1982
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Painting USA USA II Basquiat Modern China Zhang Daqian The Man
See also : Painting USA USA II Basquiat Modern China Zhang Daqian The Man
1982 Peach Blossom Spring by Zhang Daqian
2016 SOLD for HK$ 270M by Sotheby's
Zhang Daqian was a highly skilled artist, able to imitate and copy up to perfection the great Chinese masters of all dynasties and to develop new techniques of his own. Splashing his paper with layers of transparent paint, he renews the expression of landscapes without reaching abstraction, with hues in perfectly controlled gradients.
Zhang returned to Asia in 1976. He however sees that urbanization is threatening the tranquility of his residence in Taiwan. He reacts as a poet. Made in 1982, Peach blossom spring exposes his grandiose dream of a paradise that can no longer exist. According to the Chinese artistic tradition, he inserts a poem explaining his quest for bliss.
This artwork combining drawing and splash is somehow his artistic legacy in the form of a hanging scroll of very large size 209 x 92 cm. The dream realized with a malachite green pigment is a column of progressive splashes reaching a sumptuous intensity in the top of the image.
This magnificent burst of color removes up to the edges of the picture a landscape in sharp lines but without details excepted the little boat of a fisherman. At the bottom of the blue green column, the border with the real world is provided by a row of peach trees undertaking to grow their flowering branches upward into the dreamlike sky.
His use of increasingly expressive colors explains the considerable interest of the old master in the art of Zao Wou-ki. Their meeting, highly significant for appreciating the evolution of modern Chinese painting, took place in the following year a few weeks before the death of Zhang.
Peach blossom spring was sold for HK $ 270M from a lower esrimate of HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2016, lot 1273.
Zhang returned to Asia in 1976. He however sees that urbanization is threatening the tranquility of his residence in Taiwan. He reacts as a poet. Made in 1982, Peach blossom spring exposes his grandiose dream of a paradise that can no longer exist. According to the Chinese artistic tradition, he inserts a poem explaining his quest for bliss.
This artwork combining drawing and splash is somehow his artistic legacy in the form of a hanging scroll of very large size 209 x 92 cm. The dream realized with a malachite green pigment is a column of progressive splashes reaching a sumptuous intensity in the top of the image.
This magnificent burst of color removes up to the edges of the picture a landscape in sharp lines but without details excepted the little boat of a fisherman. At the bottom of the blue green column, the border with the real world is provided by a row of peach trees undertaking to grow their flowering branches upward into the dreamlike sky.
His use of increasingly expressive colors explains the considerable interest of the old master in the art of Zao Wou-ki. Their meeting, highly significant for appreciating the evolution of modern Chinese painting, took place in the following year a few weeks before the death of Zhang.
Peach blossom spring was sold for HK $ 270M from a lower esrimate of HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2016, lot 1273.
BASQUIAT
January 1982 for Annina Nosei
2017 SOLD for $ 110M by Sotheby's
The participation of Jean-Michel Basquiat in a collective exhibition in February 1981 attracted the attention of three merchants who will separately have a leading role in the start of his career : Emilio Mazzoli, Annina Nosei and Bruno Bischofberger.
It is to the honor of Annina Nosei to have convinced Jean-Michel that her basement was more appropriate than the streets of New York to let his skills explode. This close collaboration during which the artist can finally work regularly on very large canvases lasted from September 1981 to November 1982.
During that first year Jean-Michel mostly displays characters in full length, apostles of negritude whose transparency of the flesh reveals the skeleton. His perfectly mastered technique with acrylic, spray and oilstick and his fast and accurate stroke bring the expression of an activism unprecedented in art.
The monumental heads painted in 1982 are the culmination of the art of Jean-Michel. On May 18, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 110M from an estimate in excess of $ 60M a painting 183 x 173 cm executed in January 1982 for the Nosei Gallery, lot 24.
