lucky Strike: One Plate
Medium: Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Year: 1987
Image: 11 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches (28.6 x 19.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 11/16 x 8 1/4 inches (29.5 x 21.1 cm)
Edition: 30
Artist’s Proofs: 6 AP
Publisher: Pierre Keller, Switzerland
Literature: Littmann p. 78
Signed and numbered in pencil
In this work, Keith Haring illustrates an open box of Lucky Strike cigarettes hovering above an open orange hand over a blue background. These forms are rendered in bold and precise line and color, staples of Haring’s work that are enhanced by the printing method known as screen-printing. The cigarettes extruding out of the top of the box are not stiff and straight like the average cigarette; they curve and wind upwards in a chaotic motion. In this series, Haring uses the visual language of advertising to project his ideas forward.
3. Lucky Strike #3 (L. p. 78)
Lucky Strike: One Plate
Medium: Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Year: 1987
Image: 11 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches (28.9 x 19.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches (29.5 x 21 cm)
Edition: 80
Artist’s Proofs: 6
Publisher: B. A. T. Suisse SA, Geneva
Literature: Littmann p. 78
Signed and numbered in pencil
Keith Haring illustrates a white figure with a spring coming from its back jumping out of an orange box at the bottom of the composition. The head of the figure has been replaced with the logo of Lucky Strike, the top-selling brand of cigarettes in the 1930s and ‘40s. These forms are laid on top of a yellow and green background which contrasts the subject matter and emphasizes their presence. The artist has rendered black action lines that surround the main figure and the package where it comes out of, implying that the figure has erupted from the container with great force.
4. Lucky Strike #4 (L. p. 79)
Lucky Strike: One Plate
Medium: Screen-print in black and red on wove paper
Year: 1987
Image: 11 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches (28.9 x 19.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches (29.5 x 21 cm)
Edition: 80
Artist’s Proofs: 6
Publisher: B. A. T. Suisse SA, Geneva
Literature: Littmann p. 79
Signed and numbered in pencil
In this work the artist illustrates three of his signature icons causing a racket, trying to open a box of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Haring uses the method of screen printing to execute precise linework in beautifully saturated tones; this work is rendered entirely in black and white except the bright red logo of the cigarette carton. The stark contrast that the red hue provides draws the eye directly to the Lucky Strikes, the top-selling brand of cigarettes in the 1930s and ‘40s. In this way, the artist utilizes the visual language of advertising to bring attention to the “luckies” and the way his figures interact with them. The three signature Haring figures create a ruckus trying to get the box of cigarettes open, signifying their reliance on the tobacco inside. Haring ruminates on addiction in this work and presents it to his viewers in a manner that appeals to the masses.
5. Lucky Strike #5 (L. p. 79)
Lucky Strike: One Plate
Medium: Screen-print in colors on heavy wove paper
Year: 1987
Image: 11 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches (28.9 x 19.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches (29.5 x 21 cm)
Edition: 50
Artist’s Proofs: 6
Publisher: B. A. T. Suisse SA, Geneva
Literature: Littmann p. 79
Signed and numbered in pencil
This work bears a striking resemblance to the previous installment in this series, Plate IV. However, while the fourth installment is rendered in a limited palette of black, white and red, this Plate is illustrated in a refined palette of black, white, orange, blue, red and green. The symbol of the Lucky Strike cigarette box that appears in every work in this series maintains its bright red which continues to draw the viewers eye directly to it. An orange figure stands upside down on top of the box, balancing on one hand. The black action lines that surround this signature icon imply vigorous movement, perhaps in an attempt to open the box to get to the contents inside.
Auction Results
Lucky Strike #1 (L. pp. 76-77)
Lempertz Cologne: 31 May 2025
Estimated: EUR 15,000 – 20,000
EUR 18,900 / USD 21,450
KEITH HARING
Lucky Strike (Littmann p. 76/77), 1987
Color screenprint on card
Signed and numbered. Proof 11/30 (+6 A.P.)
Christie’s online: 26 September 2024
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 22,680 / USD 29,461
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
One print, from: Lucky Strike (see Littmann p.77), 1987
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 8/30 (there were also six artist’s proofs)
Heritage Auctions: 16 April 2024
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 27,500
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Lucky Strike (Green), 1987
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Ed. 20/30
Signed and editioned in pencil along right edge
GBP 12,500
KEITH HARING
Lucky Strike: one plate, 1987
Screen-print in colors, on wove paper
Signed, dated and numbered 4/30 in pencil
Lucky Strike #3 (L. p. 78)
Christie’s online: 26 September 2024
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 22,680 / USD 29,461
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
One print, from: Lucky Strike (see Littmann p.78), 1987
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil, numbered 22/80 (there were also six artist’s proofs)
Heritage Auctions: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 18,750
KEITH HARING
Lucky Strike, It’s Toasted, 1987
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed, editioned 33/80 and dated in pencil along right edge
Heritage Auctions: 19 April 2022
USD 31,250
KEITH HARING
Lucky Strike, 1987
Silkscreen in colors on paper
Signed and numbered ’35/80′ in pencil along right edge
Sotheby’s New-York: 26 October 2019
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 18,750
KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
LUCKY STRIKE (L. P. 78), 1987
Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil and numbered 19/80
Christie’s New-York: 21 September 2017
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 15,000
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Lucky Strike, 1987
Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil, numbered 17/80
Lucky Strike #4 (L. p. 79)
Heritage Auctions: 16 April 2024
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 22,500
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Lucky Strike (White), 1987
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Ed. 31/80
Signed and editioned in pencil along lower edge
Sotheby’s London: 26 March 2019
Estimated: GBP 5,000 – 7,000
GBP 10,000
KEITH HARING
Lucky Strike (Littmann page 79), 1987
Screen-print in black and red
Signed in pencil, numbered 10/80
Lucky Strike #5 (L. p. 79)
Schuler Auktionen: 17 September 2025
Estimated: CHF 8,000 – 14,000
CHF 10,000 (Hammer)
CHF 12,500 / USD 15,880
KEITH HARING (Kutztown 1958–1990 New York)
Untitled, Lucky Strike It’s toasted, 1987
Color serigraphy
Edition 42/50
Signed in pencil on the right and inscribed in print: “© K. Haring 87”
Christie’s online: 26 September 2024
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 30,240 / USD 39,282
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
One print, from: Lucky Strike (see Littmann p.79), 1987
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 8/50 (there were also six artist’s proofs)
Bonhams London: 16 December 2021
Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000
GBP 27,750
Screen-print in colors on heavy wove paper
Signed and numbered 32/50 in pencil
Combinations
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 32,500
KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Lucky Strike: three prints
Three screen-prints in colors, on heavy wove paper, 1987
Signed in pencil, two numbered 44/80 and one numbered 28/50