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Lot Essay
"The way he would hold the pencil sometimes was like he was a cripple. He wouldn't hold it in a formal way. He would stick it through the fourth finger and look really awkward, so that when he drew, the pencil would just slip out of his hand. He'd let it go that way, then grab it and bring it down, then let it drift. It was amazing, this whole dance he did with the pencil" (Freddy quoted in I. Sischy 'Jean-Michel Basquiat as Told by Fred Braithwaite, a.k.a Fab 5 Freddy', Interview 22, October 1992, p. 119).
Untitled is an early and masterful figural drawing incorporating multiple signifiers of Basquiat's work in the form of the human figure, his most beloved subject. The radiating halo incasing the figure's head is mimicked in such pieces as Untitled (Boxer) and Untitled (Fallen Angel). The black masklike face with large hollowed out eyes is another reoccurring motif throughout his work spurred by his many visits to the African Art section of the Brooklyn Museum in his childhood.
The figure is drawn with an active hand constructing the bone of the torso and the musculature of the limbs. In Untitled, Basquiat has applied the oil-stick with pressure, almost grinding it into the surface of the paper. The more gestural lines result from the way he moved his hands, tracing out the form as he had done in his graffiti. The undulating line generates the sensation that the figure is lurching toward you about to careen off the paper. The arms are in an impossibly uncomfortable position balancing the weight of the closed fists in a position markedly different from the raised arms and splayed hands of his other figures. Here, the motion and energy is in the legs, the hypnotizing black face and the illuminating red halo.
In 1981, Basquiat began to gain a reputation as one of the most stimulating and innovative artists in New York, having been propelled from a street artist to artistic wunderkind in less than two years. Untitled, painted as the artist emerged from the subversive world of street art to the adulation of the New York art world, is at the crux of this transformative period. At the beginning of the year, the artist had been painting on found objects such as discarded windows, doors, pieces of wood and metal: the detritus of New York City. By the end of the year, he had become an incumbent art star installed in a spacious studio in the basement of Annina Nosei's Prince Street gallery, and showcased in international exhibitions. Untitled displays the potent iconography and artistic energy that captivates both critics and collectors alike even after the artist's untimely death just years later at the age of twenty-seven.
"In drawing, Basquiat discovered the ideal form of visual expression that was compatible with his inherent appreciation of the naive, childlike figures, cartoons, scribblings, cryptic signs, and letter printing" (R. Marshall, Jean-Michel Basquiat: works on paper, Paris, 1999, p. 45).
Untitled is an early and masterful figural drawing incorporating multiple signifiers of Basquiat's work in the form of the human figure, his most beloved subject. The radiating halo incasing the figure's head is mimicked in such pieces as Untitled (Boxer) and Untitled (Fallen Angel). The black masklike face with large hollowed out eyes is another reoccurring motif throughout his work spurred by his many visits to the African Art section of the Brooklyn Museum in his childhood.
The figure is drawn with an active hand constructing the bone of the torso and the musculature of the limbs. In Untitled, Basquiat has applied the oil-stick with pressure, almost grinding it into the surface of the paper. The more gestural lines result from the way he moved his hands, tracing out the form as he had done in his graffiti. The undulating line generates the sensation that the figure is lurching toward you about to careen off the paper. The arms are in an impossibly uncomfortable position balancing the weight of the closed fists in a position markedly different from the raised arms and splayed hands of his other figures. Here, the motion and energy is in the legs, the hypnotizing black face and the illuminating red halo.
In 1981, Basquiat began to gain a reputation as one of the most stimulating and innovative artists in New York, having been propelled from a street artist to artistic wunderkind in less than two years. Untitled, painted as the artist emerged from the subversive world of street art to the adulation of the New York art world, is at the crux of this transformative period. At the beginning of the year, the artist had been painting on found objects such as discarded windows, doors, pieces of wood and metal: the detritus of New York City. By the end of the year, he had become an incumbent art star installed in a spacious studio in the basement of Annina Nosei's Prince Street gallery, and showcased in international exhibitions. Untitled displays the potent iconography and artistic energy that captivates both critics and collectors alike even after the artist's untimely death just years later at the age of twenty-seven.
"In drawing, Basquiat discovered the ideal form of visual expression that was compatible with his inherent appreciation of the naive, childlike figures, cartoons, scribblings, cryptic signs, and letter printing" (R. Marshall, Jean-Michel Basquiat: works on paper, Paris, 1999, p. 45).