Jean-Michel Basquiat and Bruno Bischofberger on the occasion of his first exhibition at

Gallery Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, 1982. Photo by Beth Phillips, Courtesy Galerie Bruno
Bischofberger AG, Männedorf-Zurich, Switzerland
 Faux Credit Line, Ficimperes plitio velia cuptatu ritatum latem nia nonseniet volum quas Faux Credit Line, Ficimperes plitio velia cuptatu ritatum latem nia nonseniet volum quas
quiam consequiam sitas et fuga. Imo doluptatia cuptat estia pa dolupid quissit aturiasperit quiam consequiam sitas et fuga. Imo doluptatia cuptat estia pa dolupid quissit aturiasperit
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Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat, EXHIBITION LEADER
The Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. Venice
Collection

Exhibition dates:
Orlando Museum of Art
February 12 - June 30, 2023

© 2022 Orlando Museum of Art

EXHIBITION PARTNERS
Produced by the Orlando Museum of Art
Published by Orlando Museum of Art
Designed by Connor Bouchard
ISBN: 978-1-880699-27-0
168pp.; 129 color ill.; 8.5 x 11 in.
www.omart.org

Disclaimer

The Basquiat Authentication Committee did not review these paint-

ings by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the Thaddeus Mumford Jr. Venice
Collection. The paintings were discovered in 2012 after the Basquiat
Authentication Committee was disbanded. In 2019, Diego Cortez— IN HONOR OF THADDEUS MUMFORD, JR.
the one-time head of the Basquiat Authentication Committee who
also launched Basquiat’s career in 1981—examined and personally AND DIEGO CORTEZ
issued letters of authentication for these 25 works.

Introduction by
Aaron H. De Groft, PhD
Director & CEO
Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the
Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) is a regional asset, member organiza- EXHIBITION SPONSORS
tion of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), Blue Star
Additional essays and catalogue entries by
Museum, and a catalyst for life-long learning in service to the central
Pierce O’Donnell, J.D.
Florida community and visitors from around the globe. Funding for
Stevenson Dunn, Jr.
the Orlando Museum of Art is generated through earned income,
Michael Klein
with generous financial contributions from the Board of Trustees,
James Blanco
the Ambassadors, Council of 101, the City of Orlando, Orange
Deborah Krieger, MA
County Government through the Arts & Cultural Affairs Program,
Hansen Mulford, MFA
Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State,
Danielle Coluccio
Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and
Aaron H. De Groft, PhD
Culture, Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation, A. Friends’ Foundation,
Bank of America, the Warren and Augusta Hume Foundation, Rita
and Jeffrey Adler Foundation, Walt Disney World Company, the
Chesley G. Magruder Foundation, United Arts of Central Florida
with funds from the United Arts Campaign, , UCF Foundation,
AdventHealth, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Walker & Company, Inc.,
CNL Charitable Foundation, PNC Foundation, Sam Flax Art &
Design Supplies, Truist Foundation, Publix Super Markets Charities,
Art Bridges, Dr. Phillips Charities, For Giving Foundation, Isermann
Family Foundation, anonymous donors, members, corporations and
foundations.

Previous: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Dog and Wolf), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on
cardboard, 7 x 10 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager
ORLANDO MUSEUM OF ART ORLANDO MUSEUM OF ART
STAFF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION OPERATIONS Chair of the Board of Trustees

Trustees Leslie Andreae
Director & CEO Curator of Education Chief of Operations Cynthia Brumback Shari Bartz
Aaron H. De Groft, PhD  Jane Ferry, MAT Stu Worobetz Dustin Becker
Vice Chair of Board of Caroline Blydenburgh
Executive Administrator Associate Curator of Assistant Chief of Operations Trustees Kathy Cardwell
Paula Reiner Education and Outreach Steven Goycochea Robert Summers Allison Choate
David Matteson, MBA Earl Crittenden Jr.
Curatorial Assistant Operations Assistants
Past Chair of Board William Deuchler
to the Director  Associate Curator for Leo Cordovi
of Trustees, Chair of Mark Elliott
Danielle Coluccio Community Engagement Jacob Jones
Molly Lawson, MA Matthew Gutierrez Trusteeship Committee Elizabeth Francetic
Francine Newberg Chase Heavener
Education Assistant  Facility Rentals Manager  Joan Kennedy
CURATORIAL Miles Heilman  Jenna Stringfellow Vice President, Chair of John Martinez
Long-Range Planning Amelia McLeod
Chief Curator Committee Jen O’Mara
Hansen Mulford, MFA Ted R. Brown, Esquire Paul Perkins, Jr.
FINANCE AND VISITOR Valeria Robinson-Baker
Associate Curator ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION Vice President, Chair of Daisy Staniszkis
Coralie Claeysen-Gleyzon, MA Collections & Exhibitions
Chief Financial Officer SERVICES
Committee, Chair of
Registrar Joann Walfish
Marina Stuehrenberg Advisory Council
Tiffany Recicar, MA
Employee Relations Renita Culpepper Sibille Hart Pritchard
Lead Preparator Yasmin Padilla Patricia Andrade
Kevin Boylan Vice President, Chair of
Accounting & Education Committee
Preparators Development Assistant Winifred J. Sharp
Richard Birkbeck Kirsten Pressler INTERNS
Alejandro Estrada Vice President, Chair of
Channing Gray Retail Sales Consultant Nathanael Lapierre Finance &
Mario Schambon Shelly Strazis Olivia Mulford
Administration Committee,
Santana Vaughn
Chair of Audit Committee
Museum Shop Associates Arianna Webber
Claire Wiley and Treasurer
Patrick J. Knipe, CPA
DEVELOPMENT
Director of Donor Secretary
& Corporate Relations MARKETING AND Andrew Snyder
Arielle-Christine Study PUBLIC
Community Relations
RELATIONS Vice President, Chair of
Facilities Committee
Manager Director of Marketing and Lance Walker, Jr.
Mabel Salazar-Wolland Communications
Emilia Bourmas-Fry, MA Vice President, Chair of
Grants & Development
Advancement Committee
Coordinator Graphic Designer
Brandi Jordan Nancy Wolf
Jennifer Hendriksen

Membership & Vice President, Secretary of

Social Media Coordinator 
Annual Giving Manager Corporation
Christina Stuehrenberg
Kaori Kuahara Michael Winn

Council of 101 Office Vice President

Manager & Administrator Carolyn M. Fennell
Vanessa Cruz
Director & CEO
Aaron De Groft, PhD
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 12 BASQUIAT’S UNIVERSE 72

BY AARON DE GROFT, PHD AS EXPRESSED IN THE BASQUIAT
VENICE COLLECTION
INTRODUCTION 14 BY JAMES BLANCO
BY AARON DE GROFT, PHD
BASQUIAT TRANSCENDENT 86
LOST AND FOUND THE MUMFORD 22 REIMAGINING AMERICA’S MOST
BASQUIAT VENICE COLLECTION INFLUENTIAL ARTIST
BY PIERCE O’DONNELL BY STEVENSON A. DUNN

BROTHERS IN BOND THADDEUS Q. 44 THE MUMFORD COLLECTION: 90

MUMFORD, JR. AND JEAN-MICHEL AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BASQUIAT
BASQUIAT: A LIFE AND LEGACY IN BY MICHAEL KLEIN
25 PAINTINGS
BY DANIELLE COLUCCIO WORK ENTRIES 98

DIEGO WAS FULL OF 52 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS 152

UNQUENCHABLE PASSION
BY HANSEN MULFORD, MFA, & BIBLIOGRAPHY 154
AARON H. DE GROFT, PHD
CHECKLIST 158
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR 54
MAKES: BASQUIAT IN LOS IMAGE CREDITS 160
ANGELES—1982 162
BY DEBORAH KRIEGER ENDNOTES

TIMELINE: 1982 64
BY DEBORAH KRIEGER

WORKS CITED 68
BY DEBORAH KRIEGER

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Industry Insider) (detail), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on
cardboard, 56 x 36.5 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS James Blanco is an imagery, writing and hand-writing expert who
is very familiar with the Mumford Collection and the unique way
Basquiat created his visual language and iconography and identified
how he wrote, how he signed variations of his name, his style and
use of his very personal language, but one that now is revealed is the
symbolic language of the streets and Hobo Code whose origins go
I would like to thank so many wonderful people who made this once- back to the Underground Railroad and the path to freedom by slaves.
in-a-lifetime event possible. If I had not met Pierce O’Donnell, over
a masterpiece drip-painting by Jackson Pollock, this Basquiat exhibi- Deborah Krieger is a miraculous young scholar writing on the year
tion would have never been born. Mr. O’Donnell has an ownership 1982 in Southern California and what Basquiat and his girlfriend,
control of six of the Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings from the Venice Madonna, would have found and experienced there in the “art scene.”
Collection of Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. That whole story will unfold in Krieger also chronicles Basquiat’s breakout and crescendo year of
O’Donnell’s essay, and it is so much more than a story about lost art, 1982, tracking him to Modena, Italy, Switzerland and multiple trips
but, in fact, an unknown, unseen, unpublished, unexhibited story of to Southern California.
Basquiat in the breakout year—and his pinnacle year—of 1982. The
works in this collection are singularly unique in his body of work for I must thank my curatorial colleagues, Hansen Mulford, MFA, our
many reasons. They are painted on cardboard…they are deeply col- Chief Curator who is an icon at OM˚A having served for forty years;
orful and “painterly”… and these works were the last ones in his short Coralie Claeysen-Gleyzon, MA, our expanding Associate Curator;
career that he painted for himself. After 1982, he was “owned” by the Danielle Coluccio who has just set foot on what will be an astonish- I want to thank the OM˚A Board of Trustees and our Chair, Cynthia
vultures and vampires in the world of art, dealers and collectors all as ing career in art history and art museums; and Tiffany Recicar, our Brumback, for believing in us and supporting us in this leap into
he was on a quest to be famous. Registrar who orchestrated bringing $500 million worth of art into Basquiat-world and helping us bring these Basquiats to our world
the OM˚A as part of our aggressive relaunch of the Museum in prepa- for the first time. Thanks as well goes to the Council of 101, Joan
I would like to thank Lee and Michelle, parents of the owners of Pierce O’Donnell, a prominent attorney in Los Angeles, became ration for our 100th anniversary. All of them helped in co-studying Kennedy, President; Acquisition Trust, Mark Elliott, President;
nineteen of the twenty-five Basquiats here. Beyond fiction, Michelle the patron of these works by Basquiat, and his essay documents the and co-writing the entries on the individual works as well as the sec- Friends of American Art, Jeffrey Blydenburgh, President; Corporate
worked and managed one of the top Soho “scenes,” Danceteria, journey of the works from the hand of Basquiat to Mumford, to the tions on Diego Cortez and Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. We were in this Lease Program, Elizabeth Francetic, President.
where Keith Haring was a barback and Basquiat was a regular, along possession by the current owners, then from Los Angeles to our exhi- together, and I truly recognize the herculean effort to put this exhibi-
with a budding Madonna. I would also like to recognize and thank bition in Orlando. This is an astounding story of “lost art.” tion together, fully curated and explained, with a major catalogue in The entire OM˚A staff were with us pulling the oars, and no team
Richard LiPuma, Esq., the Trustee who oversees the owners’ interest just over seven months…thanks to Pierce and this opportunity. You could have done it better. I want to truly and sincerely thank my right-
in the nineteen Basquiats from this collection. He is very profession- Michael Klein knew Basquiat in his early years after being discovered must make hay when the sun shines and strike while the iron is hot. hand, Paula Reiner, who really runs this whole place as the Executive
ally assisted by his paralegal, Michelle Moran, with whom we have by Diego Cortez in 1981 in the very important New York/New Wave Two practical country adages that Pierce and I know very well given Administrator to the Director & CEO; Joann Walfish, our CFO
had a wonderful time in New York looking at all these Basquiats at exhibition at what would later become PS1 of MoMA. According to our upbringings… who makes the impossible possible; Emilia Bourmas-Fry, MA, our
Crozier Fine Arts. Klein, Basquiat was set up to work in the basement of Annina Nosei’s Director of Marketing and Communications who has been a genius in
gallery on Prince Street, and Nosei asked him to mind the store while coming up with fantastic marketing ideas and stunning tag lines such
I would like to thank our invited essayists for their amazing contri- she traveled to Europe on business. It was not the most ideal of as “Never SAMO© at OM˚A”; Stu Worobetz, Chief of Operations;
butions and groundbreaking writings and insights into Basquiat, his spaces, but it was free and useful and so he worked, and Klein would Yasmin Padilla, Head of Employee Relations; Arielle-Christine Study,
year of 1982, his time in Southern California and what it must have occasionally drop in with a collector, which he found so annoying but Director of Donor & Corporate Relations; our Education team
been like to be a Black man/artist in a white man’s/artist’s world. at the same time it was a chance for him to be Basquiat. This scene is led by Jane Ferry, MAT, Curator of Education; Molly Lawson, MA,
so well recovered in the Julian Schnabel film in 1996, Basquiat, where Associate Curator for Community Engagement; David Matteson,
the artist was being asked to use certain colors in his paintings to MBA, Associate Curator of Education & Outreach; Miles Heilman,
match the couch…they were thrown out. Basquiat described that he Education Assistant; Jenna Stringfellow, Facilities Rental Manager;
felt like a black bird trapped in a cage to be watched, while the white Mabel Salazar-Wolland, Community Relations Manager; Kaori
birds flew free. We will see those caged black birds with the white Kuahara, Membership & Annual Giving Manager; Brandi Jordan,
birds flying free in these Mumford paintings. Grants and Development Coordinator; Jennifer Hendriksen, Graphic
Designer; Christina Stuehrenberg, Social Media Coordinator; Kirsten
Stevenson Dunn is an African American Latin man from the same Pressler, Accounting and Development Assistant; Kevin Boyland,
streets in Brooklyn as Basquiat. He has interviewed everyone who Chief Preparator and another icon of OM˚A; Steven Goycochea,
knew Basquiat back in the day, including Al Diaz, the other half of the Assistant Chief of Operations; Leo Cordovi, Operations Assistant;
street artist’s alter ego, SAMO©, who, along with Basquiat, tagged Jacob Jones, Operations Assistant; Matthew Gutierrez, Operations
and philosophized all over Brooklyn and the Lower East Side of Assistant; Rick Birkbeck, Preparator; Channing Gray, Preparator;
Manhattan. Dunn is a curator, writer, art dealer and gallery owner Alejandro Estrada, Preparator; Shelly Strazis, Retail Sales Consultant;
who has produced several Basquiat exhibitions in the past. He is Claire Wiley, Museum Shop Associate; Marina Stuehrenberg, Renita
writing about what it was like for Basquiat to be a Black artist in a Culpepper, and Patricia Andrade, Visitor Services; our Security Staff
white man’s world. led by Iris Peña, and Officers Michele Gasparre, Cora Williams, and
Vidal Velez; and our interns Nathanael Lapierre and Arianna Webber.

