Jean-Michel Basquiat

Annina Nosei Gallery, New York
Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
Sotheby's, New York, May 12, 2004, lot 36
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

New York, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Jean-Michel Basquiat: A Tribute, September - November 1996

Richard D. Marshall and Jean-Louis Prat, eds., Jean-Michel Basquiat, 2nd Ed., Vol. II, Paris, 1996, p. 165, illustrated in color
Exh. Cat., New York, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1999, p. 78, illustrated in color
Richard D. Marshall and Jean-Louis Prat, eds., Jean-Michel Basquiat, 3rd Ed., Vol. II, Paris, 2000, cat. no. 2, pp. 55 and 92, illustrated in color

This work is in good condition overall. The wear and spots of paint loss to the edges and corners of the box, which are visible in the catalogue illustration appear to be largely original to the condition of the found wooden box. There are scattered dirt and dust accretions, most notably in the crevices. Under close inspection, there is some minor but stable craquelure to the painted figure and crown with some light hairline abrasions.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A crown appears frequently in the early work of Jean-Michel Basquiat signaling his ambition and understanding of art history. In some paintings, Basquiat's signature motif tops nameless, generic figures. But more often, Basquiat crowned his heroes. These included renowned jazz musicians, such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and celebrated athletes, among them Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), and Hank Aaron. Like the royal titles that famous African American musicians have sometimes adopted as nicknames—such as Duke Ellington or Count Basie—Basquiat used crowns, as well as halos, to ennoble his icons.

In his unusual "portraits" of his heroes, Basquiat made almost no effort to paint his subjects with recognizable facial features. Often he merely named the person on the canvas or in the painting's title. Perhaps he sought to invest his art with a votive presence, without relying on a direct visual likeness. The crown and the halo—the abstract symbols of honor, empowerment and majesty—are all that are really necessary.

With Untitled, emblazoned in the center of the canvas, a fiercely expressive head atopped with Basquiat's signature four-pointed crown, stares out of the picture plane. Conspicuously bestowed with the artist's iconic trademark, this piece fuses a multifaceted allusion to autobiography, black identity, fame, and success. Associated with the artist's graffito persona SAMO, the crown autobiographically alludes to Basquiat himself, while acting as a seal of admiration and ennoblement for the notary figures that populate his work. The first to be inaugurated within Basquiat’s canon of beknighted and sainted black dignitaries was the baseball player Hank Aaron. Childhood hero of Basquiat and famous for garnering a reputation to rival that of Babe Ruth, references to Hank Aaron permeate much of Basquiat's very earliest work.

In the present lot, although the identity of the eponymous sports figure is slightly concealed, the scribbled over “AARON” in the lower left hand corner suggests homage and likely allusion to Hank Aaron. While living with his girlfriend, Suzanne Mallouk, Basquiat found a red wooden cigarette box from Mallouk’s former employment to create this Untitled work from 1981. The halo of the crown hovers above in the same hue as a disquieting face with only one visible eye. The maroon red background exposes traces of mustard paint drips and splotches. The script underneath the figure, spelling the baseball player’s last name, appears crossed out.

This work engenders a powerful and ambiguous scrutiny of black athleticism. Aaron, the famous black baseball player, is celebrated for breaking down racial barriers to enter the Major Leagues. Yet this promulgation of black pride entails a criticism of racist attitude for the white-dominated sport of baseball. Such underlying cynicism is reinforced by the significance of baseball for Basquiat's racial heritage. Initiated during the 1960s, the factory line assembly of baseball manufacturing was exported to Haiti to profit from an eager and cheap workforce. Consequently for Basquiat, the child of a Haitian father, the evocation of baseball dichotomously conjures exploitation and aspiration. Herein the allusion to baseball, an American sport notoriously regarded as predominantly white, somewhat mirrors Basquiat's ascendancy within the predominantly white art establishment. Like a double portrait, the crowning of Hank Aaron's extraordinary success mirrors Basquiat’s own.

Basquiat's canon is a unique product of cut-up fragmentation and multi-lingual pictorial synthesis allied to his triangular cultural inheritance. Born to Puerto Rican and Haitian parents and brought up in Brooklyn, Basquiat's art habitually draws on his ethnic heritage as much as his cultural legacy as an American citizen. Within the layers of erased, painted over and liberally confident mark making, Basquiat recasts an innovative symphony of modernism's pictorial vernacular. Imbued with the frantic exertion and the poured, dripping aesthetic of Jackson Pollock, the exuberant color and dramatic painterly gesture of De Kooning and Franz Kline, combined with the integration of text and blackboard-like surfaces of Beuys and Twombly, Basquiat's field of allusions is impressive and manifold. Quintessentially adorned with Basquiat's famous trademark crown, this work bears witness to Basquiat's own coronation and inauguration into the meta-narrative of art history.