Sotheby’s Ventures West Once Again : Art: Twelve years ago the auction house closed its L.A. salesroom and retrenched in New York, but now the company returns with ‘some real classics’ on Wednesday.

Armed with Andy Warhol’s portrayal of Marilyn Monroe on its catalogue cover and a round of promotional events targeting potential clients, Sotheby’s is making a Southern California comeback. Twelve years ago the auction house closed its Los Angeles salesroom and retrenched in New York, but now Sotheby’s has returned with a sale of modern and contemporary prints.

The event, scheduled for Wednesday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, is expected to launch an ongoing program of local print sales, to be held each March and October. A free public exhibition of selections from the inaugural sale will be held Friday through Tuesday at Sotheby’s Beverly Hills office.

The auction offers 377 print portfolios and individual pieces, ranging from a pair of etchings by Mario Avati, valued at $400 to $500, to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s 1893 lithograph of Parisian dancer Jane Avril, which Sotheby’s expects to sell for $30,000 to $40,000. There are works by modernist giants Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro, American artists Mary Cassatt and Edward Hopper, Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, and a predominantly American slate of contemporary artists including Sam Francis, Vija Celmins and John Baldessari.

“We have some real classics and rare works in the sale, but I thought it was very important for most pieces to be in a reasonable price range,” said Sotheby’s print specialist Robert E. Monk, who organized the auction. “We want to encourage participation, especially from a younger audience.” Nearly 90% of the items are estimated at under $5,000--many of them in the $1,000 to $2,000 range.

All the works come from collections in California or other western states, Monk said. “This is not a New York-dictated sale or an auction that’s been trucked in from New York. This is a real L.A. sale,” he said.

The auction will be a two-part affair, with modern prints offered in the afternoon and contemporary material in the evening. Highlights among 19th- and early 20th-Century works include Georges Braque’s 1907-8 “Etude de Nu” ($25,000 to $35,000), which is the artist’s first print; “Eight Bells,” a rare etching on parchment by Winslow Homer ($26,000 to $30,000); and Henri Matisse’s “Grand Liseuse,” a 1923 lithograph of a woman reading ($20,000 to $25,000).

The contemporary line-up features Jasper Johns’ 1989 drypoint and aquatint, “The Seasons” ($18,000 to $22,000), and Ed Ruscha’s classic 1969 lithograph, “Hollywood With Observatory” ($8,000 to $10,000). The catalogue cover piece, Warhol’s 1967 silk-screen of Marilyn Monroe, is expected to bring $9,000 to $11,000.

* Preview Exhibition, Sotheby’s, 308 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sun., 2-5 p.m.; Mon., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tue., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. Auction, Regent Beverly Hills Hotel, Grand Trianon Room, 9500 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Wed., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Free. Information: (310) 274-0340.