12 13
INTRODUCTION “I’M A LEGEND”
Over the course of curating this exhibition, I learned a great deal
about Basquiat’s life, the varied influences on his art, his losing battle
The Orlando Museum of Art is proud to debut an extraordinary, with heroin addiction and his tragic death. The liveliness and energy
never-before-exhibited twenty-five paintings from the Thaddeus in these 1982 works stand in stark contrast to the darkness and apathy
Mumford, Jr. Basquiat Venice Collection. Painted in 1982 when Jean- of his later paintings and drawings. As his heroin abuse intensified,
Michel Basquiat was working in Venice, California, these masterpiec- his creative powers waned, leaving him on autopilot, painting for
es rank among his finest artistic achievements. Here we see Basquiat money and mechanically churning out pale imitations of his great ar-
triumphant in his halcyon year, creating a veritable treasure chest in a tistic inspirations from 1981 to 1983.
flurry of creativity over only a few weeks.
But before the end, there was a glorious beginning.
These works were created for celebrated television writer Thaddeus
Q. Mumford, Jr. Two Black men succeeding in white male–dominated “I’m not a real person. I’m a legend,” Basquiat once claimed. And
industries, Basquiat and Mumford bonded, forging a friendship whose so he was and still is. Besides his art, his name and unique personal
legacy is this breathtaking body of work. In these works, the twenty- style have become frequent reference points in popular culture from
one-year-old is telling his new thirty-one-year-old friend (and now fashion to music. Fellow Brooklyn native Jay-Z, for instance, famous-
us) his life story, so much of the paintings being autobiographical ly paralleled himself to the artist in his 2013 song “Picasso Baby,”
and self-portraits. We are given mirrors of the artist’s soul, windows saying, “It ain’t hard to tell, I’m the new Jean-Michel.”
on his mind. This introspection led us to title this exhibition Heroes
and Monsters. Basquiat’s art career began inauspiciously as a rebellious teenager
painting graffiti throughout Lower Manhattan with his pal Al Diaz
Locked away for thirty years in a climate-controlled storage locker, under the tag of SAMO© (the acronym for Same Old Shit). They
Mumford’s cache might have been lost to posterity but for the perse- spray-painted and drew with permanent markers on subway cars,
verance and stubbornness of their resourceful new owners, the con- fences and buildings throughout the SoHo district and other places
struction of an airtight case for authenticity and a healthy measure of in New York. Through SAMO©, Basquiat and Diaz (not so subtly)
serendipity. This catalogue is the story of these lost masterpieces— mocked the way many of their observers were going about or living
one of the most extraordinary discoveries in art history. These works their daily lives.
have never been published, exhibited, nor seen by more than a few
dozen people in total. Through the accompanying essays, new re- While Basquiat certainly had an eventful life, it is often difficult to We do know some things to be real. Basquiat was hit by a car when he
search, catalogue entries and scientific analysis, the world will come determine what is fact and what is fiction in his mythology. He was was seven, and while hospitalized for a time with broken bones and
to welcome these astounding works into the oeuvre of Basquiat. commonly (and mistakenly) thought for years to be a homeless street a ruptured spleen, his mother gave him a Gray’s Anatomy textbook to
artist, living in a cardboard box and sleeping on park benches, but bide his time. Both the accident and Gray’s are prominently featured
This catalogue offers an advanced course in Basquiat, educating us the truth is quite different. Basquiat grew up comfortably in a very in this Mumford Collection catalogue.
about the artist’s meteoric rise to stardom; his fertile incubator in Los middle-class family where his dad was an accountant and at least ac-
Angeles in 1982; the themes, symbols and references in these paint- cording to some of his childhood friends, the family lived in the nicest Dropping out of school to pursue his craft, Basquiat never earned
ings; the historical significance of the Mumford Collection; the benef- brownstone any of them had seen. a high school diploma, but he did receive a Ph.D. in the College of
icent role played by Mumford and Diego Cortez in young Basquiat’s Self-Learning. An avid reader, he was a student of philosophy (par-
life; the improbable journey of this lost art from Basquiat to a storage ticularly Aristotle) and Greek, Roman and African history. Basquiat
unit in Los Angeles to their showcasing at our Orlando Museum of was enamored with Black jazz legends like Charlie Parker and Dizzy
Art; and the need for cultural competency and more Black voices Gillespie and with boxing champions like Joe Louis and Muhammad
commenting on Basquiat in the all-too-white art world establishment. Ali. Basquiat’s early works are brimming with allusions to poverty,
institutional racism and suppression of human rights.

Diego Cortez, a connected art curator and filmmaker who is featured

in this catalogue, discovered this provocative graffiti artist who had a
bit of a street following given his teenage years of painting post cards,
T-shirts, being “in the scene” in Lower Manhattan and tagging any-
thing he could. Cortez remembers meeting Basquiat on the dance
floor of the Mudd Club, describing him as “this black kid with a gold
mohawk.” By 1981, fresh off the streets for only a short while, Basquiat
participated in the Cortez-curated New York/New Wave show featur-
ing 119 artists and he quickly took off, ascending meteorically on the
global art scene.

14 15
SUCCEEDING IN A WHITE MAN’S BREAKING OUT
WORLD
1982 was the breakout year, but also the crescendo year for Basquiat’s
Basquiat quickly secured a New York art dealer and was being asked The rocketing star artist had a significant drug problem and needed works. By 1982, having seamlessly moved from street to studio
to do art gallery shows both in New York and Los Angeles as well as money. (Madonna broke up with him due to his heroin addiction.) artist, Basquiat had mastered his singular technique with fine
internationally in Europe. Our story begins with Basquiat returning In a studio at Gagosian’s home in Venice, Basquiat was painting on drawing, bold lines, colors that popped and most of all, an unbridled
to Los Angeles in 1982 to make paintings for his second major West canvases given to him by Gagosian. So Mumford and he agreed that energy that animated his canvases. This is the year of Untitled (Skull),
Coast show at the mega-gallery owned by Larry Gagosian and sched- Basquiat would make twenty-five paintings: one on plywood and Dustheads, Untitled (Boxer), Dos Cabezas, Il Duce, Warrior, Verus
uled for the following spring. Basquiat came at least three times to twenty-four on cardboard, which has a long history as a substrate on Medici and Untitled (Devil), among many others. As Michael Baptist, a
Los Angeles that year, as the timeline in this catalogue illustrates. which artists (like Munch, Picasso, Miró and Degas) had been painting post-war and contemporary art expert at Christie’s notes: “It’s simply
for over one hundred years. After purchasing these iconic and seminal his best work.”
On his second trip in the summer of 1982, when he arrived with his paintings for $5,000, Mumford then put them in his storage locker
girlfriend, the soon-to-be-famous pop star Madonna, the up-and- for safekeeping, where they remained undisturbed for three decades “For Basquiat, it all converges in 1982,” recounts Jeffrey Deitch, an
coming young artist was introduced to another African American until 2012. From here, the rest of the story is told in this catalogue. early champion. “Those of us who were there at the time and saw
man, who like himself, loved both his former hometown of New York those paintings just couldn’t believe it. The level of achievement was
City—more specifically, Brooklyn where they both grew up—and his We do not need to speculate about why Basquiat and Mumford just astonishing. It was almost a miracle,” he remembers.  “Everybody
adopted home, Los Angeles. This man also was a prominent artist, bonded so quickly and closely. The catalogue reproduces an extraor- around him knew that these were extraordinary.”
but in the world of television, where he excelled as an award-winning dinary document from Mumford’s files. It is a fascinating autobi-
writer, producer and occasionally an actor and songwriter. The man ographical, untitled and typed poem celebrating their common roots The Mumford Collection is a precious time capsule for Basquiat’s
was Thaddeus Q. Mumford, Jr. Only ten years older than Basquiat, and shared experiences. Written in twenty-one lines of free verse 1982 works. His sojourn to Southern California proved to be artis-
Mumford had a similar upbringing by upper-middle-class, profes- with three stanzas of seven lines each, the untitled poem was initialed tically rewarding on many levels. He built upon motifs in his earlier
sional parents. Yet he had already achieved the fame and notoriety “JMB” in Basquiat’s handwriting on the bottom. works while breaking out with new themes and imaging. These twen-
that Basquiat desperately sought: He had won an Emmy in 1972 as a ty-five paintings are especially unique and exceptional because the
writer for “The Electric Company” television show. Typed with an impact typewriter from the 1982 time period, the Mumford Collection was the last time Basquiat painted for himself.
poem linked the two creators in numerous ways, including a ref- Unpressured, he was free to paint what and how he wanted, not on
An essay in this catalogue describes Mumford’s exceptional career erence to the “25 paintings bringing riches”; ”Sing along Dr. Thad demand, and not trapped in Annina Nosei’s gallery basement as a
and accomplishments, such as his writing for the last episode of sing” (Mumford created the popular character and he was the voice freak in a show for wealthy New York collectors.
M*A*S*H—still to this day one of the most watched television shows for Dr. Thad on Sesame Street); “Brooklyn brothers hands creating”;
in American history. In 2017, Al Diaz wrote: ”[w]e film, we write, we film, we paint”; “[n]o longer outsiders” but The works being shown at the Orlando Museum of Art are deeply
instead “[i]ndustry insiders golden crowns receiving”; and referenc- colorful—they can almost be called painterly deep—and this after
“Thad Mumford is a figure who JMB would have been impressed es to “golden crowns” and “crowning glory,” which are allusions to Basquiat was (mistakenly) described as a “drawer,” not a painter. Our
and intrigued by: a young, black, successful Emmy-Award winning Basquiat’s frequent use of a three-pointed crown as his signature on works are paintings. Rich and deep and personal like no others. They
Hollywood TV writer/producer/lyricist from New York City. A re- his paintings (including several in the Mumford Collection). are not drawings. Though drawing is a great part of our paintings.
luctant and sensitive screenwriter for the ROOTS sequel mini-series,
Mumford may have balked at being brought onboard that project to Notably, these works are expressions of raw creativity for himself.
fulfill some sort of racial quota. The two also had human things in Why? He made them for himself because of his creative and re-
common such as humor, love of words and a childish nature. Both had al-life needs. Drugs. He was a heroin addict. He was in a new place,
fast and prosperous momentum as artists in their respective ‘indus- Southern California, where he was learning and to which he was ac-
tries.’ They could have shared a common cynicism and hope for their climating. He had a girlfriend that he himself said would be famous:
plights as black artists in white-dominated career fields as well, with Madonna, who debuted her first single song at the very same time.
Mumford perhaps playing the role of mentor to Jean.” He remarked and said to the world that he did not want to be a Black
(Diaz, The Mystery of Mumford, New York City, February 2017.) artist, he wanted to be a famous artist.