Like many opus by Jean-Michel, it is untitled. The theme is limited to a huge head to which bright colors and aggressive teeth provide an angry expression. By its transparency, it is a skull or perhaps a mask. Without neck or body, it floats before a blue sky that is perhaps only a gap in a tagged wall.
It is to the honor of Annina Nosei to have convinced Jean-Michel that her basement was more appropriate than the streets of New York to let his skills explode. This close collaboration during which the artist can finally work regularly on very large canvases lasted from September 1981 to November 1982.
During that first year Jean-Michel mostly displays characters in full length, apostles of negritude whose transparency of the flesh reveals the skeleton. His perfectly mastered technique with acrylic, spray and oilstick and his fast and accurate stroke bring the expression of an activism unprecedented in art.
The monumental heads painted in 1982 are the culmination of the art of Jean-Michel. On May 18, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 110M from an estimate in excess of $ 60M a painting 183 x 173 cm executed in January 1982 for the Nosei Gallery, lot 24.
Like many opus by Jean-Michel, it is untitled. The theme is limited to a huge head to which bright colors and aggressive teeth provide an angry expression. By its transparency, it is a skull or perhaps a mask. Without neck or body, it floats before a blue sky that is perhaps only a gap in a tagged wall.
March 1982 Pollo Frito, for Annina Nosei
2018 SOLD for $ 25.7M by Sotheby's
On November 14, 2018, Sotheby's sold as lot 21 for $ 25.7M a diptych of total size 153 x 306 cm painted in 1982 by Basquiat., and exhibited at Annina Nosei Gallery in March-April 1982.
This painting in acrylic, oil stick, enamel and incisions is dominated by incendiary colors : yellow, orange, red, beside the head of an angry cook. The many tags are in the style of texts adored by the street kids, incomprehensible by the bourgeois (and not decoded in the catalog of the sale).
The words Pollo Frito written like on a sign are not tags but the offer by the cook. The inscriptions all around are menacing : danger, peligroso, broke glass. The lower left corner is darker, symbolizing a stove on which Asbestos is written three times. The three-pointed crown is a signature of the artist.
The cook of chickens is furious against these young taggers who do not attack only the bourgeois but his Pollo Frito was formerly the typical food of the slaves of the south. The dangers of asbestos are a modern threat that the bourgeois still pretend to ignore at that time.
This diptych thus appears as an immediate precursor of the five-panel 125 x 471 cm political fresco titled Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta, painted in the following year, sold for $ 23.7M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2014.
This painting in acrylic, oil stick, enamel and incisions is dominated by incendiary colors : yellow, orange, red, beside the head of an angry cook. The many tags are in the style of texts adored by the street kids, incomprehensible by the bourgeois (and not decoded in the catalog of the sale).
The words Pollo Frito written like on a sign are not tags but the offer by the cook. The inscriptions all around are menacing : danger, peligroso, broke glass. The lower left corner is darker, symbolizing a stove on which Asbestos is written three times. The three-pointed crown is a signature of the artist.
The cook of chickens is furious against these young taggers who do not attack only the bourgeois but his Pollo Frito was formerly the typical food of the slaves of the south. The dangers of asbestos are a modern threat that the bourgeois still pretend to ignore at that time.
This diptych thus appears as an immediate precursor of the five-panel 125 x 471 cm political fresco titled Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta, painted in the following year, sold for $ 23.7M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2014.
1982 The Guilt of Gold Teeth
2021 for sale by Christie's on November 9
to be narrated
A 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting may join the most expensive works by the artist ever sold publicly when it heads to Christie's this November https://t.co/MBmgdTr2Fk
— ARTnews (@artnews) October 13, 2021
March 1982, in Modena
2016 SOLD for $ 57M by Christie's
Jean-Michel Basquiat made two trips to Italy early in his career. The first visit in the spring of 1981 was caused by the exhibition dedicated to him in Modena by Emilio Mazzoli.
