Jean-Michel BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
See also : Top 10 Painting USA USA II The Man Groups Man and woman Animals
Chronology : 20th century 1980-1989 1981 1982 1983
Chronology : 20th century 1980-1989 1981 1982 1983
1981 The Modern Bucolics
2015 SOLD for $ 37M including premium
In early 1981, success is immediate for Jean-Michel Basquiat. His fame soon transcends borders and Emilio Mazzoli invites him for an exhibition in Modena in May and June.
Jean-Michel painted during the trip. His mixed techniques on canvas 221 x 401 cm starring in life size a character and a cow is even his largest artwork from that seminal year as if he already desired to escape Annina Nosei's basement.
This work entitled The field next to the other road sounds like a holiday souvenir for the young artist who discovers Italy. On the left, it is typical of the already favorite themes of Jean-Michel through that thorn-crowned man with visible skeleton and full sex.
The cow on the right looks like a child's drawing with her innocent gaze and big udder. The line drawing is filled with colors but the artist avoids as always the classical artistic language: the color of one of the legs of the beast is outside the line drawing.
Made in a country with an incomparable artistic past, this painting is a fresco on the theme of life (milk) and death (bones) by a very young man eager for thrills and glory. The field is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 55B.
Jean-Michel painted during the trip. His mixed techniques on canvas 221 x 401 cm starring in life size a character and a cow is even his largest artwork from that seminal year as if he already desired to escape Annina Nosei's basement.
This work entitled The field next to the other road sounds like a holiday souvenir for the young artist who discovers Italy. On the left, it is typical of the already favorite themes of Jean-Michel through that thorn-crowned man with visible skeleton and full sex.
The cow on the right looks like a child's drawing with her innocent gaze and big udder. The line drawing is filled with colors but the artist avoids as always the classical artistic language: the color of one of the legs of the beast is outside the line drawing.
Made in a country with an incomparable artistic past, this painting is a fresco on the theme of life (milk) and death (bones) by a very young man eager for thrills and glory. The field is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 55B.
1981 Taggers and Policemen
2017 SOLD for $ 35M including premium
Suddenly at ease in 1981 thanks to the support of Annina Nosei, Jean-Michel Basquiat views his future as one of the greatest African-American heroes.
Real life is not so simple. Segregation remains latent in the high society and street artists considered as mere vandals are mercilessly pursued by the police. We cannot blame him for this fear of the cops : two years later one of his friends will be killed in a muscled police intervention.
Whether white or black the policeman is an enemy of his freedom. Jean-Michel makes some caricature portrait paintings of these brutes who maintain the public order. By defiance and by support of his friends who remain in the street, he adds on the back wall some inscriptions appearing as hastily written. In a later phase of his career these often incomprehensible messages will become preponderant.
A 182 x 121 cm panel adorned with the remarkable IRONY OFNEGROPLCEMN tag was sold for £ 8.2M including premium by Phillips de Pury on June 28, 2012.
On May 17 in New York, Christie's sells a panel of same size painted with acrylic and oilstick which is one of the rare examples in the art of Jean-Michel where the character is a white man. It is estimated $ 22M, lot 55 B.
This policeman is a massive man with broad shoulders whose function is recognizable in his uniform and kepi. The mouth is open in a cry and the gaze is bloody. On the wall the stylized drawing of a gaunt eagle is a mocking symbol of the federal authority. Below the eagle the tag LA HARA appears four times as a challenge inspired from 'La jara' meaning the cops in Puerto-Rican slang.
Real life is not so simple. Segregation remains latent in the high society and street artists considered as mere vandals are mercilessly pursued by the police. We cannot blame him for this fear of the cops : two years later one of his friends will be killed in a muscled police intervention.
Whether white or black the policeman is an enemy of his freedom. Jean-Michel makes some caricature portrait paintings of these brutes who maintain the public order. By defiance and by support of his friends who remain in the street, he adds on the back wall some inscriptions appearing as hastily written. In a later phase of his career these often incomprehensible messages will become preponderant.
A 182 x 121 cm panel adorned with the remarkable IRONY OFNEGROPLCEMN tag was sold for £ 8.2M including premium by Phillips de Pury on June 28, 2012.
On May 17 in New York, Christie's sells a panel of same size painted with acrylic and oilstick which is one of the rare examples in the art of Jean-Michel where the character is a white man. It is estimated $ 22M, lot 55 B.
This policeman is a massive man with broad shoulders whose function is recognizable in his uniform and kepi. The mouth is open in a cry and the gaze is bloody. On the wall the stylized drawing of a gaunt eagle is a mocking symbol of the federal authority. Below the eagle the tag LA HARA appears four times as a challenge inspired from 'La jara' meaning the cops in Puerto-Rican slang.