The story goes that, through introductions made between Mumford’s
studio assistant and Basquiat’s girlfriend of the moment, Madonna,
literally months before she was famous in her own right (her first
single came out in October of 1982), Mumford came to meet Basquiat.
Both were Black men in a white man’s world and while more priv-
ileged than most, both men felt racism and oppression acutely, and
images and reference to it came out in the works of both.

16 17
 On the day of August 12, 1988, Jean-Michel Basquiat will die by
CHECKING OUT
morning. According to in situ observers, in the bathroom by his
bedroom were found bloody syringes and gauze, a punched-out
After 1982, Basquiat was “owned” by others—for commissions,
window with access to the outside, and an inscription in Basquiat’s
gallery shows and media appearances. That is why these cardboard
own blood, the words “Broken Heart ©.”1 He had told people in the
paintings are so unique. They were his, undeniably. And he gave
two weeks leading up to his death that he was clean and not using any
them to a friend, Thaddeus Mumford. After this, he began his tragic
drugs. This is called “sun rising.” The term describes people who are
journey on a terrible path of self-destruction. In the end, he owned
now happy because they have decided to have no more worries and
himself back. This is so often what suicide is about: A taking back of
therefore they are happy in their decision.
one’s life. It is mine. No matter what anyone else says. I want out. I
break this window and I am free, but my heart is broken to have to
The troubled artist had told friends that he was doing up to 100
resort to this.
“bags” of heroin a day. According to his one-time girlfriend Jennifer
Vonholstein, “He was always high. At a certain point, I had to give his
In contrast to his best 1982 works as exemplified by the Mumford Two his last (and maybe unfinished) paintings express Basquiat’s
keys back, because I did not want to find his dead body. I’m shocked
Collection, Basquiat’s works up to his death in 1988 rapidly deterio- awareness of dying needle-by-needle. They are as disquieting as the
he lived that long. He was a monster drug addict.”
rated in quality and number. The subsequent works of later years get Mumford Collection is comforting. Death is never a pretty subject,
so much “thinner.” More and more, as heroin increasingly crippled but Basquiat’s “memento mori” is discomfiting.
The night of his death, he injected himself to the point of suicide
him, his creativity flagged; an emptiness lurked below the surface of
and dying. How do we know this? On the specifics of his death, the
his canvas. Paintings were contrived, pale imitations of his prior art. With its disturbing imagery, Riding with Death (1988) is often inter-
bathroom was described as above. Why would anyone punch out
Gone was the freshness, the exuberance of 1982. preted as representing Basquiat’s opinion on the state of the world.
a bathroom window or any other window? And then write on the
I believe, however, this is Basquiat looking at the state of himself. We
wall “Broken Heart?” I have had experience with suicide and sun
By 1986, his drug habit was so extreme that his dwindling circle of see the haunting and bizarre imagery of a half-human-like form sur-
rising due to a sad and terrible situation with an employee, and I saw
friends were on a death watch. Basquiat had checked out of the art really riding a human skeleton in a nowhere space of oblivion. This is
this very thing. A tormented Basquiat was trapped in a world he had
world; he was an incurable junkie. For all intents and purposes, his telling on more than one level.
a hand in creating. He wanted out. How do you get out? Smash a
artistic career had already died.
window and “escape.” His heart was broken. He was an artist for ev-
The inspiration comes from a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci: Thoughts
eryone else who owned him.
on Virtue and Envy. Leonardo himself was studying Aristotle from
whom this figure riding a human skeleton is the source. Basquiat
No one has ever said that Basquiat killed himself, but that it was an
also likely knew this because of his reading of Aristotle and his study
accidental overdose of a “speedball”—a lethal mixture of cocaine and
of Leonardo drawings and including some of them, or versions of
heroin. Given the accounts of his last days, Basquiat is described as a
them, in several of his own paintings over the years. [Basquiat used
“zombie” with open sores, gray skin covered in lesions and a stick-like
Leonardo’s flying suit in Untitled (Self-Portrait with his cowboy hat
figure. After all, he was doing mega heroin in a deadly dose of up to
and wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit) in this catalogue.] I think
100 bags a day.
Riding with Death is prophetic and apocalyptic and presaged what was
about to come.
Whether or not he intentionally killed himself, the last days of
Basquiat were grim and agonizing. The last painting, Dry Cell, attests
The second-to-last painting is also disturbing. Dry Cell (1988)
that Basquiat felt trapped and hopeless, and his body was wracked
depicts a Mandrill monkey trapped inside a circle with a seeming
with something painful. The battery had run dry. Basquiat was a “dry
indecipherable inscription, which to Basquiat surely had meaning [E,
cell” in a “dry cell.” He was riding on death. As I said, the figure in
painted over the word “FEE” (possibly T, reading then “FEET”), 8, I,
Riding with Death is mounted on a human skeleton—so maybe Death
Z, E, D, E, then underneath this, O, P]. The painting is done mostly
is the Rider? The human skeleton looks at us, the viewer. That is very
in black as an “illustration,” with purple and white highlights. The
telling. Basquiat was trapped in that sickly colored world.
image is depicted on this sickly yellow/green field.
Earlier in his career as I noted, Basquiat complained that when paint-
Like Riding with Death, Dry Cell is also surreal and unsettling, espe-
ing in the basement of Annina Nosei, his first dealer, she would bring
cially in regard to its title. A dry cell is a form and type of battery.
people down to watch him paint and he felt like a monkey in a cage.
What are batteries born to do when their energy is exhausted? A dry
Michael Klein, an author in this catalogue, used to visit Basquiat in
cell is non-rechargeable. In prison terminology, a dry cell is a room
that very basement. This scene is memorably interpreted in the 1996
in which prisoners are placed that lacks any plumbing facilities, such
film Basquiat by Julian Schnabel. Potential buyers watch Basquiat in
as a toilet or shower. Prisoners are also sometimes placed in dry cells
that “cage” and talk to themselves like he was not even there, wishing
if they are suspected of having swallowed contraband. It is a solitary
that he would use another color on a particular painting because it
place of nowhereness.
would better match their furniture. Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat lost it!

1 https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/hoban-basquiat.
html?fbclid=IwAR0pcajwOzMnBQoaqQiMn9lGzBBx-xMJ0pRHXS5LlpIuZQdma4yATSuQlqI

18 19
A MARVELOUS MIRACLE
Basquiat’s emotions are very apparent in our exhibition. In this
catalogue, my colleagues and I offer our interpretations of the sym-
bolism—the first draft of art history that will also be interpreted by
others familiar with Basquiat’s visual vocabulary. In this time of lu-
cidity and optimism in 1982, he writes, he draws, he paints in many
layers obscuring and covering up much, sometimes leaving tidbits
about which we wonder and try to decipher. There is a dynamism
in these works that demonstrates his fervent energy. The paintings,
coupled with the referenced poem, take us deep inside Basquiat’s
inner world.

There are many recurring motifs in these paintings, and every paint-
ing is autobiographical. With many depictions of “A’s all over the
surface, which seems like visual screaming, to black birds locked in
cages while white birds fly free, to many death-like heads, skulls and
masks, they all seem to be self-portraits. This fact prompted our
choice of the title of the show, Heroes & Monsters. Basquiat is the
Hero, and Life is the Monster.

The fact that these masterpieces even exist untouched for thirty
years is a marvelous miracle for all of us. That they are fresh and
vivid—having been fortuitously locked away and perfectly preserved
for thirty years—makes the opportunity to exhibit and to see them
for the first time a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The exceptional
quality and depth of these raw-energy cardboard and plywood works
from the Mumford Collection are the purist form of Basquiat much
like when he was in and painting on New York. These works are
exuberant Basquiats, and they exude power and energy long before
the battery went dry. They are destined to be ranked among his very
best works.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Face with Orange Halo), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on
20 cardboard, 10 x 7 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 21
LOST AND FOUND Over the weekend, I did what I had done for over forty years as a
trial lawyer handling complex civil litigation: I immersed myself in

THE MUMFORD BASQUIAT VENICE COLLECTION the subject matter. I knew little about Jean-Michel Basquiat except
that his works were selling for tens of millions of dollars at auction.

Son of a Haitian father and Puerto Rican mother who grew up middle
class mostly in Brooklyn, Basquiat had a troubled youth: he never
THE HOTTEST ARTIST ON THE
By Pierce PLANET
completed high school, ran away from home at 15 for a while, abused
drugs and alcohol, and roamed the streets of New York, at times
O’Donnell living in a cardboard box. With his pal Al Diaz, his canvases were
My involvement (along with others) in finding and bringing these the city’s walls as they spray painted distinctive creations presaging
lost gems to the art world comprises the last leg of the journey. In the Basquiat’s later body of work during his all-too-brief brief ten-year
spring of 2017, a Californian named Billy approached me, claiming he career. Starting in 1978, their trademark SAMO©--an acronym for
and two others owned six paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat which “same old shit”—and pithy sayings—SAMO© AS AN ANTI-ART
they had acquired five years earlier. In 2012, they had purchased them FORM—mocked the conventional art establishment. Their unique
for a small sum from an auctioneer who had bought them from a Los expressions—a quixotic mixture of cryptic prophecies, jokes, and
Angeles art storage company. The six paintings, along with other poems—captured the attention of the Village Voice, New York Post,
Basquiats, had been stored there since 1982 by a celebrated African and connoisseurs of an emerging new genre of American art.
American television writer, Thaddeus Q. Mumford, Jr., who had paid
The distance from Venice,
Basquiat $5,000 in cash for them. Mumford’s failure to pay about Besides city walls, Basquiat resourcefully used acrylic, oil paint stick, Basquiat was “discovered” by Diego Cortez, a mid-thirties, avant-gar-
California to Orlando, Florida—
$7,000 in past due monthly storage fees led to the paintings being crayons, markers, and spray paint on scrap materials, a radiator, re- de art curator and filmmaker. Cortez took the 20-year-old artist
some 2,528 miles—can be flown
seized and sold. frigerator, football helmet, linen, metal, apartment walls, cardboard, off the streets and gave him some art supplies to paint in his studio.
by commercial aircraft in less
and even the inside of a FedEx box. The teenager survived by paint- Cortez curated the influential 1981 post-punk art show  New York/
than five hours and driven by
The only reason that Billy was calling me—and not Sotheby’s or ing T-shirts and making small postcards, drawings, and collages that New Wave  at MoMA PS1, debuting Basquiat and launching his daz-
car in two and one-half days.
Christies auction houses—was an unfortunate fact: no authoritative he sold in front of Washington Square Park, the Museum of Modern zling career. His fame spread like a prairie fire with collectors
A fit hiker can make the trip in
source had authenticated them. The six paintings had not been in- Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Basquiat was driven to be flocking to a succession of exhibitions in 1981 and 1982 in Modena,
about 850 hours over the span of
cluded in the two scholarly collections of Basquiat’s paintings: the a consequential artist—telling his father: “Dad, one day I will become Italy, New York, Los Angeles, Zurich, Rome, Rotterdam, and Kassel,
several months. In the case of 25
two-volume catalogue raisonné by Enrico Navarro (2000, 2010) and very, very famous.” Germany. Remarkably, as the prices for his works soared, Basquiat
paintings comprising Thaddeus
the compendium of paintings and drawings collected by Richard showed in approximately 45 one-and two-artist exhibitions and
Mumford, Jr.’s Basquiat Venice
Marshall (1992). Likewise, they were not among the more than 2,000 collaborations before he died in 1988 at age 27 of a drug overdose.
Collection—created by the artist
works reviewed by the Basquiat Estate’s Authentication Committee
in 1982—the journey lasted nearly
(“the Basquiat Committee”) (1994-2012). Art critics almost universally heralded his works as revolutionary,
40 years. This is the true story of
provocative, and autobiographical. With a restless mind and keen
that improbable odyssey.
Why had they not been authenticated? Because these six paintings intellectual curiosity, Basquiat’s works reflect his interest in history,
were in Mumford’s storage locker for 30 years until 2012—the year in poetry, philosophy, anatomy, and abstract expressionism. Basquiat
which the Basquiat Committee disbanded and long after the schol- challenged the status quo with respect to poverty, wealth, and racism
arly works had been published. For all intents and purposes, these as he expressed solidarity with vulnerable, voiceless, and forgotten
creations were lost to the art world. people around the world. Some observers praised his drawing skills.

