Jean-Michel Basquiat Signed American Neo-Expressionist Mixed Media – December 20, 2018
Mixed media on paper. Featuring a neo-expressionist abstract portrait. Signed JMB, possible initials of Jean-Michel Basquiat and accompanied with a certificate letter. 29.5 x 21 cm (11.6 x 8.3 inches). PROVENANCE: Acquired from the artist (1980). Private collection (1980). Acquired by the current owner (2018).
Click Here to view – Lot #101 – Jean-Michel Basquiat Signed American Neo-Expressionist Mixed Media
Jean-Michel Basquiat Life and Impact
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) 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. He spray-painted crowns and scribbled words profoundly. He often referenced everything from his Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage to political issues, pop-culture icons, and even Biblical verse.
The gestural marks and expressive nature of his work aligned him with the street art of Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf. Additionally, also the Neo-Expressionists Julian Schnabel and David Salle were known to be close to him. “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. However, he 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. Prematurely, his troubles with fame and drug addiction led to his tragic death from an overdose at the age of only 27 on August 12, 1988 in New York, NY.
Record-Setting Artist
The Whitney Museum of American Art held the artist’s first retrospective from October 1992 to February 1993. In 2016, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa set a record of $57.3 million for a Basquiat piece. A year later in 2017, he broke his own record by buying the artist’s Untitled (1982) at Sotheby’s for $110.5 million. As a result, that piece set a new record for the highest price ever paid at an auction for an American artist’s work. Subsequently, Basquiat’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, among others.
Auction Overview
Richmond Hill, ON – 381 fresh to market items will be available to the discerning buyers and collectors in 888 Auctions’ December 20 auction featuring the finest in MODERN PAINTINGS, JEWELRY & ASIAN ANTIQUES 2019-12-20. Taking place in the afternoon at 2 PM (EST), bidders will be competing against one another over a variety of items on display.
Visit the auction at 888 Auctions during the public viewing period: Monday, December 17 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday, December 18, 2018 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesday, December 19, 2018 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and just before the auction on Thursday, December 20 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
888 Auctions continues to accept consignments on a rolling basis. Auctions take place regularly every other Thursday at the auction house. Therefore, there are plenty of opportunities to sell rare and fresh-to-market items at 888 Auctions.
Use the Auction Valuator to find items and current market trends for artists and antiques
You can find values of any art or antique by using the Auction Valuator tool. Even more so, the tool will enable the user to find comparably similar items and help to decipher if any are coming up for auction. You can also obtain valuations by contacting the auctioneers at 905-763-7201 or at [email protected].