Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat

Estate of the Artist
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above)
Sotheby's, New York, May 12, 2004, Lot 8
Private Collection, Greenwich

New York, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Warhol/Basquiat, Collaborations, September - October 1985
New York, Van de Weghe Fine Art, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Collaboration Paintings, May - June 2008
Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum; Fort Worth, Fort Worth Museum of Art; Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum of Art; Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art, Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, September 2009 - January 2011

Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1992, p. 247, illustrated (as installed at 1985 Collaborations exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Jean-Michel Basquiat, New York, 1999, p. 308, illustrated in color and p. 332, illustration (as installed at 1985 Collaborations exhibition at Tony Shafrazi Gallery)
Exh. Cat., Riehen/ Basel, Fondation Beyeler, Basquiat, May - September 2010, p. 156, illustrated (as installed at 1985 Collaborations exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery)

This work is in excellent condition. Very close inspection reveals a minute spot of rubbing to the extreme top left corner tip, and some extremely faint handling marks scattered at intervals to the extreme left and bottom edges. There are two thin horizontal lines of rubbing, 2¾ and 1¼ ins., towards the center of the extreme top edge, and an extremely faint horizontal 3½ in. rubmark to the far left of the extreme bottom edge, which all may be inherent to the artists' methods. There is an extremely thin and faint 5 in. diagonal crease to the far right of the extreme bottom edge and a very faint 2½ in. scuff to the extreme bottom right corner. Due to its scale this work has not been viewed under ultraviolet light. This canvas is not framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Throughout his career Andy Warhol collaborated with many artists in many mediums, including film, painting and writing.  In the 1980s, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat became fast friends, and then collaborators.  By 1984, Basquiat was attracting serious attention from both critics and collectors.  Warhol sought out younger artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, to both inspire him and to work with him.  The collaborative working method encompassed both the social interaction that Warhol craved and the sharing of ideas from which both artists would benefit.

Warhol and Basquiat completed almost one hundred paintings over the course of their collaborations together.  Sixteen of these works, including Untitled (50, Dentures), were showcased in the highly publicized exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in September of 1985.  When working on these collaborations, Warhol first used a projector to trace corporate logos (such as the Dentures seen here) directly onto the canvas (the first time he would paint directly on the blank canvas since his early days of painting soup cans).  Basquiat then painted freehand over and in-between the ‘Warhol’ areas.  One can easily distinguish between the two artists’ styles and marks - Basquiat’s being more expressive and gestural and Warhol’s being slick and hard edged.  The juxtaposition of these two very different artists culminates in an explosive painting of, not only physical proportions, but also grossly engaging poetic symbiosis.   As fellow artist Keith Haring noted, “The collaborations were seemingly effortless.  It was a physical conversation happening in paint instead of words.  The sense of humor, the snide remarks, the profound realizations, the simple chit-chat all happened with paint and brushes.” (Keith Haring “Painting the Third Mind” in Collaborations: Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, New York, 1988)