1981 The Warrior from the Street
2014 SOLD 35 M$ including premium
At the beginning of 1981, the enigmatic SAMO, a young artist from the streets of New York, participated in an exhibition in Queens. This will be the year of his fame under his real name, Jean-Michel Basquiat.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells one of his earliest paintings on canvas, 173 x 262 cm, lot 36 in the catalog, estimated $ 20M. This work includes everything that we may imagine from the street art by SAMO : large size, strident colors, war symbols, fierce humor. The mixing of techniques has already reached its top level of efficiency : acrylic, oil stick, metallic spray enamel.
The warrior is crowned and sexual, with organs visible by transparency. In attack position, he is by one hand Jupiter brandishing the lightning and by the other hand a rebel crusader wielding the sword. The claws of the feet reinforce the doubts about his belonging to mankind.
Unlike other paintings of the same period, this one is sprinkled with wild and incomprehensible words which are martial onomatopoeia (TAR TAR TAR ) or lyrical tunes (OEOEE). Later, such strange expressions shall almost always enhance the social revolt of his characters.
This painting has certainly been made in the studio arranged for Jean-Michel in the basement of Annina Nosei, who sold the artwork in the following year.
POST SALE COMMENT
This seminal Basquiat was sold for $ 35M including premium.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells one of his earliest paintings on canvas, 173 x 262 cm, lot 36 in the catalog, estimated $ 20M. This work includes everything that we may imagine from the street art by SAMO : large size, strident colors, war symbols, fierce humor. The mixing of techniques has already reached its top level of efficiency : acrylic, oil stick, metallic spray enamel.
The warrior is crowned and sexual, with organs visible by transparency. In attack position, he is by one hand Jupiter brandishing the lightning and by the other hand a rebel crusader wielding the sword. The claws of the feet reinforce the doubts about his belonging to mankind.
Unlike other paintings of the same period, this one is sprinkled with wild and incomprehensible words which are martial onomatopoeia (TAR TAR TAR ) or lyrical tunes (OEOEE). Later, such strange expressions shall almost always enhance the social revolt of his characters.
This painting has certainly been made in the studio arranged for Jean-Michel in the basement of Annina Nosei, who sold the artwork in the following year.
POST SALE COMMENT
This seminal Basquiat was sold for $ 35M including premium.
1981 Artistic Miracle in a Basement
2012 SOLD 26.4 M$ including premium
In 1981, Annina Nosei offered to a very young street artist a place to work in the basement of her gallery in New York. The result certainly exceeded the intention. Who could really predict that the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat would be within a few months the first strong representation of angers and hopes of the abandoned of the society?
The mystery of the instant makeover of Jean-Michel at Nosei does not stay in the grammar of his figuration, whose originality was already recognizable in his graffiti. It is the amazing technical mastery that he suddenly demonstrated for large formats which he had never practiced.
Jean-Michel was already mastering his drawing which he applied in increasingly detailed layers. And he also mastered color, executed in oilstick, acrylic and spray enamel applied with a spontaneity that would have pleased the abstract expressionists.
We do not know the exact day of the works made by Basquiat in Nosei basement but the canvas, 198 x 173 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on December 14, is known as one of the first.
The fisherman is standing with his black body revealing the skeleton. He wears a crown of thorns and a halo of the same nature. The huge fish is hanging from the line. Basquiat is a threat to the well-meaning art of his time, and the fish could be a voodoo poison taken out of water by a new ambiguous god.
The estimate is not published, but according to the earliest releases this work is expected in the region of $ 20M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Christie's had convinced us that this painting is a key work of early Basquiat art: $ 26.4 million including premium.
The mystery of the instant makeover of Jean-Michel at Nosei does not stay in the grammar of his figuration, whose originality was already recognizable in his graffiti. It is the amazing technical mastery that he suddenly demonstrated for large formats which he had never practiced.
Jean-Michel was already mastering his drawing which he applied in increasingly detailed layers. And he also mastered color, executed in oilstick, acrylic and spray enamel applied with a spontaneity that would have pleased the abstract expressionists.
We do not know the exact day of the works made by Basquiat in Nosei basement but the canvas, 198 x 173 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on December 14, is known as one of the first.
The fisherman is standing with his black body revealing the skeleton. He wears a crown of thorns and a halo of the same nature. The huge fish is hanging from the line. Basquiat is a threat to the well-meaning art of his time, and the fish could be a voodoo poison taken out of water by a new ambiguous god.
The estimate is not published, but according to the earliest releases this work is expected in the region of $ 20M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Christie's had convinced us that this painting is a key work of early Basquiat art: $ 26.4 million including premium.
1982 The Energy of a Skull
2017 SOLD for $ 110M including premium
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.
A new year begins, with new advances in his artistic language. On May 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 24 a painting 183 x 173 cm executed in January 1982 for the Nosei Gallery. The April 19 press release announces an estimate over $ 60M.