Jean-Michel returns to Modena in March 1982. Through the example of the Field next to the other road painted there in 1981 on a 221 x 401 cm canvas, he appreciated that the basement of Annina Nosei was already not sufficient to match his grand vision. This painting was sold for $ 37M by Christie's in 2015. He will part from the Nosei gallery in favor of Bischofberger in the summer of 1982
During his Spring 1982 stay in Modena, he executes a pair of paintings on the traditional Italian theme of paradise and hell but as usual he blurs the message to exacerbate his vision of the power to the blacks. An advised art critic would later comment that Jean-Michel Basquiat had been the Jimi Hendrix of painting.
On May 10, 2016, Christie's sold the devil's figure for $ 57M from an estimate in excess of $ 40M, lot 36 B. Jean-Michel understood the visual advantage of gigantism which will be one of the essential characteristics of the art of our time : the size of the canvas is 239 x 500 cm. It is painted in acrylic without oil stick, enabling to introduce some drippings below the puddles of bright colors surrounding the horned head.
Some observers see a self-portrait in this devil. This is an excessive opinion because the lines are stylized, but indeed this threatening tribal face reflects the ambition of the young artist to become a redeemer of the world.
Jean-Michel did not need to give a title to his Demon, unlike the divine figure which he called Profit 1 by one of his usual claw blows against capitalism. The contrast is striking : here the background is dark and tagged, the round mouth is shouting a sermon that nobody will listen.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. This masterpiece is discussed by Brett Gorvy.
Jean-Michel returns to Modena in March 1982. Through the example of the Field next to the other road painted there in 1981 on a 221 x 401 cm canvas, he appreciated that the basement of Annina Nosei was already not sufficient to match his grand vision. This painting was sold for $ 37M by Christie's in 2015. He will part from the Nosei gallery in favor of Bischofberger in the summer of 1982
During his Spring 1982 stay in Modena, he executes a pair of paintings on the traditional Italian theme of paradise and hell but as usual he blurs the message to exacerbate his vision of the power to the blacks. An advised art critic would later comment that Jean-Michel Basquiat had been the Jimi Hendrix of painting.
On May 10, 2016, Christie's sold the devil's figure for $ 57M from an estimate in excess of $ 40M, lot 36 B. Jean-Michel understood the visual advantage of gigantism which will be one of the essential characteristics of the art of our time : the size of the canvas is 239 x 500 cm. It is painted in acrylic without oil stick, enabling to introduce some drippings below the puddles of bright colors surrounding the horned head.
Some observers see a self-portrait in this devil. This is an excessive opinion because the lines are stylized, but indeed this threatening tribal face reflects the ambition of the young artist to become a redeemer of the world.
Jean-Michel did not need to give a title to his Demon, unlike the divine figure which he called Profit 1 by one of his usual claw blows against capitalism. The contrast is striking : here the background is dark and tagged, the round mouth is shouting a sermon that nobody will listen.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. This masterpiece is discussed by Brett Gorvy.
April 1982 in Los Angeles, Yellow Tar and Feathers
2013 SOLD for $ 26M by Sotheby's
After his artistic experience in Modena in the spring of 1981, Basquiat returned under New York influence. His temporary installation in Annina Nosei's basement begins in September.
The activism against the humiliating living conditions of African Americans is gradually becoming his major theme. Pollo Frito, inspired by slavery in the Southern States, is included in the exhibition at the Nosei Gallery in March-April 1982. It was sold for $ 25.7M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2018.
Basquiat leaves immediately afterward for Los Angeles. He has lots of ideas, works fast, and is decidedly inspired by California. This opportunity allows him to experiment with the more complex techniques of mixed media.
The exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles with the support of Nosei in April-May 1982 already includes his first masterpieces of this new phase, including two works forming pendants on the theme of tar and feathers.
The two works have no title defined by the artist and are identified by their dominant color : Yellow Tar and Feathers, and Black Tar and Feathers. With a narrative intention that follows the Pollo Frito, the artist separates each work into two registers. He no longer uses canvas but wood on which he can at will paste photocopies of drawings and stick ugly masses of feathers in the paint.