I already knew that a work’s omission from the sanctioned publica- My preliminary research about prices for Basquiat’s paintings yielded
tions did not mean that it was not authentic. For example, in the stunning results. Between 2013 and 2017, auction buyers paid from
Pollock world, a supplement to the original catalogue raisonné col- $29.3 million (2013) to $110.5 million (2017). In this five-year span,
lected numerous new paintings, and the authors noted that undoubt- 12 paintings sold in this rarified eight-and nine-figure range. Seven
edly more were to be found. The absence from the accepted official were created in 1982, the year generally regarded as his best work and
collection, however, was usually an insurmountable obstacle to a sale. the year in which he painted for Mumford. As I contemplated this
undertaking, Basquiat was the hottest artist on the planet. No artist
Billy came to my law offices in Los Angeles with the six Basquiat in history had ever enjoyed such a meteoric rise to stardom.
paintings. Four were on cardboard, one on paperboard, and the
other on plywood. Something about them instantly captivated me.
They were colorful, richly detailed, and eye-catching in their original-
ity—unlike anything that I had ever seen before. After taking photos,
I rushed to Rizzoli Bookstore in Beverly Hills to purchase every book
on Basquiat.

22 23
FROLIC AND DETOUR SELLING OUT THE BACK DOOR
Over that first weekend with Basquiat, I compared the six paintings Over my four decades in the trenches, cases have been won or lost In the art world, proving authenticity boils down to three questions:
with over 100 known Basquiats in the compendiums. I jotted down based on a single piece of evidence—matching a fingerprint, authen- (1) how solid is the provenance (history of ownership), (2) whether
my initial amateur’s impression on a legal pad: “striking similarities ticating handwriting, forensic analysis, and finding a “smoking gun” science can shed any light, and (3) what do the experts (connoisseurs)
to many authenticated Basquiats—crowns, halos, signatures, skulls, document buried in millions of pages of records. If this sounds like think. First and foremost is provenance. Without a solid, document-
ghosts, bats, handwriting, and overall look and feel.” I was intrigued. Perry Mason, it is. Success in the courtroom is 90% perspiration ed chain of title from the artist to the current owner, it is game over.
(preparation) and only 10% inspiration.
On Monday, I called Billy wanting to know what he had in mind for In any investigation, I start with the documents. Witnesses can have
me to do. Given my years of frustration with the Pollock, I should have imme- faulty and selective memories, shade the truth, or just outright lie.
diately declined the invitation to take on the Basquiats. Six years of However, the written record, made at the time of the events at issue,
“We want you to get them authenticated and sold,” Billy replied. “We hitting my head against the wall had taught me that “undocumented is usually much more reliable. Some documents speak for them-
have taken them as far as we can with no success.” paintings”—those lacking the official imprimatur of universally-ac- selves—and sometimes loudly.
cepted proof of authenticity via the catalogue raisonné or a favorable
letter from the official committee formed by the artist’s heirs—rarely It was obviously vital that we establish that the paintings had in fact
“Why me?” I followed up.
sold. The art world’s gatekeepers—the ruling triumvirate of auction been owned by Mumford. So, where were they found? Were there
houses, galleries, and art advisors for wealthy private collectors— documents incontestably proving his ownership and obtaining them
“I am familiar with your efforts with the Pollock,” Billy answered.
were understandably unwilling to take any risk of buying fakes when from Basquiat?
works were selling for millions and tens of millions of dollars and
Billy was referring to my efforts since 2011 to authenticate and sell authenticated works by renowned artists were available. The challenge was formidable. The owners had no gallery sales
a majestic 3.5’ x 8’ Jackson “drip painting” attributed to legendary records. At the time of Mumford’s purchase of the paintings in late
Jackson Pollock. Like the six Basquiats, the Pollock had not been in- Highly-publicized scandals—like the 40 fake paintings attributed 1982, Basquiat was living and working in a large studio in the base-
cluded in the artist’s catalogue raisonné or authenticated by a panel to Motherwell, Pollock, and Rothko, authenticated by renowned ment of the Venice home of Larry Gagosian. An already celebrat-
of experts selected by the family. In a real sense, they had been lost— experts, and sold by the venerable Knoedler Art Gallery in New ed gallerist only four years after opening his first gallery, Gagosian
the Basquiats in storage and the Pollock in a private home—during York—heightened the insistence on authenticated paintings. No one (nicknamed “Go-Go”) had conducted the 22-year-old phenom’s first
the time period when they could have been blessed as authentic. seemed willing to take a chance on a paperless painting, no matter sell-out Los Angeles exhibition in April/May 1982. Basquiat was now
how much impressive scholarship and how many experts attested to there for six months to paint large canvases for the second Gagosian
“My efforts trying to sell the Pollock are hardly a reason to engage me since its genuineness. Thus, for many lonely years and $400,000 in ex- exhibition in March/April 1983.
I haven’t sold it yet,” I quipped. penses, disappointment and rejection had been my constant compan-
ions in my campaign to sell a painting for which a half dozen leading Basquiat always needed walking around money for his cocaine ad-
“Your Pollock is the real deal,” Billy assured me. “Just be patient.” Pollock connoisseurs had not only vouched but deemed a master- diction, partying, and lavish lifestyle, explaining why “he liked to
piece. It might as well have been a paint drop cloth. be paid for works of art quickly in cash” as one art historian noted.
Fortunately, patience was one thing that I had in abundance. When Basquiat did what he had done all his life—he improvised. As noted,
you do what I do for a living, it is best to be a marathoner and not a “Okay, Bill, I’m in,” I told him. We quickly made our financial arrange- the former street artist, often strapped for money, was proficient at
sprinter. High stakes lawsuits can last for years, sometimes a decade ment. In exchange for an agreed upon percentage of any sale pro- painting with readily available materials. It therefore came as no sur-
or more. A patient, deliberate investigation of all the facts, explor- ceeds, I would undertake to authenticate, market, and sell some or prise that Basquiat would scrounge for free cardboard at local stores.
ing diligently every potentially relevant piece of evidence, can lead all of the six Basquiats. When I told a close friend familiar with my Indeed, I could see from photographs that the edges of some of the
to favorable outcomes that no one imagined possible. Framed on my fruitless Pollock labors about taking on the Basquiats as “a client,” he works perfectly lined up where a larger cardboard piece had been cut
office wall is a quote by Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis: bluntly chided me for undertaking another “frolic and detour.” in half.
“Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared im-
possible before they were done.” With the daunting challenge ahead, I knew that I would need to hire
renowned experts in several disciplines. I raised a budget by turning
to family and friends to invest in the paintings. My super-savvy wife
Carmen fully supported this adventure, investing and offering a
welcome mixture of wise advice, encouragement, and devil’s advoca-
cy. This would turn out to be a shared journey.

24 25
THE TRASH DUMPSTER
Not only did we have no sales receipts, but we also lacked any cor-
respondence, other documents suggesting that Basquiat painted the
works, photographs of Basquiat and Mumford together, or photo-
graphs of Basquiat with the paintings. We needed tangible evidence
that the paintings passed from the artist to Mumford. I got my first
break.

I had been told that the paintings were obtained from Mumford’s Why did Mumford allow his stored items to be sold? Had he for-
locker in a Los Angeles storage facility Ortiz Bros. Moving & Storage. gotten about the paintings? Did the personal items, commemorat-
I first wanted to know if the company existed in 1982 when Mumford ing significant achievements in a lifetime of excellence, not have any
supposedly placed them there. Good news: this is a third-generation sentimental value to him? After all, besides his recognitions as one of
family business founded in 1949. Hollywood’s greatest TV writers and producers, Mumford was the
first African American batboy for the New York Yankees.
One of the Basquiat owners had obtained the last dunning notice,
dated April 4, 2012, sent by the storage facility to Mumford at a The truth was distressing. Mumford was one of the most accom- Billy related that a fellow named Lee and he were close pals who Billy and Lee met at the auctioneer’s home, paid him a modest sum
Beverly Hills address which I confirmed had once been his residence. plished, sought after TV writers and producers in the 1970s, 1980s, had first met as teenagers in Pompano Beach, Florida in 1974 and of cash, and drove away with the entire remaining collection—all
The balance owed on his storage locker # 2125 was $6,888.81, rep- and 1990s. An African American born in 1951 in Washington, D.C, he had hung out together for several summers. When I met Lee, he re- of which were in excellent condition thanks to being stored for 30
resenting several years of unpaid monthly fees. Mumford’s storage had overcome institutional discrimination and written and/or pro- membered that “Billy had a special talent even then. He would go years in a climate-controlled facility. Two of the paintings had already
contract contained a standard warehouseman’s lien allowing Ortiz duced episodes of Saturday Night Live, Alf, A Different World, Home to pawnshops and buy and sell these expensive watches. He had an been sold, but Billy went on a quest to recover them. He eventually
Bros. to seize and sell his locker’s contents if he failed to pay his Improvement, NYPD Blue, The Duck Factory, The Cosby Show, Maude, insane collection.” Lee got married and moved away, starting several found the eBay buyer and bought them back. The original Mumford
fees. Exercising that lien, the facility sold the items to a small-time Roots: The Next Generation, Electric Company, Sesame Street, Judging successful businesses and raising a family. Collection was intact.
Los Angeles auctioneer on May 17, 2012. I had a sworn statement Amy, and M*A*S*H, among others. Mumford was highly regarded
in which he confirmed that he had purchased the contents of by his peers, garnering nine nominations for Daytime and Primetime These long-time friends stayed touch. One way was buying art. Lee left California a short time later, moving his family to Boulder,
Mumford’s locker, including paintings on cardboard, his baseball Emmy and Writers Guild of America Awards and winning for The Sometime around 2008, Billy and Lee did a deal together buying a Colorado. He took with him the 19 paintings that are now included
memorabilia, and his Emmy and other trophies. He also provided Electric Company and M*A*S*H. painting that Billy had “picked.” He needed some cash to purchase it. in his group of paintings, commonly referred to as “The Mumford
color photographs of some of these locker contents with Mumford’s Lee happened to have a little extra money that he could contribute to Collection.” After buying the previously sold paintings, Billy has
name on them. Since 2004, Mumford had been unemployed as Hollywood turned the cause. From that time on, both friends honed their art collecting since maintained the other six paintings, commonly referred to
to younger writers and producers. A creative, versatile luminary for skills. For Billy, it was a career; for Lee, a hobby. as the “Basquiat Venice Collection.” Both Billy and Lee knew they
three decades who wrote hundreds of hours of high-quality televi- needed to verify the authenticity of these paintings. Lee made the
sion of varying genres, Mumford had been involuntarily retired. By In the art world, Billy was known as an “art picker.” Building on his first breakthrough.
2012, he was strapped for money, virtually destitute, and in poor skills as a young man trading in expensive watches, he developed an
health. For years, Mumford simply could not afford to pay the modest uncanny eye for art. While not formally trained in art, Billy was re-
monthly fees for his locker. portedly in a league of his own, devoting much of his adult life at-
tending estate and yard sales, scouring thrift stores, and rummaging
The auctioneer had no clue about the paintings’ creator or their con- around garages and attics. He carved out a decent living finding,
ceivable value. The baseball memorabilia and Hollywood mementos buying, and selling his discoveries. A hardy treasure hunter in the an-
were immediately sold. According to the auctioneer, the supposedly tiques and fine arts world, Billy was always looking for that diamond
worthless cardboard paintings were unceremoniously tossed into a in the rough painting, some misidentified gem that would fetch many
trash dumpster! times what he would pay the owner.