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.
The monumental heads painted in 1982 are the culmination of the art of Jean-Michel. The devil's head on a canvas 239 x 500 cm painted in March in Modena for Mazzoli was sold for $ 57M including premium by Christie's on May 10, 2016. Pairs of characters also appear : Dustheads was sold for $ 49M including premium on 15 May 2013, also by Christie's.
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.
A new year begins, with new advances in his artistic language. On May 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 24 a painting 183 x 173 cm executed in January 1982 for the Nosei Gallery. The April 19 press release announces an estimate over $ 60M.
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.
The monumental heads painted in 1982 are the culmination of the art of Jean-Michel. The devil's head on a canvas 239 x 500 cm painted in March in Modena for Mazzoli was sold for $ 57M including premium by Christie's on May 10, 2016. Pairs of characters also appear : Dustheads was sold for $ 49M including premium on 15 May 2013, also by Christie's.
1982 A Black Demon in Modena
2016 SOLD for $ 57M including premium
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. He discovered Europe and painted the very weird Field next to the other road. This mural sized canvas 221 x 401 cm tells that the basement of Annina Nosei is already not sufficient to match his grand vision. This painting was sold for $ 37M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
Jean-Michel returns to Modena in March 1982. 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 in New York, Christie's sells the devil's figure at 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 critics 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.
The press release of April 15 indicates that this Untitled is estimated in excess of $ 40M.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's. This masterpiece is discussed by Brett Gorvy.
The first visit in the spring of 1981 was caused by the exhibition dedicated to him in Modena by Emilio Mazzoli. He discovered Europe and painted the very weird Field next to the other road. This mural sized canvas 221 x 401 cm tells that the basement of Annina Nosei is already not sufficient to match his grand vision. This painting was sold for $ 37M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
Jean-Michel returns to Modena in March 1982. 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 in New York, Christie's sells the devil's figure at 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 critics 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.
The press release of April 15 indicates that this Untitled is estimated in excess of $ 40M.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's. This masterpiece is discussed by Brett Gorvy.
1982 The Hallucinations of Jean-Michel Basquiat
2013 SOLD 49 M$ including premium
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 is estimated $ 25M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the audio shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Well supported by the media effort of Christie's, this painting is recognized as one of the masterpieces by Basquiat. The result, $ 49M including premium, is exceeding all expectations.
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 is estimated $ 25M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the audio shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Well supported by the media effort of Christie's, this painting is recognized as one of the masterpieces by Basquiat. The result, $ 49M including premium, is exceeding all expectations.
1982 A Frenetic and Happy Basquiat
2013 SOLD 18.8 M£ including premium
In 1981, Jean-Michel Basquiat rushed like a rocket in the world of art. Despite his young age, his painting technique is complex and flawless. He paints the fearsome gods of the pantheon of his imagination.
Success came immediately. In 1982, he diversified his grammar. Compared to most of the works of the previous year, the painting for sale on June 25 at Christie's in London is remarkably optimistic.
The colors in acrylic and oilstick are pure and bright. The drawing reminds the frenetic graffiti, as if the work had been painted on a white wall. Using a large format is essential for highlighting the art of our time, and this panel measures 183 x 244 cm.
The two characters of different colors in a non-identifiable external environment are looking straight at the viewer. In the very specific style of Basquiat, they are as ugly as the couples of tourists by Duane Hanson, but for once they are happy.
POST SALE COMMENT
This cool painting from the second great year of Basquiat was sold for £ 18.8M including premium.
Success came immediately. In 1982, he diversified his grammar. Compared to most of the works of the previous year, the painting for sale on June 25 at Christie's in London is remarkably optimistic.
The colors in acrylic and oilstick are pure and bright. The drawing reminds the frenetic graffiti, as if the work had been painted on a white wall. Using a large format is essential for highlighting the art of our time, and this panel measures 183 x 244 cm.
The two characters of different colors in a non-identifiable external environment are looking straight at the viewer. In the very specific style of Basquiat, they are as ugly as the couples of tourists by Duane Hanson, but for once they are happy.
POST SALE COMMENT
This cool painting from the second great year of Basquiat was sold for £ 18.8M including premium.
1982 The Scarlet Skull
2017 SOLD for £ 16.5M including premium
On May 18, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 110M including premium an Untitled 183 x 173 cm painted by Basquiat in January 1982. A Red Skull 152 x 152 cm of the same year is for sale by Christie's in London on October 6, lot 8. Beyond the fact that both are centered on a single skull, these artworks have significant differences.
The Untitled skull is floating in front of an uncertain surrounding that can be a break through a palisade. Large and black and occupying two thirds in both height and width of the image, it is breathing an extreme power. With several holes opening to the blue sky and a red tongue, it is a crazy mask as well as a mere human skull.
