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What happened to Basquiat?

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What happened to Basquiat?
What happened to Basquiat was that his career was cut short by his death from an accidental drug overdose on August 12, 1988. Emerging from the New York City street art scene, Jean-Michel Basquiat became one of the most significant artists of the 20th century as he mixed hand-scrawled text, vibrant color, gestural brushwork and themes of social commentary in a prolific output of Neo-Expressionist paintings. Although his pieces always retained the improvisational energy of graffiti, Basquiat used deceptively uncomplicated motifs such as crowns and professional boxers to honor the majesty and power of Black men and place himself in that lineage. Today, Basquiat's art is among the most expensive in the world, with his paintings regularly fetching tens of millions of dollars at auction. On 1stDibs, shop a collection of Jean-Michel Basquiat art.
1stDibs ExpertApril 26, 2024
Shop for Jean-Michel Basquiat Art on 1stDibs
BASQUIAT Kestner-Gesellschaft exhibition catalog 1986
By Jean-Michel Basquiat
Located in NEW YORK, NY
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...
Category

1980s Pop Art More Art

Materials

Paper

Crowned T-Rex (Pez Dispenser) - Lithograph, 1997
By Jean-Michel Basquiat
Located in Paris, IDF
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...
Category

1990s American Modern Animal Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Jean Michel Basquiat Supercomb (Exhibition Poster)
By Jean-Michel Basquiat
Located in Englishtown, NJ
This wonderful litho was designed by Jean Michel Basquiat for his exhibition at Yvon Lambert, Paris in 1988. Super vibrant colors with many interesting details of images and words co...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph

Jean-Michel Basquiat - Exu (1988)
By Jean-Michel Basquiat
Located in Central, HK
Jean-Michel Basquiat Exu (1988) Print on 7 ply Grade A Canadian Maple wood (Set of 3) 31 1/2 × 7 9/10 in 80 × 20 cm (each)
Category

2010s More Art

Materials

Wood

Welcoming Jeers - Lithograph, 1997
By Jean-Michel Basquiat
Located in Paris, IDF
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) Welcoming Jeers, 1997 Lithograph Printed signature in the plate On Arches vellum 76 x 56 cm (c. 29.9 x 22 in) Published by Galerie Enrico Navarra ...
Category

1990s American Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Lt. Ed. Monograph of drawings, hand signed and numbered by Jean-Michel Basquiat
By Jean-Michel Basquiat
Located in New York, NY
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 numerous posthumous estate authorized prints...
Category

1980s Pop Art More Art

Materials

Ink, Lithograph, Offset, Mixed Media

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