The yellow version, 245 x 230 cm, was sold for $ 26M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 10. As in the Pollo Frito, it incorporates a lot of subtleties, some of which are only identifiable by insiders.
At the left of the upper register, a misshapen bag bears the inscription TAR just beside a lynching, the other type of abject abuse traditionally inflicted on Negroes. A little further on, one of the three characters has the head of Harry Geldzahler, the white guru of this modern New York art that Basquiat has just fled.
The activism against the humiliating living conditions of African Americans is gradually becoming his major theme. Pollo Frito, inspired by slavery in the Southern States, is included in the exhibition at the Nosei Gallery in March-April 1982. It was sold for $ 25.7M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2018.
Basquiat leaves immediately afterward for Los Angeles. He has lots of ideas, works fast, and is decidedly inspired by California. This opportunity allows him to experiment with the more complex techniques of mixed media.
The exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles with the support of Nosei in April-May 1982 already includes his first masterpieces of this new phase, including two works forming pendants on the theme of tar and feathers.
The two works have no title defined by the artist and are identified by their dominant color : Yellow Tar and Feathers, and Black Tar and Feathers. With a narrative intention that follows the Pollo Frito, the artist separates each work into two registers. He no longer uses canvas but wood on which he can at will paste photocopies of drawings and stick ugly masses of feathers in the paint.
The yellow version, 245 x 230 cm, was sold for $ 26M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 10. As in the Pollo Frito, it incorporates a lot of subtleties, some of which are only identifiable by insiders.
At the left of the upper register, a misshapen bag bears the inscription TAR just beside a lynching, the other type of abject abuse traditionally inflicted on Negroes. A little further on, one of the three characters has the head of Harry Geldzahler, the white guru of this modern New York art that Basquiat has just fled.
1982 Dustheads, for Annina Nosei
2013 SOLD for $ 49M by Christie's
In 1981, Basquiat was spreading a mystical message with heavy criticisms against mankind and society. In addition to the revolutionary language of the former street child, his artistic success is due to the exceptional quality of his technique and to the originality of his figuration.
1982 is another great year. Dustheads, 183 x 213 cm, is a fascinating work. Two characters side by side look at the viewer with stupidity and wickedness. The figure on the right dominates with his hilarious face and strident colors. Are they aliens or voodoo masks?
They may only be hallucinations. The title Dustheads comes directly from the slang of the drug. 1982 was a transition year for Basquiat, and this work is curiously close to the most disturbing figures of his former street art.
Despite its aggressiveness, Dustheads is an engaging work that has not yet been reached by the obscurity of his future political message. It was sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Christie's on May 15, 2013, lot 10.
1982 is another great year. Dustheads, 183 x 213 cm, is a fascinating work. Two characters side by side look at the viewer with stupidity and wickedness. The figure on the right dominates with his hilarious face and strident colors. Are they aliens or voodoo masks?
They may only be hallucinations. The title Dustheads comes directly from the slang of the drug. 1982 was a transition year for Basquiat, and this work is curiously close to the most disturbing figures of his former street art.
Despite its aggressiveness, Dustheads is an engaging work that has not yet been reached by the obscurity of his future political message. It was sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Christie's on May 15, 2013, lot 10.
1982 Warrior
1
titled : Warrior
2021 SOLD for HK$ 324M by Christie's
A very good connoisseur of art history, Jean-Michel Basquiat tries out a wide variety of themes in Annina Nosei's basement in 1981. His father is of Haitian origin and his mother is of Puerto- Rican origin. His vision of the world is total, from tribal Africa to the streets of New York.
The Fisherman is one of the very first paintings of the Nosei phase. Basquiat replaced the nudity of the primitive man with a transparency displaying the skeleton through the black skin. The inspiration of the nail fetishes of Congo brings an additional aggressiveness which does not spare the terrible fish. The Grebo masks from Ivory Coast provides the hallucinatory gaze and the relentless mouth. This 198 x 173 cm canvas painting was sold for $ 26.4M by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
It is better to be the first in your village than the second in Rome or New York. The fisherman is already a paltry king, with a crown of thorns. The artist reuses the character as a warrior, with a deadly sword.