The world would have never seen these incredible works but for two In May of 2012, while out doing what he loved to do (searching for
longtime friends being at the right time and place, possessing keen hidden art treasures), a local art dealer showed Billy a blurry photo-
entrepreneurial instincts, and serendipitously seeing a photograph of graph depicting a number of paintings, some of which appeared to be
them. Here is what they credibly told me in separate conversations. signed by a “Jean-Michel.” The dealer asked him if they were worth
anything. Billy replied that he needed to do some research.

Billy was the first person to realize that the cardboard paintings in
Mumford’s storage unit were authentic Basquiats. He wanted to buy
the entire collection, but he did not have the resources at the time,
but his old pal Lee did. Billy telephoned Lee who happened to be
visiting Los Angeles. When Lee picked up, Billy said:

“Get some cash! I’m sending you an address. Meet me there as soon
as possible.”

26 27
$5,000 IN CASH PROVENANCE IN POETRY
The Mumford storage locker documents were compelling evidence A trip to Colorado to meet Lee, who still had the 19 Basquiats, paid If this poem was indeed authentic, it was a treasure trove of informa-
that he owned them. I could not imagine any other plausible expla- huge dividends. Lee is engaging, intelligent, and savvy with a quick tion linking the artist and writer in numerous poignant ways. Among
nation why they would be in his storage locker. But I was not fully wit. A true believer, he had put his proverbial money where his other things, the poem mentioned:
satisfied. I wanted some confirmation from Mumford himself. mouth was, expending tens of thousands of dollars—and countless
hours—in trying to authenticate the paintings since 2012. We imme- *themes relating to Basquiat’s and Mumford’s lives;
I tried in vain to reach Mumford. By 2017, gravely ill and suffering diately hit it off, sharing a passion for proving that Basquiat was the
from long-term memory loss, he was in and out of convalescent indisputable creator. Along with his talented lawyer Rich LiPuma, we *”25 paintings bringing riches” (Basquiat painted at least 25
homes. His former lawyer could not help me. Sadly, after a long forged a close working relationship as we went forward to establish paintings sold to Mumford);
illness, Mumford died on September 6, 2018 at his father’s home in that all 25 paintings were authentic.
Silver Spring, Maryland. He was 67. *”Sing along Dr. Thad sing” (Mumford created the popular char-
Mumford had been unable to find a receipt from Basquiat confirm- acter, and he was the voice for, Dr. Thad on Sesame Street);
While I could not interview Mumford, I spoke with Billy and Lee ing his purchase. What he did locate, however, was an extraordinary
who had met twice with Mumford after they purchased his paint- piece of evidence that literally brought tears of joy to Lee’s eyes. Lee *”Wrapping close last scene of war” (Mumford was writing the
ings. I interviewed them separately, and they had consistent, cred- had obtained from Mumford an untitled, typed poem in my opinion final episode for M*A*S*H that aired in early 1983);
ible recollections of what Mumford told them about his acquisition. written by Basquiat. Printed on 1980s-era dot matrix printer paper,
the poem—21 lines of free verse with three stanzas of seven lines *“Brooklyn brothers hands creating” (Basquiat was born in
When they first met over breakfast in late 2012, Billy and Lee were each—was initialed “JMB” on the bottom. Brooklyn Hospital, spent his early years in Brooklyn, and fre-
shocked to find that Mumford was in such a distressed physical con- quented the Brooklyn Museum, while Mumford spent some
dition, with braces on his arms and largely debilitated by illness and The start of a new day time living in Brooklyn);
fatigue. They had expected to find the vibrant and witty intellectu- No longer outsiders
al who had reached the pinnacle of his profession. Instead, sitting Industry insiders golden crowns receiving *They are artistic brothers (“hands creating”): Basquiat “[d]
before them, was a broken, needy man, tired and worn, who wanted Brooklyn brothers hands creating rawing” and Mumford “writing;”
to talk about treatment options for his ailments more than his glori- Drawing writing bridging gaps
ous past. Lee was so moved by Mumford’s condition that he returned LA summer bright *”We film, we write, we film, we paint” (Basquiat the painter, and
a day later and gave Mumford some money for food and medicine. Beware the fleeing wretched loneliness Mumford the writer for filmed television episodes);
Another visit in 2013 found Mumford’s condition unimproved.
25 paintings bringing riches *These two accomplished brothers are artistic pioneers among
Mumford was able to recall meeting Basquiat in 1982 when he was Sing along Dr. Thad sing along African Americans who are “bridging gaps,” “[n]o longer outsid-
writing for M*A*S*H. Mumford confessed somewhat sheepishly that Breaking bread this our summer ers” but instead “[i]ndustry insiders golden crowns receiving;”
Basquiat’s works were “not my kind of art,” but friends had persuaded Wrapping close last scene of war
him that he should buy some of his paintings. Mumford paid $5,000 Eat drink celebrate *The references to “golden crowns” and “crowning glory” are
in cash to Basquiat for the works, put them in his temperature-con- Choices made intriguing allusions to Basquiat’s frequent use of a three-pointed crown as
trolled storage unit, and never saw them again. He told Lee and Billy A serious quest we undertake his signature/autograph on his paintings (including several in
that he was unaware that his locker’s contents had been sold. our collection);
Raw emotions of a child
More corroboration of Mumford’s purchase came from two voice Did you know *Mumford won two television industry “statues” for his writing,
messages that he left in 2013 on the phone of Billy’s life partner Taryn. We film, we write, we film, we paint and one of the paintings features a statue on a television; and
While the recordings had long ago been erased, she had contempo- Crowning glory brings cheers and statues
raneous notes of the February 11, 2013 messages and gave me a sworn Oh how grand we feel *In the last line, the poem references three images appearing in
declaration. On the same day a few hours apart, Mumford said that Oh how lovely our life will be the 25 paintings: “[a] baseball a bird a television.”
he purchased the paintings from Basquiat when he was working on A baseball a bird a television our play a future bright
M*A*S*H, had money to buy them, and therefore the paintings that At this point, I was convinced that this remarkable autobiographical
came out of his locker belonged to him. I confirmed that Mumford poem celebrated two fertile creative minds and recorded the similar-
worked on M*A*S*H in the 1982 and 1983 seasons. ities and shared experiences of two African American men who had
closely bonded in such a short time. But our investigation as to the
All this mounting evidence convinced me that Mumford purchased poem was not completed.
the works from Basquiat. In my line of work, however, more evidence
is better. I wanted something conclusively proving that Basquiat My attention then turned to the “JMB” initials inscribed on the
knew Mumford and sold him these paintings. bottom of the poem. Could it be Basquiat’s handwriting? If so, this
was even further written proof that the poem documented a close re-
lationship between Basquiat and Mumford in 1982 and Basquiat gave
the paintings to Mumford.

28 29
As I had on several occasions, I turned to James Blanco. One of the
A CELEBRATION OF CELEBRITY
nation’s foremost document examiners, Jim had over 30 years of ex-
perience in government and private practice as a forensic document
Based on the documents, I had established to my satisfaction that Becoming a well-known brand would be one sure way to cement his
examiner testifying about signatures and other marks on documents
Basquiat sold 25 paintings to Mumford. Now, could I also prove that celebrity. Basquiat often used as a proxy signature his distinctive
that either established or refuted authorship. He had rendered over
Basquiat actually painted them? That may sound like a silly ques- three-pointed crown, symbolizing not only his criticism of class and
8,000 expert opinions. In the art arena, he had analyzed works at-
tion if the young artist sold them to Mumford, but I needed all the race but also his own self-proclaimed royal status as a king of art. The
tributed to Picasso, Pollock, Matisse, Rembrandt, de Kooning, Dali,
substantiation that I could muster to persuade an ultra-skeptical art commercially savvy artist was establishing his unique logo, not unlike
Erté, and others.
community that they were the real deal. You never knew which straw the graffiti tag SAMO© sprayed by Al Diaz and him on the walls of
will break the camel’s back. New York City.
More than anything, Jim was a straight shooter; I could trust his judg-
ment. A few years earlier, this master art sleuth had concluded that
It was now time to enlist science in support of authenticity. Many of the 25 paintings had signatures of varying types that said
“JA Comstock” inscribed on the verso of my Pollock was in fact the
“Jean-Michel Basquiat” either in block or cursive writing. Others had
handwriting of Pollock’s wife, Lee Krasner, who handled his busi-
One of the conventional ways to establish a painting’s authenticity his three-pointed crown. Some had both.
ness affairs and sent the painting to Pollock’s friend Dr. John Adams
is to identify the artist’s signature on the front or verso. While not
Comstock, thereby proving provenance.
every artist signed his/her works and some (like Pollock) were incon- Once again, I called upon Jim Blanco. Armed with the two-volume
sistent, the presence of some identity mark would enhance the case catalogue raisonné by Enrico Navarro and Richard Marshall’s collec-
“Pierce, it’s Jim,” the caller announced one day.
for legitimacy. My research found that artists’ signatures on their tion of paintings and drawings, Jim performed his characteristically
paintings dated from the Renaissance when “art production shifted thorough analysis of all known examples of Basquiat’s signatures and
“Jim, I’m dying to know the answer,” I breathlessly replied. So much
from co-operative guild systems to a celebration of individual creativ- uses of a crown on his works. Jim’s conclusion was stunning.
depended on his opinion.
ity. A signature was the perfect way to differentiate your talent from
that of lesser peers.” (Holly Black, “7 important things to know about Out of the 25 works, all but a few had some form of identifiable
“Sure enough, I can match the ‘JMB’ and known exemplars of
artist signatures,” Christies, July 24, 2017 (https://www.christies.com/ marking commonly used by Basquiat on his paintings and draw-
Basquiat’s handwriting,” he matter-of-factly reported. “It’s 100%
features/7-things-to-know-about-artist-signatures-8365-1.aspx) ings. The crown was present on 11, his signature on seven, and both
Basquiat’s initials.”
crown and signature on five. Remarkably, Jim found SAMO© on one
Forensic analysis of handwriting is a science dating from the early 17th and SAMO© and a crown on another. Interestingly, on a few paint-
I am known to be an emotional, expressive person, but that morning
century when an Italian professor in Bologna, Camilio Baldi, wrote ings, the crown was an integral part of the composition and not just
I outdid myself.
a pioneering treatise introducing modern graphology as the study a signature.
of identity. Today, graphologists routinely opine on authenticity
“Yes!!!” I bellowed, pumping my right clenched fist in the air several
of signatures in court cases. My generation grew up with Perry At this point, we had established provenance and science.
times. “Yes!!!”
Mason dramatically exposing forged documents as he secured his But what would the experts—so called connoisseurs—say about our
client’s acquittal. 25 paintings?
Jim later sent me a report documenting his opinion. His graphics
drew arrows between the J and M and B on the poem and samples of
Artists’ signatures come in all shapes and sizes from full cursive or
Basquiat’s penmanship, leading him to conclude that the artist had
block signings to initials to a distinctive mark, symbol, or logo. The
initialed Mumford’s elegant poem. “Due to the numerous similari-
literature noted that Basquiat—whose markings were notoriously
ties in handwriting features, Jean-Michel Basquiat is identified as the
almost illegible—had a printed version as well as two script signa-
author of the ‘JMB’ hand printed initials appearing on the poem.”
tures. Not all Basquiat’s paintings and drawings were signed.
Jim also confirmed that the poem “was not printed on any modern
printer because the typed alpha-characters are consistent with
As we knew, Basquiat professed that he wanted to be famous in his
impact typewriters from the 1982 time period when the poem was
lifetime; he would not die in obscurity like Van Gogh. “Since I was
thought to be created”.
seventeen, I thought I might be a star. I’d think about all my heroes,
Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix. . . . I had a romantic feeling about how
When I told Lee and Rich and sent them Jim’s report, they were
these people became famous.” Basquiat “wanted to build up a name
thrilled. This was a momentous breakthrough. We knew that it was
for myself.
up to us on our own to build an irrefutable case for authenticity. For
example, Rich’s request that the Basquiat Estate bless the paintings
had been flatly rejected by its lawyers with a terse statement that
the Basquiat Authentication Committee “had been disbanded in
September 2012 and no longer considers applications.”

