Jean-Michel Basquiat

Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in May 1987

This work is in very good condition overall. The edges of the sheet are deckled. There is light evidence of wear and handling along the edges including very light and unobtrusive small areas of soiling to the extreme upper edge. Under very close inspection, some minor graphite smudging is visible. The sheet is hinged verso to the mat intermittently along the edges. Framed under Plexiglas.
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.

“Basquiat's work, like that of most of his peers, was based on appropriation…the images he appropriated - whether they were from the Bible or a chemistry textbook - became part of his original vocabulary… Basquiat combined and recombined these idiosyncratic symbols throughout his career: the recursive references to anatomy, black culture, television and history are his personal hieroglyphics.” Phoebe Hoban, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art, New York 1998, p. 332)

Executed in 1987 and acquired by the present owner in the same year, Untitled is an anthology of the rich iconography which flows through Jean-Michel Basquiat’s entire oeuvre. The detailed rows of pictographs laid out in graphite are a map of the artist’s complex language of symbols and code, and act as a key to decipher the hidden meaning in his artworks. Basquiat drew almost constantly throughout his lifetime, creating a vast number of works on paper that were as fully realized as each of his larger paintings. Words and language played a fundamental part in Basquiat’s compositions; Basquiat successfully blended language and image into his unique and innovative visual lexicon, reinvigorating the medium. Looking to Cy Twombly for inspiration, Basquiat seamlessly integrated text into his artistic expression, elevating it to the status of drawing.

Much of Basquiat’s distinctive vocabulary was mined from the visual references around him and evolved from the characteristic markings he left scattered around Lower Manhattan during his early career as the graffiti artist SAMO. In Untitled, Basquiat recalls his street art past by incorporating a series of symbols he came across in Henry Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook, especially the “hobo signs” which travelling vagabonds would use to denote certain areas as safe or treacherous along the road. Many of the repeated sketches in the present work are copied from the “hobo signs”: the cat symbolizes that there is a kind lady in residence, while the large circles warn that there is “nothing to be gained here.” Several of these signs appear throughout his artistic practice, repeated like incantations in his drawings and larger paintings. This language of wanderers is blended with other references to chemistry, anatomy and engineering, juxtaposing street smarts with academic thought, and providing insight into Basquiat’s artistic process and interests. Taken as a whole, Untitled represents a sophisticated mosaic of the artist’s singular pictorial vocabulary, a graphic outline of his interests spilled out onto the page, and a guide for understanding the symbols which populate his entire body of work.