Modern & Contemporary Artists Codexery

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Neo-expressionist who rose from SAMO graffiti to international acclaim.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat

Galerie Bruno Bischofberger · CC BY-SA 4.0

In 2017, his painting Untitled sold for a record-breaking $110.5 million.[1] The Neo-expressionism movement of the 1980s included American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who achieved prominence during that decade.[2] A heroin overdose in 1988 caused Basquiat's death when he was 27 years old.[1]

Life and work

Basquiat was born on December 22, 1960, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the second of four children.[3] He began spray painting graffiti with Al Diaz under the pseudonym SAMO in May 1978.[4] He died at his home on Great Jones Street in Manhattan on August 12, 1988.[5] Playing in the street at age seven, Basquiat was struck by a vehicle, resulting in a broken arm and internal damage that necessitated removal of his spleen.[6][7]

To occupy him during his hospital stay, his mother gave him the book Gray's Anatomy.[6] The Times Square Show, an exhibition featuring multiple artists, included Basquiat in June 1980.[8] In the December 1981 issue of Artforum, critic Rene Ricard's piece "The Radiant Child" was published.[8] By mid-1982, Bruno Bischofberger, a gallerist, had taken on the role of Basquiat's art dealer for the global market.[9]

At age 21, during June 1982, Basquiat participated in Documenta in Kassel, Germany, making him the youngest artist ever to do so.[9][7]

What the cited sources add

A Sotheby's article notes that Basquiat became a junior member of the Brooklyn Museum at age six.[7] Ricard also observed that Basquiat's work transmits signals that are useful and that the graffiti bomb style looks like what it's about.[10] Larry Gagosian recalled in an interview that Basquiat told him Madonna "is going to be huge."[11][12] A Dazed article notes that Warhol wrote in a 1984 diary entry about Basquiat: "I think he's the best, I really do."[13]

The same article states that Basquiat's collaborative works with Warhol merged Warhol's pop art technique with Basquiat's raw approach.[13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Dwyer, "At $110.5 Million, Basquiat Painting Becomes Priciest Work Ever Sold By A U.S. Artist", NPR, May 19, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Say How? A Pronunciation Guide to Names of Public Figures", National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, July 2002, p. 13 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bosworth, "Hyped to Death", The New York Times, August 9, 1998 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Faflick, "Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Birth of SAMO", The Village Voice, March 20, 2019; Goldstein, "Basquiat, the Teenage Years? A Trove of Unpublished Photos and Prints Is Released", artnet News, June 1, 2017; Faflick, "Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Birth of SAMO", The Village Voice, March 20, 2019; Haden-Guest, "Burning Out", November 1988; "21 Facts About Jean-Michel Basquiat", Sotheby's, June 21, 2019; Lim, "From Unique to Uniqlo: The Malling of Soho NYC", Heddels, October 15, 2015; Beyer, "$12,000 Postcards by Some Guy Named en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Emmerling, "Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1960–1988", Taschen, 2003, p. 76; O'Leary, "Ouattara Watts – From Côte d'Ivoire to Basquiat's New York", Sotheby's, March 22, 2018; Emmerling, "Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1960–1988", Taschen, 2003, p. 76; Wines, "Jean Michel Basquiat: Hazards Of Sudden Success and Fame", The New York Times, August 27, 1988; Emmerling, "Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1960–1988", Taschen, 2003, p. 76; Hoban 1998, p. 21; O'Brien, "Glenn O'Brien on the death of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol", Purple; "The 27 Club: A Brief His en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Saggese 2021, p. 5; Emmerling, "Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1960–1988", Taschen, 2003, p. 11; Hoban, "SAMO Is Dead: The Fall of Jean Michel Basquiat", New York, September 26, 1988, p. 36–44; Bosworth, "Hyped to Death", The New York Times, August 9, 1998; Hoban, "SAMO Is Dead: The Fall of Jean Michel Basquiat", New York, September 26, 1988, p. 36–44; ; Wilson, "Young Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present", Wide Eyed Editions, February 1, 2018, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "21 Facts About Jean-Michel Basquiat", Sotheby's, June 21, 2019. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brown, "Times Square: The Underbelly of New York Culture", Interview, August 30, 2012; Tomkins, "A Fool for Art", November 5, 2007; Deitch, "Report from Times Square", Art in America, September 1980, p. 61; Kane, "The New York curator who helped launch Basquiat's career", Dazed, January 26, 2018; McGuigan, "NEW ART, NEW MONEY", The New York Times, February 10, 1985; Maneker, "Sotheby's Brings Basquiat Held in Italy for 35 Years to London", Art Market Monitor, June 8, 2018; "The Radiant Child", Artforum, December 1981; "Jean-Michel en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "History", Galerie Bruno Bischofberger; "21 Facts About Jean-Michel Basquiat", Sotheby's, June 21, 2019; "documenta 7 – Retrospective – documenta", documenta.de; Hoban 1998, p. 21; Faughnan, "The best, worst, and weirdest parts of Warhol and Basquiat's friendship", Dazed, May 28, 2019; "Warhol and Basquiat", Phillips, July 13, 2020; Geldzahler, "From the Subways to Soho", Interview, March 25, 2011 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "The Radiant Child", Artforum, December 1981. facts only, no text reused. artforum.com
  11. Brant, "Larry Gagosian", Interview, November 27, 2012. facts only, no text reused. interviewmagazine.com
  12. Wikipedia, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brant, "Larry Gagosian", Interview, November 27, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Faughnan, "The best, worst, and weirdest parts of Warhol and Basquiat's friendship", Dazed, May 28, 2019. facts only, no text reused. dazeddigital.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Jean-Michel Basquiat (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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