How much is a Basquiat?

This is a lifetime edition - hand signed and numbered by Jean-Michel Basquiat himself in Basquiat's lifetime. Many younger collectors don't appreciate the difference between the num...

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) Crowned T-Rex, 1997 Lithograph Printed signature in the plate On paper 76 x 56 cm (c. 29.9 x 22 in) Published by Galerie Enrico Navarra Authentica...

Signed Jean-Michel Basquiat Bischofberger Paintings Catalog 1985: This brilliantly rendered, hand-signed limited edition 1980s Basquiat catalog,...

Jean-Michel Basquiat Hanover 1986: Rare 1986 Basquiat catalog published on the occasion of Jean-Michel Basquiat Kestner-Gesellschaft Hannover: 28 November 1986 to 25 January 1987. Featuring 60 works by a then 25 year old Basquiat, Kestner is widely remembered as Basquiat’s last major exhibition during his lifetime. Medium: softcover exhibition catalogue. Bound in stiff wraps. Text in German. Approximately 100 pages. Features full-page images of over 30 Basquiat paintings, in addition to several in collaboration with Andy Warhol. Very good overall vintage condition. From a scarce edition of unknown. _ We are a 1stDibs seller since 2016 specializing in Basquiat, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, KAWS & more. _ Jean-Michel Basquiat was an influential African-American artist who rose to success during the 1980s. Basquiat’s paintings are largely responsible for elevating graffiti artists into the realm of the New York gallery scene. His spray-painted crowns and scribbled words referenced everything from his Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage, to political issues, pop-culture icons, and Biblical verse. The gestural marks and expressive nature of his work not only aligned him with the street art of Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf, but also the Neo-Expressionists Julian Schnabel and David Salle. “If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you've got to realize that influence is not influence,” he said of his process. “It's simply someone's idea going through my new mind.” Born on December 22, 1960 in Brooklyn, NY, Basquiat never finished high school but developed an appreciation for art as a youth, from his many visits to the Brooklyn Museum of Art with his mother. His early work consisted of spray painting buildings and trains in downtown New York alongside his friend Al Diaz. The artist’s tag was the now infamous pseudonym SAMO. After quickly rising to fame in the early 1980s, Basquiat was befriended by many celebrities and artists, including Andy Warhol, with whom he made several collaborative works. At only 27, his troubles with fame and drug addiction led to his tragic death from a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988 in New York, NY. The Whitney Museum of American Art held the artist’s first retrospective from October 1992 to February 1993. In 2017, after having set Basquiat’s auction record the previous year with a $57.3 million purchase, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa surpassed it, buying the artist’s Untitled (1982) at Sotheby's for $110.5 million. This set a new record for the highest price ever paid at auction for an American artist's work. Today, Basquiat's works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, among others. Related Categories: Jean-Michel Basquiat Bischofberger...

Jean-Michel Basquiat (untitled), 'MAN MADE Sweatshirt', c. 1979: Basquiat produced this rare original hand-painted sweatshirt (among others, with only few known to have survived) for the purposes of selling these on his own and through the historic downtown fashion boutique, Patricia Field’s. Basquiat was captured wearing a similar example in the well publicized 1979 photo, 'Basquiat Dancing at The Mudd Club' by Nicholas Taylor of Gray. This double-sided work notably features Basquiat’s ‘MANMADE’ tag - Basquiat’s alias after he took to the streets to declare “SAMO is Dead”. The work is further highlighted by Basquiat’s ‘BAD’ motif - uniquely paralleling his consideration to naming his band, ‘Bad Fools’ prior to Gray. In trademark Basquiat style, we also find the vertically spaced ‘E’ on both sides of the piece, as well as dashed lines which would appear in many of the artist’s Anti-Product cards, early drawings and more. The work emanates directly from the collection of world renowned author Lucy Sante (formerly Luc Sante). As it is well publicized, Basquiat worked with Sante in 1979/80 on the downtown-art scene publication, ‘Stranded’ (New York, 1980). Medium: Acrylic on cotton sweatshirt (double-sided artwork). Executed circa 1979/1980. Dimensions: 16.5 x 22 inches (outstretched cuff to cuff: 50 inches & sleeve length: 18 inches). Condition: In good overall vintage condition. Bright well-preserved colors; some minor discoloration in several areas due to normal age related wear and use; scattered stains located on the hem, inner arm area(s) and cuffs; scattered minor pilling; loose thread on the reverse of hem. Basquiat's artwork throughout remains fully intact. Unique. One of a kind. Signed ‘MANMADE’ and numbered 5/100 on the reverse. Provenance: Gifted by Basquiat to Lucy Sante; obtained directly from the former. Sante's relationship to Basquiat is well documented in three publications (see below literature/references for more). Accompanied by a letter of provenance from Sante. Literature/References: -'Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat,' by Sarah Driver - this 2018 documentary features an in-depth section devoted to Basquiat's 'Man Made' clothing, featuring an interview with designer Patricia Field & artist Kenny Scharf. - 'Basquiat Before Basquiat' (MCA Denver; see Sante, p.40-43 ). - 'Stranded' issue four index (Spring 1980). Basquiat's identity is confirmed as 'Man-Made' midway on page. - 'Zeitgeist: The Art Scene of Teenage Basquiat' (Howl Arts 2018; essay: 'Stranded' by Lucy Sante). - 'An Intimate Look at Jean-Michel Basquiat's Early Days' by Lucy Sante (Village Voice 2/8/17). -'Man Made by Basquiat' (MinnieMuse) May 2019. -'Exploring Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1970's Clothing Collection, 'Man Made.'' Vice Magazine, May 2019. - ‘The Jean-Michel Basquiat Reader’ (Moore pg. 334) discusses Basquiat’s Man Made painted clothing. - 'Basquiat Dancing at The Mudd Club' photograph by Nicholas Taylor of Gray (Basquiat wears a similarly painted sweatshirt). Basquiat’s use of ’MAN MADE', see: - Glenn O'Brien "Graffiti '80;" High Times, June 1980 (p. 53-54); "Jean-Michel Basquiat who is known to many as SAMO, had changed his alias to Man Made". - Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1981, the Studio of the Street (Diego Cortez; 2007 p. 80). - The Last Time I Saw Basquiat (NYR Daily 9/3/16; essay by Lucy Sante). - Basquiat: Boom For Real (Barbican; Nairne, Buchhart & Johnson p.26). - Sotheby's S2 Catalog & Sale, "Man Made" (May 2013). Intertextual References: Basquiat's 'BAD' motif further appears in the following 1979 works: - "Stupid Games, Bad Ideas" (color xerox; see Basquiat: Boom For Real pg. 108). - Basquiat (untitled) "Test Pattern" (original drawing and xerox; see Basquiat: Boom For Real pg. 147). - Basquiat (untitled) "Gumby Is Bad" t-shirt (worn on camera by the artist at Canal Zone...

Jean-Michel Basquiat Test Pattern 1979: Basquiat created this impossibly rare flyer on the occasion of a performance by his band, Test Pattern (l...