Basquiat seeks the best effects to support his social message. The canvas does not replace the graffiti wall and is too far from tribal art. He tries wood.
A Warrior painted in 1982 is a good demonstrator of this perfectionism applied to a theme which is already a series. Through its auction history, this 183 x 122 cm acrylic, oilstick and spray on wood panel is also a pioneer in the global export of the Basquiat market. It was sold three times by Sotheby's : in New York for $ 1.8M on November 9, 2005, in London for £ 2.8M on June 21, 2007 and for £ 5.6M on June 26, 2012. It was sold for HK $ 324M from a lower estimate of HK $ 240M by Christie's on March 23, 2021, lot 1.
The Fisherman is one of the very first paintings of the Nosei phase. Basquiat replaced the nudity of the primitive man with a transparency displaying the skeleton through the black skin. The inspiration of the nail fetishes of Congo brings an additional aggressiveness which does not spare the terrible fish. The Grebo masks from Ivory Coast provides the hallucinatory gaze and the relentless mouth. This 198 x 173 cm canvas painting was sold for $ 26.4M by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
It is better to be the first in your village than the second in Rome or New York. The fisherman is already a paltry king, with a crown of thorns. The artist reuses the character as a warrior, with a deadly sword.
Basquiat seeks the best effects to support his social message. The canvas does not replace the graffiti wall and is too far from tribal art. He tries wood.
A Warrior painted in 1982 is a good demonstrator of this perfectionism applied to a theme which is already a series. Through its auction history, this 183 x 122 cm acrylic, oilstick and spray on wood panel is also a pioneer in the global export of the Basquiat market. It was sold three times by Sotheby's : in New York for $ 1.8M on November 9, 2005, in London for £ 2.8M on June 21, 2007 and for £ 5.6M on June 26, 2012. It was sold for HK $ 324M from a lower estimate of HK $ 240M by Christie's on March 23, 2021, lot 1.
2
for Annina Nosei
2013 SOLD for $ 29M by Christie's
As soon as he was invited to work in Annina Nosei's basement in 1981, Jean-Michel Basquiat gathered the elements of his personal mythology. An acrylic, oilstick and spray enamel on canvas 173 x 262 cm is typical. The character is an African warrior in the rough who wields a huge sword and a handful of radiant arrows or lightnings. This artwork was sold for $ 35M by Christie's in 2014.
On November 12, 2013, Christie's sold as lot 15 a simplified version of this image for $ 29M. Just as deliciously terrifying, this 183 x 122 cm acrylic and oilstick on wood painted in 1982 for Annina Nosei brings a better readability of the character, almost life-size in a surrounding of more vivid colors.
The main biomorphic features are retained, such as the skull-shaped head and the opening of the torso to internal organs. He is a tribal leader or an African American champion, with boxer shorts and gigantic feet that provide stability and triumph. The three-pointed crown is larger and in a shining golden yellow. The blood-red eyes are replaced with a gold plating.
Unlike the example of the previous year, the character no longer needs tags to convey his message. The weapons are replaced by a gigantic golden femur brandished like a scepter by this king of high fantasy. He is both winner and victim, ridiculous and autobiographical, in line with Basquiat's scathing humor of the time.
On November 12, 2013, Christie's sold as lot 15 a simplified version of this image for $ 29M. Just as deliciously terrifying, this 183 x 122 cm acrylic and oilstick on wood painted in 1982 for Annina Nosei brings a better readability of the character, almost life-size in a surrounding of more vivid colors.
The main biomorphic features are retained, such as the skull-shaped head and the opening of the torso to internal organs. He is a tribal leader or an African American champion, with boxer shorts and gigantic feet that provide stability and triumph. The three-pointed crown is larger and in a shining golden yellow. The blood-red eyes are replaced with a gold plating.