30 31
THE KNOWING EYES DR. JORDANA MOORE SAGGESE
In his concurring opinion in an obscenity case (Jacobellis v. Ohio), With Marshall’s death and no letter from him, we needed written This may have been the longest two hours of my life.
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart remarked that when it came expert validation that these 25 paintings were Basquiat’s creation. As
to hard-core pornography: “I know it when I see it.” Much the same I had for decades in my law practice, I set out to determine the names Returning to her classroom, I sheepishly asked her what she thought.
can be said about the subjective way art historians and critics opine of the leading scholars on Basquiat. I was surprised that the amount Her answer—in the form of an extemporaneous critique of our paint-
about whether a work was done by the hands of a certain artist. Two of serious research and writing about this supernova of the modern ings—catapulted my authentication efforts to a whole new level.
putative specialists—what Francis O’Connor called connoisseurs art world was limited. Fortunately, one person stood head and shoul-
“with a knowing eye” for identifying an artist’s complex characteris- ders over all other academics. “These are marvelous works in excellent condition that have many of
tics in making an image in a particular way—can view the same work the distinctive elements of Basquiat’s best paintings,” she slowly began.
and in good faith reach contrary opinions about its quality, meaning, When I reached Dr. Jordana Moore Saggese in the summer of 2017, “A lot of his early works were opportunistic of what materials were
and authorship. she was Assistant Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory available. Cardboard is not out of the realm of possibility.”
at California College of the Arts. (Dr. Saggese is now Associate
Professor of American Art at the University of Maryland and Editor- Dr. Saggese then gave an analysis of each painting which she attribut-
in-Chief of the College Art Association’s  respected Art Journal.) ed to Basquiat.
Trained as an art historian, she taught courses on modern and con-
RICHARD MARSHALL temporary art with an emphasis on the expressions and theorizations One More King/Czar: “looks very good;” “an early work with famil-
of blackness. Her first book, Reading Basquiat: Exploring Ambivalence iar markers;” “crown resembles first crowns;” “feathers are a common
One such luminary for Basquiat was Richard Marshall. in American Art, reexamined the painting practice of the often-my- theme;” “the writing and repetition of ‘a’ are very common.”
thologized Basquiat. Published by the University of California Press
Lee informed me that in June 2014, he contacted Marshall to solicit in the summer of 2014, the pathbreaking work won the PEN Center
his opinion about the Mumford Collection. A long-time curator at He Didn’t: “this painting has commonality seen in similar works, in-
USA Award for Exceptional First Book.
the Whitney Museum of American Art, Marshall was best known cluding the arms come around and are extended;” “the general shape of
for his efforts as director of the Lever House Art Collection from the aura and crown are commonly seen elements;” “there are many more
“Hello, Dr. Saggese, this is Pierce O’Donnell in Los Angeles,” I began my
2003-2014. More to the point, Marshall had curated a major Basquiat common motifs such as a lot of doodling, references to music, anatomy of
call.
retrospective exhibition at the Whitney in 1992, served on the the lungs and heart, and others.”
Basquiat Committee, and had published a widely recognized, com-
prehensive survey of Basquiat’s known works under the simple title “Yes, Mr. O’Donnell,” the ever-polite scholar responded. “Thank you for
Boxer: “This is a very beautiful one;” “the use of multiple ‘s’s” is seen in
Jean-Michel Basquiat. Marshall graciously accepted Lee’s invitation to your patience.”
similar works such as Net Weight in 1981;” “the eyes, nose, and head are
independently review the works and traveled to New York to view typical and very popular in Basquiat’s works;” “the copyright symbol ©
the paintings. She was referring to my pestering her with phone messages and emails as
lived past the days of SAMO, identifying his ownership in his own career.”
I pressed to connect with her.
Lee recalls that Marshall turned flush upon seeing the paintings, and
Self-portrait with his cowboy hat wearing Leonardo da
the first words that came from his mouth were, “Are these paint- “I appreciate you speaking with me,” I let her know. “Were you able to
ings for sale?” After Marshall extensively inspected the paintings, Vinci’s flying suit: “This is the most exciting of the whole works, a very
look at the photos that I sent you?”
he assured Lee of his conviction that these were authentic paintings strong piece;” “many elements are common, including the cowboy figure,
by the hand of Jean-Michel Basquiat. He further told Lee that he the ghost, skyscrapers and cityscapes, painting over things, several layers
“I quickly perused them,” she cautiously replied. “Did you tell me that
would write a letter expressing his opinion confirming this fact. Lee of underpainting, and the signature spelling out his full name.”
they are painted on cardboard?”
was rightly convinced that Marshall’s favorable opinion would silence
any naysayers. Colorful Face or Skull: “This is very exciting. The piece is not as
“All but one which is painted on plywood,” I responded.
similar as the other works. The shape of the head, the roundness, the teeth,
Lee never received Marshall’s opinion. On August 10, 2014, Leo two different shapes of the eyes is not seen often.”
heard from a mutual acquaintance that Marshall had died, suddenly “They seem to have much in common with his early, best works,”
and unexpectedly, two days earlier. Filled with sadness and sympathy, she volunteered.
Reptile With Claws and a Crown: The front of the unique
Lee waited for a few months before confirming with family members two-sided painting: “This reptile with a crown is strikingly compara-
that, unfortunately, a draft opinion letter had not been found after Mr. Sensing an opening, I immediately asked: “Would it be possible to bring ble to a known work. The upraised arms are common elements, reveal-
Marshall’s death. six of the originals for you to view in San Francisco?” I held my breath as ing the arm and the joint. Very interesting. This has hints of reptilian
the phone seemed to go dead. with comparison of works of dinosaurs. The almost cartoonish refer-
Understandably, in the art world, an oral authenticity opinion never ence to ‘BAT BAT, BAT’ has an element of monster humor. There are
reduced to writing carries no weight. multiple outlines which is commonly seen in Basquiat’s works. There
“That would be fine,” she finally told me.
are a lot of nuances. This has a deeper meaning. There is nothing
On July 18, 2017, along with Billy’s life partner Taryn, I met this charis- indicative of a rush job.”
matic African American scholar in an empty classroom. She asked us
to leave the six paintings with her for a couple of hours. I unpacked The verso (Mystery Creature/Bat): “The interesting head is
them, leaving each painting on top of a desk. similar to later works. This is a fantastic work in striking superb
condition.”

32 33
Dr. Saggese agreed to serve as a consultant and prepare a
“WOW”
report on the six paintings. Her 73-page work, completed
on November 30, 2017 is a masterful study of Basquiat’s life,
Lee and I had stayed in close contact, sharing information and brain-
themes, historical significance, and the reasons why she con-
storming about how to develop a critical mass of evidence to attract
cluded that our paintings were done by the hand of Basquiat.
buyers and convince their art advisors that all 25 paintings were
Over the summer and early fall of 2017, Deborah investigated Basquiat’s creation. One day, he excitedly told me that Toronto art
“[I]t is my professional opinion that [these six paintings] may be attribut-
the history of famous artists’ and Basquiat’s usage of cardboard. seller Jason Halter, who had been engaged to market the 19 paintings,
ed to Jean-Michel Basquiat based on their comparison to known works, had succeeded in persuading legendary Diego Cortez to inspect the
Her conclusions about common uses by prominent artists were both
with which these paintings share imagery and icons. The paintings paintings. Not long thereafter, Lee breathlessly told me that Cortez
stunning and reassuring. Not only did her findings provide a strong
contain many of the most popular symbols of Jean-Michel Basquiat, in- had reviewed them and had written letters of authenticity for the set
defense, she also gave us ammunition to argue persuasively that
cluding: crowns, figures with halos, arrows, figures with top hats, skulls, the paintings’ worth was enhanced by being painted on cardboard of 19 and each of them individually.
and bird-like figures. We also see several examples of cars and trucks, by an artist who once painted on postcards (xeroxed images pasted
which held a personal significance for the artist given his childhood expe- on cardboard) and reportedly lived briefly on the streets in a card- I was dumbstruck.
rience of being hit by a car. The constellation of images that appear on board box.
the surfaces operate outside of a specific narrative; it seems instead that “Congratulations, Lee,” I told him. “That’s awesome!”
the works have been radically distilled to include only the most salient *”Despite its humble nature, cardboard has a long history as an artist
medium in its own right, with some of the most revered artists in the “Yes, it is, indeed,” Lee replied. “Hopefully, it will be a game changer.”
symbols, as if an attempt is made here to represent the artist only via
specific reference to his best-known works. Here, the symbols themselves Western canon using it as a substrate for a two-dimensional work, or
as a material for a three-dimensional sculpture.” “I would hope so,” I shot back. “After all, Cortez discovered Basquiat,
become a type of currency, a recognition of the artist’s marketability and
was his dealer for a while, and co-founded the Basquiat Committee.
significance on a global scale.” He is the authority.”
*Renowned artists who painted on cardboard include Edvard
Munch (The Scream), Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, Picasso,
Dr. Saggese’s report relied in part on a study by Jim Blanco metic- Cortez was the genuine Basquiat connoisseur, a legendary figure in
Rauschenberg, and Klein.
ulously comparing all 25 paintings with known Basquiats in terms the art world without whom Basquiat would likely have lived and died
of handwritings, signatures, word usage, numbers, monograms, in obscurity. As everyone knows, Jean-Michel was a New York City
*These giants “used cardboard either due to its intrinsic properties
symbols, and various other markings, sketches, and doodles. (Richard street artist when Cortez spotted his raw talent, then met him on the
that distinguish it from paper, panel, or canvas; due to its ubiquitous
Marshall’s work was one of his primary sources.) Jim’s methodical Mudd Club dance floor, literally brought him into his studio, and gave
and inexpensive nature; or some combination of both.”
analysis scours every inch of the paintings’ surfaces in search of sim- him $200 to purchase paint, brushes, and canvas.  His first gallerist,
ilarities. The result is a monumental achievement identifying scores Cortez remained close to the artist up to the time of his death.
*” [C]ardboard clearly has a long and fruitful history as an artists’
of similarities, leading him to conclude that “Jean-Michel Basquiat
medium that belies its quotidian connotations. When it comes to
authored all 25 paintings.” BASQUIAT ON A BOX Basquiat, the accessible nature of cardboard is key, as it would allow Even after Basquiat died, Cortez assisted his father in managing the
the voracious, developing artist to create very cheaply.” sale and promotion of his son’s increasingly valuable paintings and
I called Lee with the exciting news about Blanco’s latest report. We In my profession of persuasion as a trial lawyer, you must anticipate drawings. Along with Jean-Michel’s father, Cortez co-founded the
now had three pairs of knowing eyes (two in writing) who conclud- potential opposition to your position. Art is no different. What Basquiat Committee where he was the most knowledgeable member.
*Basquiat began painting on cardboard as a teenager and continued
ed that the Mumford paintings were created by Basquiat. All three would our detractors, skeptics, and naysayers argue against the paint- (The father died in 2013.) In short, no more qualified expert existed
throughout his career.
legs of the stool—provenance, science, and connoisseurship—were ings’ authenticity and value? with the credentials to authenticate Mumford’s paintings.
present. What more was needed to make our case?
*” Any notion that cardboard/paperboard works were inferior in
One obvious fact was that 24 were painted on cardboard or paper- Lee told me how it had come to pass that Diego had authenticated
terms of value was laid to rest in the May 17, 2017 Sotheby’s auction
board and one on wood. Artists using wood was not uncommon, but the 19 works.
when an Untitled oil-stick on cardboard (60x40 in.), drawn in 1982,
cardboard as a substrate—as opposed to canvas or paper—struck me
sold for $8,647,500.”
as unusual. But was it?
Krieger thoughtfully perceived the significance of the collection in
Shortly after I undertook this assignment, I hired Deborah Krieger,
terms of Basquiat’s development as an artist who used the low-pres-
a recent honors graduate of Swarthmore College with a B.A. in Art
sure environment of Venice, California to paint what he wanted to
History and an aptitude, ingenuity, and tenacity for challenging re-
paint and not what his pushy gallerist Annina Nosie and her wealthy
search impressive for any age. The daughter of one of my law part-
collectors in New York demanded. She also opined about the paint-
ners at Greenberg, Glusker, Deborah was just starting her career as
ings’ value.
a curatorial assistant at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington.
A few years later, she would graduate summa cum laude from Brown
University with an M.A. in Public Humanities. “The high quality of the . . . paintings in the Basquiat Venice Collection
attest to the fact that his use of cardboard, paperboard, and wood did not
hinder his creativity. Indeed, a strong case can be made that the use of
these substrate challenged Basquiat to paint in some new ways that pro-
duced these fortuitously discovered treasures. One thing is certain: these
paintings should not be devalued because they are not painted on canvas.”