The Red Skull features a scarlet red skull with hollow cheeks, smaller in its proportion within the image. Less obsessive than the other skull, it therefore leaves a better place to its surrounding which is a masterpiece of synthesis of modern art to which the artist adds his innovative mastery of pure colors by the technique of the oilstick .
A great jazz lover, Basquiat admired the art of Franz Kline. King Oliver, an abstract painting 250 x 197 cm painted by Kline in 1958 and sold for $ 26.5M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014, was already a balance of pure colors brought onto the canvas by a musicalist gesture.
Red Skull is a very good example of the expressionist balance brought by Basquiat with no less than seven colors, red, blue, lilac, pink, green, yellow and gold, covering the entire canvas unlike the explosions by Kline or by Joan Mitchell. The work is also embellished with urban structures tending to abstraction that would have enchanted Kandinsky or de Kooning.
The Untitled skull is floating in front of an uncertain surrounding that can be a break through a palisade. Large and black and occupying two thirds in both height and width of the image, it is breathing an extreme power. With several holes opening to the blue sky and a red tongue, it is a crazy mask as well as a mere human skull.
The Red Skull features a scarlet red skull with hollow cheeks, smaller in its proportion within the image. Less obsessive than the other skull, it therefore leaves a better place to its surrounding which is a masterpiece of synthesis of modern art to which the artist adds his innovative mastery of pure colors by the technique of the oilstick .
A great jazz lover, Basquiat admired the art of Franz Kline. King Oliver, an abstract painting 250 x 197 cm painted by Kline in 1958 and sold for $ 26.5M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014, was already a balance of pure colors brought onto the canvas by a musicalist gesture.
Red Skull is a very good example of the expressionist balance brought by Basquiat with no less than seven colors, red, blue, lilac, pink, green, yellow and gold, covering the entire canvas unlike the explosions by Kline or by Joan Mitchell. The work is also embellished with urban structures tending to abstraction that would have enchanted Kandinsky or de Kooning.
1983 The Chronicle of the Mississippi Delta
2014 SOLD 23.7 M$ including premium
The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat changed radically in 1983. During the previous two years, he had achieved fame by building a pantheon of gods and fierce warriors shown in close-up with a subtle humor.
His art becomes political, endeavoring to support black people against racial injustice and opposing the consumerism of the whites. He painted large murals on canvas, interspersed by either understandable or obscure words that altogether constitute a wild message.
He wants to shock, up to sometimes even glorifying Papa Doc, the dictator hated by the whites. The use of collage enables the indescribable jumble of a newspaper in which the search for the meaning forces the viewer to make a long stop.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells an artwork composed of five joined canvases in an overall format 1.25 x 4.71 m, lot 20 in the catalog.
Reading goes from left to right. The first painting is like a title page, writing "Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta". It is not a reference to the origins of the artist whose father was from Haiti and mother from Puerto Rico. Mississippi Delta is here the emblem of the last bastion of racial segregation.
The next two sections abound in allusions to the hated mechanisms of consumerism with three dates that I have not decoded, somehow like the Australian Aboriginal paintings in which artists retain the memory of battles deliberately forgotten by the whites.
The design is simplified in the fourth chapter highlighting a reference to Mark Twain. The nonconformist writer had dared to use with sympathy the dialect of the slaves in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. On the last picture, the conclusion is the apotheosis of Negroes who overcame the cotton slavery.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result for this epic and activist painting that was no longer from the most creative period of the artist: $ 23.7 million including premium.
His art becomes political, endeavoring to support black people against racial injustice and opposing the consumerism of the whites. He painted large murals on canvas, interspersed by either understandable or obscure words that altogether constitute a wild message.
He wants to shock, up to sometimes even glorifying Papa Doc, the dictator hated by the whites. The use of collage enables the indescribable jumble of a newspaper in which the search for the meaning forces the viewer to make a long stop.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells an artwork composed of five joined canvases in an overall format 1.25 x 4.71 m, lot 20 in the catalog.
Reading goes from left to right. The first painting is like a title page, writing "Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta". It is not a reference to the origins of the artist whose father was from Haiti and mother from Puerto Rico. Mississippi Delta is here the emblem of the last bastion of racial segregation.
The next two sections abound in allusions to the hated mechanisms of consumerism with three dates that I have not decoded, somehow like the Australian Aboriginal paintings in which artists retain the memory of battles deliberately forgotten by the whites.
The design is simplified in the fourth chapter highlighting a reference to Mark Twain. The nonconformist writer had dared to use with sympathy the dialect of the slaves in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. On the last picture, the conclusion is the apotheosis of Negroes who overcame the cotton slavery.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result for this epic and activist painting that was no longer from the most creative period of the artist: $ 23.7 million including premium.
