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"I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young..."
—Jean-Michel BasquiatRevising cartoon imagery in his signature raw and expressive aesthetic, Jean-Michel Basquiat's The present work was created at a time when the artist had already received significant recognition in the New York art scene. In 1982, he had exhibited at Documenta VII, Kassel and, in the following year, was included in the Whitney Biennial, becoming the youngest artist to represent the United States in a major international exhibition of contemporary art. In its thematic reverberation of the Bat-insignia, Batman represents one of Basquiat's earliest mediations focused entirely on the caped crusader, along with his Television and Cruelty to Animals of the same year. The present work also anticipates Basquiat's sustained return to comic book imagery and, specifically, the characters of Batman in 1986 and 1987 with works such as Untitled (Savoy) and Riddle Me This Batman.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Riddle Me This, Batman, 1987. Private Collection, Artwork: © 2021 Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York Basquiat’s engagement with comic book characters was part and parcel of his immersion with popular culture in his oeuvre. Logos, characters, and phrases from Warner Brothers, Merrie Melodies, Gumby, Krazy Kat, and Porky Pig, among others, have all featured frequently in his practice. An avid admirer of cartoons and comic books, Basquiat recognized their ability to reflect the deeper issues he often grappled with in his art such as racism, discrimination, and erroneous representations of good and evil. Adorning bat-insignias and horned devils alike with haloes, Basquiat crystallizes these investigations in the present work. In doing so, he not only complicates the distinguishment between heroes and villains, but also plays into the reading of Batman as a conflicted character whose standing as an unimpeachable hero is often put to the test.
Andy Warhol, Batman, 1961. Artwork: © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York While his reference to cartoon and comic book characters situates Batman within the high and low art tradition of artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, Basquiat’s stream-of-conscious application sets his works apart from their more strictly articulated compositions. Often working against a steady stream of jazz and television, the iconography of Basquiat’s works reflects glimmers of the inspiration he found in his new downtown studio. Disparate high and low sources clash and conflate, resulting in compositions that visually articulate the images, sounds, and thoughts occupying Basquiat at the moment of creation.
Jean Dubuffet, Nimble Free Hand to the Rescue from the series Hourloupe, 1964. Tate, London, Image: © Tate, London / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / DACS, London "Drawing, for [Basquiat], was something you did rather than something done…an activity rather than a medium."
—Robert StorrDeftly executed with relish and alacrity, there is an immediacy to Batman that captures the spontaneous projection of the cartoon imagery which stands as its source of inspiration. His apparent quick-fire execution is mirrored in the signifiers taken from comics, imbuing the composition with sound, light, movement, and violence. In the present work, Basquiat leveraged his signature oilstick to assemble dramatic series of lines, marks, and gestures to produce the various figures. Deliberately flattened and reduced to their most essential forms, the Bat-insignia silhouettes are confidently articulated in thickly applied oilstick, with no pause nor hesitancy in the intent of his form, line, and color. Basquiat did not draw a distinction between his painting and drawing practices—some of his most admired artists were master draughtsman in their own right, including Leonardo da Vinci and Cy Twombly. Ultimately, as much as the compositional elements of the present work seemingly capture a stream-of-consciousness auto-drawing, they reveal a mastery of art historical precedent percolating in Basquiat's mind. As curator Eleanor Nairne expressed of Basquiat's oeuvre, "You find nods to his Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage; to the pioneers of bebop; comic-book heroes; the masters of 20th-century art…The list goes on and on."i
Batman from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, 1980s i Eleanor Nairne, quoted in Hayley Maitland, “American Graffiti: Memories of Jean-Michel Basquiat,” Vogue, September 2017.
Provenance
Galerie Fabien Boulakia, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1990Exhibited
Paris, Galerie Fabien Boulakia, Basquiat, September 27 - November 3, 1990, p. 59 (illustrated)
Paris, Fondation Dina Vierny—Musée Maillol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Oeuvres sur papier, May 23 - September 29, 1997, pp. 88, 185 (illustrated, p. 89)Literature
Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Oeuvres sur paper, Paris, 1999, p. 230 (illustrated)
Artist Biography
Jean-Michel Basquiat
American • 1960 - 1988
One of the most famous American artists of all time, Jean-Michel Basquiat first gained notoriety as a subversive graffiti-artist and street poet in the late 1970s. Operating under the pseudonym SAMO, he emblazoned the abandoned walls of the city with his unique blend of enigmatic symbols, icons and aphorisms. A voracious autodidact, by 1980, at 22-years of age, Basquiat began to direct his extraordinary talent towards painting and drawing. His powerful works brilliantly captured the zeitgeist of the 1980s New York underground scene and catapulted Basquiat on a dizzying meteoric ascent to international stardom that would only be put to a halt by his untimely death in 1988.