34 35
Following Richard Marshall’s death in 2014, Lee did not give up on Then, we caught lightening in a bottle. Jason called to tell me that he
the idea of having the paintings examined by a prominent expert who had finally gotten Diego to look at photos of our six paintings and our
had had served on the Basquiat Committee before it was disband- website with all the documentation that we had posted confirming
ed in 2012. That dream was finally realized in September 2018, when authenticity. Jason told him that the six paintings were found in the
Diego Cortez independently reviewed and certified the authenticity same storage facility with the 19 paintings that he had already certi-
of the 19 paintings and the poem. fied. That seemed to be the winning argument. We set an appoint-
ment to meet in New York.
Lee had been working to prepare the Mumford Collection for a Cortez stopped and studied the Industry Insider/Big Head with TV
potential sale with Talin Maltepe of Sevan Art Gallery. Maltepe is a painting for several minutes, his keen practiced eyes moving to every On March 1, 2019, I met Jason and Diego at Crozier Fine Arts in lower
prominent art consultant, dealer and broker based in Toronto. She corner. As he examined it, he leaned toward LiPuma and said, “This Manhattan. I arrived early like I did whenever I went to court. Jason
has a unique niche in the art world, specializing in consulting on due one’s gonna make people talk. I wish I had this painting. You’re prob- came from Toronto, while Diego travelled New Orleans where he was
diligence for paintings that are not catalogued. She, in turn, brought ably sitting on over twenty million dollars with this one alone.” then living.
in a colleague, Jason Halter, a respected architect who also serves as
an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto teaching architec- Cortez could not contain himself when he arrived at the painting Jason walked into the viewing room accompanied by a bespectacled
ture, landscape, and design. known as Red Face and Rat Monster. (All the paintings were original- gentleman in his early 70s with a scruffy white beard and a pair of
ly untitled when Basquiat sold them to Mumford.) Again, he spent blue eyes exuding warmth and raw intelligence.
The owner of his own collection of uncatalogued Basquiat drawings, more time here than with the others. Tears welled up in his eyes, and
Halter made the initial contact with Diego Cortez. He learned that LiPuma had to ask if he was okay. Cortez then interpreted the paint- “Pierce, please meet Diego,” Jason began.
Cortez was most reluctant to independently examine works and had ing for LiPuma, explaining that Jean-Michel must have been in real
rarely commented on paintings by his former protégé. Nevertheless, pain when he had painted this one. “These are terrible images of a “It is a privilege to meet you, sir,” I remarked. And it really was an honor.
after several weeks of gentle persuasion, Cortez realized that the monster, and the house, which is the mind of the red-faced character,
But for Diego Cortez (born James Curtis), it is highly unlikely that the
Mumford Collection, having been stored for thirty years, did not is falling off the edge of the world into the abyss. This is very disturb- THE EPITOME OF COOL Basquiat would have become the celebrated phenom of American art.
have a fair opportunity for review. Therefore, Cortez agreed to travel ing stuff.”
to New York City to view the Mumford paintings as well as Halter’s Through Lee, I was introduced to Jason Halter whom I found to
pencil sketches. After his initial review, Cortez spent time with each painting, making “Are these the paintings?” he asked, pointing to our six works on two tables.
be an affable, knowledgeable, and trustworthy person who was
a more detailed examination. Then, as the group became more com-
actively engaged in helping Lee. Lee had told me that Jason also
On September 12, 2018, Lee, Halter and Lee’s attorney and Trustee fortable with each other, the discussion devolved to stories of the old “Yes,” Jason answered as I once again held my breath while another expert
owned his own Basquiat works. On the phone one day, we struck up
for the Mumford Collection paintings, Richard LiPuma, met Cortez days, memories of the Mudd Club, the wild parties, the celebrity in- examined our paintings.
a conversation.
at the Chelsea storage facility of Crozier Fine Arts. It was an historic teractions, and a virtual verbal postcard in remembrance of the glory
and moving experience for all the participants. Cortez first walked of New York City in the 1980s. A couple of hours later, as Cortez left “The photos don’t do them justice,” Cortez offered after spending several
“Hello, Jason, Lee referred me to you.” I opened. “how’s it going?”
along the tables of laid-out works with his jaw half dropped, almost the viewing room at Croziers, he again confided in LiPuma. “These minutes methodically looking at the front and verso of each painting.
in shock. He occasionally uttered remarks, more to himself than to are great works, and I just want to let you know I’m planning to give “They really are special, some of his best work in this time period.”
anyone else: how Jean-Michel had gone to Los Angeles in 1982 to them a favorable review.” True to his word, Cortez then wrote an “It’s a hard slog out there with unauthenticated paintings,” he admitted.
work with Gagosian, how he had not expected these paintings to be opinion letter certifying the authenticity of the collection of paint-
“What is it about them that you especially like?” I asked.
in such good condition, and sometimes as he looked at a particular ings, and he also wrote a separate certification letter for each individ- “Tell me about it, my friend,” I replied. “I can’t get arrested with my six.
painting, he just uttered “Wow!” (This reminded Lee of Richard ual work and the poem. It’s so damn frustrating when I know that they’re right.”
“A lot of people don’t appreciate how good Jean-Michel was at drawing,” he
Marshall’s initial reaction.)
noted. “These pieces reflect the strong graphic work with a central iconic
“Believe me, I know first-hand,” he replied. “I’ve had my own genuine
figure which typifies his work from this period.”
Basquiat drawings for several years, and I still have them”.

You could knock me over with a feather. Cortez was not finished.
“Lee told me about your coup with Diego Cortez,” I offered.

“These works also capture the power of his intensity of line which has
“Yeah, Diego and I have developed a good rapport,” he told me.
subsequently engaged so many collectors and museums around the world
with his work.”
“That’s terrific,” I told him. “Do you think he’d look at mine?”

“Diego just does not like to opine on Jean-Michel’s works.” Jason replied.
“Let me see what I can do.”

Months passed without Jason being able to get Diego to undertake

the assignment. Diego was a notoriously private person who had
defected from the New York art scene and initially lived in North
Carolina. Aloof and guarded, it was well known that what I wanted
Diego simply did not want to do. Even though I pestered Jason every
week about Diego, I had given up hope.

36 37
After about two hours with the paintings, Diego, Jason, and I
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
went to lunch. Ordinarily reserved and taciturn, Diego opened up, Patricia devoured all the materials on my website and did extensive
telling some war stories about Jean-Michel, Patti Astor, and Basquiat’s independent research about the significance of our collection and its
In the summer of 2019, I got a break. An established Los Angeles
father Gerard. value based comparable sales for the past few years. She asked for
art gallery, owned by Patrick Painter, agreed to mount an exhibi-
additional information on provenance, and despite the COVID-19
tion of our six paintings in May 2020. The marketing materials were
“The authentication board was an unruly group,” mild-mannered Diego crisis, she traveled from Charleston to New York City to view the
prepared, the media plan was drafted, and my hopes were renewed.
offered. “Most of them were art dealers trying to get the family to allow paintings. Patricia delivered her report in September 2020. She
Things were looking up.
them to sell his paintings. I was the only one who was not trying to make placed high values on each painting.
a buck.” But not for long.
Patricia was impressed by the quality of our paintings.

“Have you thought about writing a book about your life and times and all In mid-March, 2020, the City of Los Angeles—responding to the
metastasizing public health crisis posed by the coronavirus pandem- “The instant collection is a varied group of spirited works, typical in
the people you worked with?” I asked.
ic—put its residents on lockdown. My law firm closed, sending 200 subject and technique preferred by Basquiat. Appraiser has found each
employees off to the uncertain virtual world. Businesses and schools work to be in very good condition. Overall, the quality of the works is
From the articles that I read, Diego was an influential player in New
York City’s art and music scene. One major exhibition feathered were shuttered, and life as we knew it was put on an indefinite hold. comparable with other Basquiat works that command substantial prices.
more than 100 artists, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring, Provenance research indicates that the works were completed in and
Andy Warhol, and Basquiat. The global art world was severely impacted as auction sale revenues around 1982, a year that many experts feel was particularly prolific for
plummeted and paralyzing uncertainty took hold. Art Basel summed Basquiat’s work.”
up the immediate impact: “The COVID-19 crisis has had an unprec-
“Yes, I have,” he swiftly responded. “I have a ton of materials.”
edented impact on the art market, shuttering galleries and museums. Patricia had keen insights into how our paintings fit into Basquiat’s
Exhibitions, art fairs,  and auctions have either been postponed or overall body of work.
“Sort of like Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, about her life with Robert
have moved online.” Our forthcoming Basquiat exhibition was can-
Mapplethorpe and the New York art and music scene in the 1970s and celed—twice over the next year.
1980s?” Jason suggested. “Factors that enhance the value of each of the instant works include
dynamic composition flush with typical Basquiat iconography. The
In June 2020, I decided to get an appraisal of our six paintings. My
Diego nodded. works often depict deeply emotional turmoil intertwined with social and
brilliant art colleague, Dr. Ron Parker, recommended Patricia Dillon,
a highly-regarded appraiser, professor, and lawyer with Putnam political messaging and fantastical presentation. These statements speak
We said our good-byes, with Diego returning to New Orleans, Jason It was a fair question. We had a cornucopia of solid proof: a storage Fine Art and Antique Appraisals in Charleston, South Carolina. A directly to the current political atmosphere, are typical to the Basquiat
to Toronto, and me to Los Angeles. I got Diego’s unqualified letters receipt for Mumford’s unit in which the paintings were found, a delightful, charming intellectual who is certified by the Appraisers oeuvre and will remain current for many years forward.”
of authentication similar to the ones that Lee received. Diego and I sworn declaration from the auctioneer who bought the locker’s con- Association of America, Patricia has done 150 appraisals of paintings,
spoke on the phone one more time about him writing his book. Sadly, tents and his photographs of them, statements from two people who works on paper, sculptures, photographs, and furniture for museums, Lee then engaged Patricia to appraise the 19 Basquiats. She wrote a
as I was writing this essay, Diego passed away in Burlington, North spoke to Mumford and heard him confirm that he bought the paint- historic sites, and major collectors. In the business, she is widely comprehensive, insightful report as she did for me. Given that Lee
Carolina; he never wrote his book. Like me, he was 74. ings from Basquiat in 1982, a sworn declaration about two Mumford respected as an appraiser’s appraiser in light of her academic and had about three times as many paintings and two were very large, her
phone messages also confirming this fact, a poem written and ini- professional lecturing for major universities like Harvard, College of appraised value of the 19 was a multiple of that of the six paintings.
Diego’s longtime collaborator Patti Astor told ARTnews: “Another tialed by Basquiat, expert reports by Dr. Saggese and Jim Blanco at- Charleston, and New York University, Sotheby’s, and appraisal and
one of the great warriors is gone.” In his New York Times obituary, testing to Basquiat creating the paintings for a variety of reasons, conservation societies. Needless to say, Lee and I were thrilled to receive this further valida-
one friend noted: “Diego was full of unquenchable passion.” Another and, the pièce de resistance: certifications of authenticity by the most tion from such an authoritative source. At least a half dozen experts
described Diego as “the epitome of cool.” renowned Basquiat authority in the world. had blessed the 25 paintings. Their authenticity and value had been
proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
For me, his authentication letters were an apparent lifesaver. “You know, Lee,” I responded after reflecting for a moment. “I can always
lose a trial. But in the Case of the 25 Basquiats, I see a jury finding them But all I heard was the sound of silence.
But not really. Even with Diego’s imprimatur, my art sellers had not not just authentic but declaring them to be masterpieces.”
yet landed a sale. Lee was having a similar experience. One day, we
were conversing about this mystifying situation.

