JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled
signed and dated '/86' (verso)
oil stick, colored pencil, watercolor and ink on paper
41 7/8 x 29 1/2 in (106.3 x 75 cm)
Executed in 1986
Footnotes:
Provenance
Private collection, Paris.
Sale: Pierre Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, March 23, 1988, lot 90.
Galerie Beaubourg, Paris (FIAC, 1988).
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Literature
P. Nahon, L'Histoire de la Galerie Beaubourg III, 1994-2009, Paris, 2009, p. 89 (illustrated in situ).


Executed in 1986, the present Untitled work is an assemblage of vivid colors, subjects and symbols that erupt off the page. The lion – pictured almost dissected in diagrammatic form – is a powerful and wonderfully rare subject for the artist, fastidiously rendered and pulsating with a technical skill that defies traditional grounding. It embodies the artistic genius of Jean Michel-Basquiat. one of the most groundbreaking artists of the 20th century. Informed by the varied challenges he faced, Basquiat's practice was deeply personal. The incomparable force of Basquiat's relentless creativity has cemented him as not only one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century but one of the most significant public figures of our time. A master of language and picture alike, there are few artists who stand up to Basquiat's prodigious rise to stardom and acclaim, and his tragically cut-short life.

In a symphony of motifs, words, and diagrams, the present work's composition is akin to a musical current that articulates introspective, raw emotion. The lion looms large amongst the solitary figures and the powerful and unruly mythical cyclops. This juxtaposition creates a visual schism between power and vulnerability, between external perceptions and inward reflection, that is often at the center of Basquiat's personal and artistic explorations.

Executed just two years before the artist died in 1988, Untitled unravels the artist's psyche and visualizes the supernatural and spiritual through symbols of alchemy and transformation. These ethereal themes are made tangible through Basquiat's masterful rendering of line and color, drawing no finite conclusion, rather inviting viewers to consider their own lived experiences with authenticity. As the artist said in a 1987 interview, 'I was trying to make paintings different from the paintings that I saw a lot of at the time, which were mostly minimal and they were highbrow and alienating, and I wanted to make very direct paintings that most people would feel the emotion behind when they saw them' (quoted in an interview between Jean-Michel Basquiat, Geoff Dunlob, and Sandy Nairne, 19 October 1985). The present lot is certainly no exception.

Remaining in the same private collection for over thirty-five years, Untitled is a testament to Basquiat's multidimensional yet profound perspective. Nearly every major museum has mounted an exhibition on Basquiat, and his work is included in countless significant public collections, further clarifying Basquiat's resonant impact on global cultures past and present.