Basquiat's iconoclastic oeuvre revolves around the human figure. Exploiting the creative potential of free association and past experience, he created deeply personal, often autobiographical, images by drawing liberally from such disparate fields as urban street culture, music, poetry, Christian iconography, African-American and Aztec cultural histories and a broad range of art historical sources.
Ο◆23
Batman
signed and dated "1983 Jean-Michel Basquiat" on the reverse
oilstick on paper
22 x 29 7/8 in. (55.9 x 75.9 cm)
Executed in 1983.
Estimate
$1,600,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,800,000
Amanda Lo Iacono
Head of Auctions
New York
+1 212 940 1278
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 23 June 2021
1
Cinga Samson
Two piece 1
Estimate $25,000 - 35,000
Sold for $378,000
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2
Jadé Fadojutimi
Untitled
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $390,600
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3
Salman Toor
Fort Greene
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $478,800
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4
Avery Singer
Untitled
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $4,144,000
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5
Matthew Wong
The Reader
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $2,329,000
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6
Winston Churchill
The Moat, Breccles
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,845,000
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7
Matthew Wong
Field in a Dream
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $2,934,000
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8
Jean Dubuffet
L'homme à la toque
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,571,000
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9
Emily Mae Smith
Waiting Room
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $756,000
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10
Nicole Eisenman
Whatever Guy
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $840,700
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11
Norman Lewis
Abstract City
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,119,000
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12
Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol
Bananas
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,300,000
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13
David Hockney
A Neat Lawn
Estimate $9,500,000 - 10,500,000
Sold for $11,000,000
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14
Vija Celmins
Untitled (Ocean)
Estimate $5,500,000 - 6,500,000
Sold for $7,748,000
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15
Carmen Herrera
Green and Orange
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,200,000
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16
This lot is no longer available.
17
Brice Marden
Elements III
Estimate $3,200,000 - 3,800,000
Sold for $5,233,000
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18
Amoako Boafo
Untitled
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $655,200
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19
Titus Kaphar
Untitled III
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $1,058,500
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20
Amy Sherald
It Made Sense...Mostly In Her Mind
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $3,539,000
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21
Wayne Thiebaud
Winding River
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $9,809,000
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22
Mark Rothko
Untitled
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $3,700,000
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23
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Batman
Estimate $1,600,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,800,000
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24
Keith Haring
Untitled (For John Sex)
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $899,000
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25
Takashi Murakami
Red Demon and Blue Demon with 48 Arhats
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $6,080,000
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26
Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild (940-2)
Estimate $4,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for $5,112,000
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27
Joan Mitchell
Untitled
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,902,000
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28
Willem de Kooning
East Hampton V
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $3,055,000
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29
Amy Sillman
Flower Giver
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $598,500
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30
Alexander Calder
Fourteen Black Leaves
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,300,000
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31
This lot is no longer available.
32
Julie Curtiss
Three Widows
Estimate $110,000 - 150,000
Sold for $466,200
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33
Norman Rockwell
My Mother (Soldier with French Woman)
Estimate $350,000 - 500,000
Sold for $504,000
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34
Richard Prince
Nurses Dormitory #3
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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35
Mickalene Thomas
Portrait of Jessica
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $1,542,500
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36
Andy Warhol
Mao
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $3,000,000
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37
Georg Baselitz
Drei Herzen (Three Hearts)
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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38
Carl Andre
36 Copper Square
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,692,000
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39
Robert Rauschenberg
Untitled (Elemental Sculpture)
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $315,000
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40
Bruce Nauman
Musical Chair
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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41
David Hammons
It’s Not Necessary
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $5,475,000
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42
Andy Warhol
Shadow (Double)
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $877,000
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43
Toyin Ojih Odutola
Quality Control
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $340,200
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44
Robert Colescott
Gift of the Sea
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $504,000
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45
Dana Schutz
Swiss Family Traveling
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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46
Banksy
Love Is In The Air
Estimate $1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,179,500
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47
Keith Haring
Untitled
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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48
Louise Bourgeois
Labyrinthine Tower
Estimate $550,000 - 750,000
Sold for $756,000
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49
Paul McCarthy
White Snow Dwarf (Doc)
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $403,200
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50No Reserve
Jeff Koons
Gazing Ball (Demeter)
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000 •
Sold for $998,000
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