Keith Haring Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Keith Haring Radiant Baby, Barking Dog drawing 1982 (Keith Haring Tony Shafrazi Gallery): Unique 1982 Keith Haring drawing featuring two of Haring’s most recognizable & highly collected figures. This work is presented on the interior cover of the artist’s seminal, limited edition 1982 Tony Shafrazi gallery catalog featuring a standout neon Keith Haring Three Eyed Smiling Face cover & lithographic inserts. A historic drawing executed during the artist’s breakout year. Signed, dedicated and dated 1982. Medium: Ink on softcover wire bound exhibition catalog; approximately 140 pages. 1st edition 1982. Dimensions: 9 x 9 inches (folded closed). Drawing: Well-preserved; very good overall vintage condition. 9x9 inches. Book: Light to moderate wear to front & back cover; minor signs of use; surface loss to interior 1st page; small tear/corner loss to bottom of pgs 47-48; tight binding; in otherwise good overall vintage condition. Signed and Inscribed, ‘K. Haring 82, To Shawn’. Catalog published by Tony Shafrazi Gallery New York, 1982 from a limited edition of 2000 (see image 6). Includes a forward by Tony Shafrazi, as well as text by Keith Haring, Jeffrey Deitch, et al, with photos by Tseng Kwong Chi. Related Auction history: Sotheby’s ‘Contemporary Art Paris’ October 2020; lots 501-504. Keith Haring was an American artist and social activist known for his illustrative depictions of figures and symbols. His white chalk drawings could often been found on the blank poster marquees in New York’s public spaces and subways. “I don't think art is propaganda,” he once stated. “It should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it.” Born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, PA, he grew up in neighboring Kutztown, where he was inspired to draw from an early age by Walt Disney cartoons and his father who was an amateur cartoonist. After briefly studying commercial art in Pittsburgh, Haring came across a show of the works of Pierre Alechinksy and decided to pursue a career in fine art instead. He moved to New York in the late 1970s to attend the School of Visual Arts, and soon immersed himself in the city’s graffiti culture. By the mid-1980s, he had befriended fellow artists Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and collaborated with celebrities like the singer Grace Jones. Diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1988, Haring’s prodigious career was brief, and he died of AIDS-related complications on February 16, 1990 at the age of 31. Before his death, Haring established the Keith Haring Foundation, a non-profit committed to raising awareness of the illness through art programing and community outreach. Throughout his career, Haring made his art widely available through the location of his murals, as well as through the Pop Shop—Haring's own storefront which he used to sell his memorabilia.The artist’s mural Crack is Wack (1986), can still be seen today on a retaining wall along FDR Drive in Manhattan. Haring’s works can be found in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Related Categories: Keith Haring radiant baby. Keith Haring Three Eyes...

Felt-tip pen and ink on wove paper. Drawn on Fun Gallery, New York letterhead paper. Signed and dated in ink, right margin recto.

KEITH HARING Letter to an aspiring young artist, ca. 1987 Original handwritten, hand signed letter to a young artist, done in ink on Keith Haring's original letterhead paper Unique S...

Original drawing by Keith Haring with black marker on a page of the book Art in transit, published in 1984 (first edition) Photographies by Tseng Kwong Chi Harmony Books New York The drawing is hand signed, dated and dedicated by the artist The subject of the drawing is the iconic Radiant Baby...

Felt pen on orange thick paper Signed, dedicated and dated Unique piece Mint condition Provenance : Cataloged auction sale Matsart Jerusalem Artist's Biography : Keith Haring r...

Keith Haring Untitled "Art Attacks on AIDS" Subway Drawing / Chalk on Paper Museum Acid Free Silk Backing, Charcoal Seamless Handmade Wood Frame and Museum Non Glare Plexiglass. Since the very beginning of his career, Keith Haring was always passionate about creating art that was easily accessible to everyone and his New York City subway drawings, murals and street art meant that a much larger and more diverse audience could experience his work, outside of the more insular space of an art gallery. As he traveled the New York City Subway System Keith noticed black matte paper had been used to cover expired adds. He purchased white chalk which he kept in his pocket, and started drawing, this quickly became a daily obsession of his. As the train would enter a station he would look for the black spaces on the subway station walls, exit the train, quickly draw without any planning or any preparation then leave on the next train. As noted by Dr. Amy Raffel: ""His incessant repetition, Haring’s subway drawings allowed him to perfect his highly recognizable reduced linear vocabulary, and to create an inventory of images. Simplification was practical: he needed to complete his drawings as fast as possible to avoid being arrested. He created characters, such as the barking dog and the radiating baby, which he drew on flat planes with no spatial depth, often with only a horizon line or a staircase to suggest space. Drawn close to the surface like cartoons, his images had immediacy and impact, and could carry multiple meanings through various combinations."" Keith is believed to have completed roughly 5,000 chalk subway...