Unlike the example of the previous year, the character no longer needs tags to convey his message. The weapons are replaced by a gigantic golden femur brandished like a scepter by this king of high fantasy. He is both winner and victim, ridiculous and autobiographical, in line with Basquiat's scathing humor of the time.
3
One Eyed Man or Xerox Face, for Annina Nosei
2021 SOLD for HK$ 234M by Christie's
Painted for Annina Nosei Gallery, an Untitled known as One Eyed Man or Xerox Face is one of several 1982 re-interpretations by Basquiat on the theme of the triumphing warrior with raised arms as conceived in 1981. Here the character is bright red, excepted the pale face photocopied from an autograph drawing.
This near life size acrylic, spray, oilstick and collage on panel 183 x 122 cm is indeed a demonstrator on wood of the variety of techniques used by Basquiat. It includes cutter incisions in the thick pigment to reveal a dark background. The xerox is then a novelty in his artistic process. It will nevertheless not be reused at such a prominent place.
It was sold for HK $ 234M from a lower estimate of HK $ 140M by Christie's on May 24, 2021, lot 67.
This near life size acrylic, spray, oilstick and collage on panel 183 x 122 cm is indeed a demonstrator on wood of the variety of techniques used by Basquiat. It includes cutter incisions in the thick pigment to reveal a dark background. The xerox is then a novelty in his artistic process. It will nevertheless not be reused at such a prominent place.
It was sold for HK $ 234M from a lower estimate of HK $ 140M by Christie's on May 24, 2021, lot 67.
October 1982 Versus Medici
2021 SOLD for $ 51M by Sotheby's
Jean-Michel Basquiat was deeply immersed in art history, through his education and through his stays in Italy. He appreciated very early that he had changed street painting into a major new form of art, raising to unprecedented heights the African-American pictorial expression.
A triptych in acrylic, oilstick and collage on three joined canvases 214 x 138 cm overall, dated October 1982, reveals how Jean-Michel viewed at the young age of 22 his own place in art history.
The title, Versus Medici, is clear. Jean-Michel is a follower of the greatest family of art patrons of the Italian Renaissance, but he is also their antagonist because they symbolise the white wealth and power. It is also a pun against the famous Venus de Medici.
The standing character is towering. He is not a male or a female, and his face is neither white or black, so this one cannot be a disguised self portrait. With the bowl cut hair and the triangular pair of legs, he looks like an Egyptian sarcophagus. In an astonishing reference to the past, the background surface of the lower part is in the Medici red and gold.
Jean-Michel adds his signature style, including the detailed view of stomach and intestinal system beyond the skin. The three-pointed crown behind the character expresses the access of Basquiat to his desired art royalty. A three-time graffiti is written in pseudo Greek letters, and probably means his personal Apotheosis. The word ELBOW neatly scraped below the arm reminds that an artwork always had a preparation phase.
Versus Medici was sold by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 105, for $ 51M from a lower estimate of $ 35M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
A triptych in acrylic, oilstick and collage on three joined canvases 214 x 138 cm overall, dated October 1982, reveals how Jean-Michel viewed at the young age of 22 his own place in art history.
The title, Versus Medici, is clear. Jean-Michel is a follower of the greatest family of art patrons of the Italian Renaissance, but he is also their antagonist because they symbolise the white wealth and power. It is also a pun against the famous Venus de Medici.
The standing character is towering. He is not a male or a female, and his face is neither white or black, so this one cannot be a disguised self portrait. With the bowl cut hair and the triangular pair of legs, he looks like an Egyptian sarcophagus. In an astonishing reference to the past, the background surface of the lower part is in the Medici red and gold.
Jean-Michel adds his signature style, including the detailed view of stomach and intestinal system beyond the skin. The three-pointed crown behind the character expresses the access of Basquiat to his desired art royalty. A three-time graffiti is written in pseudo Greek letters, and probably means his personal Apotheosis. The word ELBOW neatly scraped below the arm reminds that an artwork always had a preparation phase.
Versus Medici was sold by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 105, for $ 51M from a lower estimate of $ 35M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
