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Untitled
Artist
Jean-Michel Basquiat
(Born 1960, United States; died 1988, United States)
Date1982
MediumOilstick on paper
DimensionsUnframed: 42 3/4 x 30 3/8 in. (108.59 x 77.15 cm)
Framed: 50 3/4 x 38 3/4 x 1 5/8 in. (128.91 x 98.43 x 4.13 cm)
Framed: 50 3/4 x 38 3/4 x 1 5/8 in. (128.91 x 98.43 x 4.13 cm)
Credit LineCollection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase
Object number1995.26
Status
Not on viewCopyright© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. All rights reserved. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
Category
Label TextJean-Michel Basquiat synthesized elements of graffiti, hip-hop culture, and African American history into gritty, vibrant paintings that are synonymous with the 1980s New York art scene. He and his artistic partner, Al Diaz, signed the subversive aphorisms they spray-painted across Manhattan with the tag SAMO (for “same old shit”). Basquiat attracted the notice of the art market, and by 1981, he traded walls for paper and canvas, translating his raw aesthetic and social critique into deeply personal drawings and paintings. Catapulted to fame for his public personality almost as much as his imagery, his artistic ascent was cut short by his death at the age of twenty-seven from a drug overdose.
The Modern’s large-scale drawing Untitled, 1982, is one of numerous works Basquiat produced from 1981 to 1982 that is at least in part a self-portrait. Untitled depicts a front-facing figure with a simplified body outlined in black, gray, and orange oilstick. The torso appears transparent, as in an X-ray, exposing nerves and organs rendered in scribbled passages. Although an autodidact, Basquiat was a voracious student of modern art; the drawing reflects his absorption of Cy Twombly’s markmaking and Pablo Picasso’s fragmented representations. The orange spikes of hair echo Basquiat’s dreadlocks and evoke a crown—an omnipresent motif within his works. From its yellow skull-like head, the figure stares out with wide eyes, prominent nostrils, and teeth drawn like railroad tracks, forming a smile that could be read as menacing or benign. He raises one blocky arm as if in victory, but the arm is truncated abruptly where the hand should be. Typical of Basquiat’s work, Untitled is both frenetic and controlled, heroic and haunting.
The Modern’s large-scale drawing Untitled, 1982, is one of numerous works Basquiat produced from 1981 to 1982 that is at least in part a self-portrait. Untitled depicts a front-facing figure with a simplified body outlined in black, gray, and orange oilstick. The torso appears transparent, as in an X-ray, exposing nerves and organs rendered in scribbled passages. Although an autodidact, Basquiat was a voracious student of modern art; the drawing reflects his absorption of Cy Twombly’s markmaking and Pablo Picasso’s fragmented representations. The orange spikes of hair echo Basquiat’s dreadlocks and evoke a crown—an omnipresent motif within his works. From its yellow skull-like head, the figure stares out with wide eyes, prominent nostrils, and teeth drawn like railroad tracks, forming a smile that could be read as menacing or benign. He raises one blocky arm as if in victory, but the arm is truncated abruptly where the hand should be. Typical of Basquiat’s work, Untitled is both frenetic and controlled, heroic and haunting.