Beschreibung:

Jean-Michel-Basquiat Untitled 1983 oil stick and ink on paper 29 3/4 x 22 in. (75.6 x 55.9 cm)
Provenance Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris Christie's East, New York, November 12, 1991, lot 190 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner Catalogue Essay "Basquiat was compelled to tell the truth as he saw it and realize his vision, but his hypersensitivity, which was so innately connected to his process, detected many demons and enemies – some real, some exaggerated, and some imagined." Glenn O’Brien Jean-Michel-Basquiat’s drawings act as a swift visual recorder, absorbing the rapid sensory of his surroundings in a flurry of vivid markings. Untitled, 1983 depicts the face of a ferocious canine beast, a glaring jaw full of pointed teeth gapes open while his round, clown-like black nose seems to float between his wide open eyes. Thin lines of sergeant blue oil stick highlight his eyes and teeth, forming blue glasses around his eyes adding a playful, cartoonish nature to this furry animal. Fred Hoffman has commented that “with the exception of Picasso, few acclaimed painters of the 20th century invested the same time or energy to works on paper that is evidenced in their painting.” (Fred Hoffman, Jean-Michel-Basquiat Drawings: Work from the Schorr Family Collection, exh. cat., Acquavella Galleries, New York, 2014, p. 37) Drawing, for Basquiat, allows his symbols to stand alone at their most basic level, they act as succinct, spontaneous forms. Whether friend or foe is depicted in Untitled, 1983, one could imagine this creature, barking at the city street sounds, appearing to Basquiat as a menacing or comical character fleeting in front of him. Robert Storr elaborates that for the artist, drawing “was something you did rather than something done, an activity rather than a medium. The seemingly throw-away sheets that carpeted his studio might appear little more than warm-ups for painting, except that the artist, a shrewd connoisseur of his own off-hand and under foot inventions did not in fact throw them away, but instead kept the best for constant reference and re-use. Or, kept them because they were, quite simply, indestructibly vivid.” (Robert Storr, “Two Hundred Beats Per Min,” Basquiat Drawings, exh. cat., The Robert Miller Gallery, New York, 1990, n.p.) Read More