“Counselor,” he began. Lee loved to tweak me about my day job.

“Could you lose a court case with all this evidence that we have accumu-
lated?” he wanted to know.

38 39
 The Orlando Museum of Art was also impressive. The major cultural
SERENDIPITY  I was on sensory overload—my brain was overwhelmed. I told Aaron
institution in central Florida, it is one of the leading art museums in that I was very interested and would get back to him soon.
the South. Housed in an 80,000 square foot facility, the museum has
It  was  now  March  2021. Nearly four years into my Basquiat case.
a diverse collection of primarily modern and contemporary art by the The significance of a major exhibition was hardly lost on me. This
Despite all my (and Lee’s) successes in securing solid proof of prov-
greatest artists working in the twentieth and twenty-first century. could be the elusive final validation—in lieu of a catalogue raisonné
enance, unimpeachable scientific support, and consensual validation
Annually, with about 200,000 visitors, it mounts about six to eight entry and Pollock-Krasner Foundation authentication—that would
by respected connoisseurs as well as the smart, aggressive, and tire-
major exhibitions on-site and a similar number of off-site exhibitions. get the painting (recently appraised at $170 million) sold.
less sales efforts of our dedicated art sellers, it seemed like I had not

advanced at all from where I was the day I started to pursue what
It took a few days before Dr. De Groft and I connected.
increasingly looked like an impossible dream. I was not yet prepared “Aaron, this is Pierce,” I opened on a call the next day. “I want to thank
to throw in the towel on the Adventure of the Lost Basquiats, but I you for your call and invitation.”
was running out of options. “Hello, Dr. De Groft, this is Pierce O’Donnell,” I began. “It is a privilege
to speak with you.”
“I hope that you will let us do this,” Aaron stated. “I promise that we will
My dear mother was fond of saying that “things happen for a reason.” mount a world-class exhibition.”
For half century of adult life, I was never quite sure what she meant. “The privilege is all mine,” he replied with a tinge of a Southern accent.
Then I found out. “Please call me Aaron.”
“Aaron, I definitely want to partner with you and your museum,” I made
clear. “But I can’t commit to September. I have some issues to resolve first
In late March, I received an email from a stranger. His name was Dr. “And Pierce, please,” I told him. “Thank you for your email. I must tell
with my partner.”
Aaron de Groft, the Director of the Orlando Museum of Art. He did you that I thought that I was imagining everything.”
not waste any time getting to the point.
“Oh, I see,” Aaron replied, disappointment resonating in his voice.
“You’re not because I’ve read your e-catalogue on The Comstock Pollock,”
“Dear Mr. O’Donnell: Aaron quickly injected. “Your painting is not only genuine, but I believe
“But I think we would be good to go in January,” I quickly added.
that it is one of the very best drip paintings that Pollock ever created.”
“Would you be willing to speak about the Pollock? We would love to cel-
ebrate it and showcase it here in Orlando where we lead the country in “That will work . . . work very fine,” Aaron told me.
“Umm, thank you,” I said in a low voice as I tried to process just what
tourism with an excess of 73 million tourists. We would love to promote Aaron was telling me. I had lived with this painting for a decade and had
it internationally. . . . I have read much about the work. It is right. I “Now, I do have some other paintings that you might be interested in for
spent so much time and money, battling to have it publicly recognized as
would be happy to fly to LA to talk with you in person. I am happy to talk. your September event.”
authentic and exceptional. That moment had finally come.
Thank you very much”.
“Talk to me,” Aaron urged.
“You should be proud of what you have accomplished,” Aaron added. “I
I was flabbergasted. Finally, as I had hoped would happen one day,
would like to introduce this unknown masterpiece to the world in a way I told him the condensed version of the story of the Mumford
someone at a respected art museum thought that the Pollock was au-
befitting its grandeur.” Basquiats, the efforts by Lee and me to get them authenticated and
thentic and wanted “to celebrate it.”
sold, and the roadblocks that we had encountered. As I spoke, I
Aaron then outlined his ideas for a world premiere beginning in late emailed him photos of our six paintings.
Before I responded, I did some research on Dr. De Groft and his
September of 2021, including massive publicity, a catalogue, and mul-
museum. He was the new and only fourth director in the nearly 100
tiple months of exhibiting it to tens of thousands of visitors. The “Oh my God!” Aaron exclaimed. “These are sensational.”
years of the institution. Recently hired after a global talent search,
exhibition would be part of a larger event for launching a campaign
Dr. De Groft had three degrees in art history, 25 years of experience
to celebrate the museum’s 100th anniversary in 2024.
as an art curator and museum director, and a specialty in Old Masters “I have a website with all the research, expert reports, and key docu-
and modern and contemporary art. For 15 years, he ran the presti- ments,” I offered. “Let me send you the link and password.”
gious Muscarelle Museum at the College of William & Mary, mount- “I have a lot of experience debuting lost art, Pierce,” Aaron mentioned.
ing dozens of notable exhibitions featuring works by Michelangelo, “From Titian to Rembrandt to da Vinci. Your Pollock will captivate the
Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Botticelli, important contemporary African art world.”
American artists, Titian, Reubens, Cézanne, da Vinci, German ex-
pressionists, and modern artists.

40 41
The next morning, Aaron called me. His voice was excited.

“Pierce, I was up most of the night devouring your website contents,” he

started. “I want to do a major exhibition showcasing your spectacular
Basquiats in September. They are gems.”

Twice in one week this man had changed my life. While I instantly
knew the significance of his museum vouching for our Basquiats—
as it was vouching for the Pollock—I was nonetheless awed and
humbled. No one knew the loneliness, heartache, and gnawing sense
of failure that had haunted my decade-long efforts to persuade the
hostile art world to embrace these paintings.

I enthusiastically accepted Aaron’s invitation. After we discussed

some of the particulars, including getting the other 19 Basquiats into
the exhibition, Aaron had a question for me.

“Pierce, Jackson Pollock and Jean-Michel Basquiat are the two greatest,
most significant artists in American history,” he stated. “How did one
person, you, manage to be so involved with both?”

“Bad luck,” I wryly replied. “Until I met you.”

Pierce O’Donnell is one of the
nation’s foremost and sought-af-
It did not take long for the museum and me to work out the details
ter trial lawyers. With numerous
of a loan agreement for the six paintings. I also talked with Lee and
notable successes in a variety
Rich about showcasing their 19 paintings at the same time. They
of fields, Pierce has represented
were in.
Hollywood celebrities, motion
picture studios, television net-
As part of his due diligence, Aaron traveled to New York to examine
works, most of the Fortune 10
the paintings. He then gave us his impressions:
corporations, cities and estates,
the Republic of France, profes-
“These are astounding masterpieces in one of the last times Basquiat was sional athletes, leading entrepre-
My mother was right. Never underestimate the beneficent role of ser-
painting for himself. After the year 1982, Basquiat was always painting endipity in human affairs. What a concatenation of unlikely events! neurs, an NBA basketball team,
for someone else. The exceptional quality and depth of these raw-energy Thanks to Mumford forgetting about his purchase and not paying art museums, art collectors, and
cardboard and plywood works from the Mumford Collection are the purist his storage locker fees, Billy recognizing and rescuing the paintings 350,000 Katrina flood victims.
form of Basquiat, much like when he was painting in and painting on… from a trash dumpster, Lee putting up the money to buy them and all Dubbed the Perry Mason of
Brooklyn. We made a discovery never mentioned or observed and record- his incredible detective work from finding the poem to Diego Cortez, Hollywood, Tom Brady of trial
ed before by anyone. Basquiat used spray painting on these cardboards my stubborn pursuit of evidence and expert opinions, and, finally, attorneys, and the Billion Dollar
from the Mumford Collection, thus tying these California pictures direct- Dr. Aaron De Groft reading my e-catalogue for The Comstock Litigator, Pierce has recovered
Pollock, the Mumford and Basquiat Venice Collection may have re- over $7 billion for his clients over
ly to Brooklyn. . . . I will say once again that these works in the Mumford
mained lost forever. his storied 50-year career. A
Collection are masterpieces and, as of yet, there are no comparable works
former law clerk for U.S. Supreme
like this now, or before them. I would say they are singularly unique. Let
The  historical parallels here are striking. Basquiat acknowledged Court Justice Byron R. White,
me know how I can help to debut these masterpieces to the world.” he has been named one of “The
Jackson Pollock’s influence on his painting. Decades later, Pollock
was still shaping Basquiat’s legacy. A lost Pollock’s discovery directly 100 Most Influential Lawyers in
The debut is now set for the Orlando Museum of Art in February America” by the National Law
led to discovery of 25 lost Basquiat paintings.
2022 when the world will soon discover the astounding masterpiec- Journal. Pierce has been involved
es that Jean-Michel Basquiat created for his friend Thad Mumford in with the works of Picasso, Pollock,
On a warm, partly cloudy day in early October 2021, a special-
Los Angeles in 1982. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rothko,
ly-outfitted art transport truck carrying the 25 Basquiats arrived at
the Orlando Museum of Art. It was almost 40 years since Jean- Titian, de Kooning, Rembrandt,
Michel painted them for Thaddeus. The implausible journey of four Yamagata, and Renoir. Pierce and
decades from Venice to Orlando was now over. The lost works had his wife Carmen Licea-Elliott are
been found. avid art collectors.

42 43
BROTHERS IN BOND by Danielle
THADDEUS Q. MUMFORD, JR. Coluccio
AND JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT:
A LIFE AND LEGACY IN 25 PAINTINGS
The start of a new day The name Thad Mumford may not ring a bell. While Jean-Michel
No longer outsiders Basquiat’s white-hot stardom came to a screeching halt at age twen-
Industry insiders golden crowns receiving ty-seven only to sear his name into legend, Mumford’s flame burned
Brooklyn brothers hands creating for decades in Hollywood writers’ rooms, his legacy monumental but
Drawing writing bridging gaps soft-spoken. Ten years Basquiat’s senior, it seems likely that Mumford
LA summer bright acted as a sort of mentor, perhaps recognizing his same gumption
Beware the fleeing wretched loneliness and drive in the young artist. Their fraternity has deep roots in their
shared love of music, sports and television, but more importantly as
25 paintings bringing riches Black men trying to succeed in white-dominated industries.
Sing along Dr. Thad sing along
Breaking bread this our summer
Wrapping close last scene of war
Eat drink celebrate
Choices made intriguing THE START OF A NEW DAY
A serious quest we undertake
NO LONGER OUTSIDERS
Raw emotions of a child
Did you know Born Thaddeus Quentin Mumford, Jr. on February 8, 1951, Mumford
We film, we write, we film, we paint was raised in a northeastern neighborhood of Washington, D.C. His
Crowning glory brings cheers and statues father, Thad Sr. was a dentist with his own practice, while his mother,
Oh how grand we feel Sylvia, was a teacher. He and his younger brother, Jeffrey, grew up
Oh how lovely our life will be comfortably middle-class, in a predominately white neighborhood.
A baseball a bird a television our play a future brigh(t) However, in an extensive interview with the Archive of American
Television, Mumford recalls witnessing “white flight” as a child, as
flocks of white families moved out of cities with larger populations
In 1982, Thad Mumford sat down at his typewriter and typed a of Black families and into the suburbs. Mumford and his brother at-
poem believed to be written between him and Jean-Michel Basquiat. tended elite Georgetown Day School, where their mother taught and
Printed on dot-matrix paper and initialed by the artist himself, the which was the first school in D.C. to be racially integrated.
poem serves as a proof of purchase: $5,000 cash in exchange for
twenty-five paintings by the art world’s resident bad boy. Outside of “Bebop’s I guess my favorite music. But I don’t listen to it all the time;
the actual artworks, this poem stands as the only tangible connection I listen to everything.” —Jean-Michel Basquiat
between the two creatives, the circumstances of their meeting lost
to a pre-internet era and left to speculation. And yet, what a person- Much like Basquiat, Thad had a well-rounded childhood, having been
al way to document a transaction. These twenty-one lines are not exposed to music and art from an early age. Mumford’s father was an
simply a receipt; they bear witness to a friendship, each phrase and avid listener of jazz music, filling the house with the sounds of Count
stanza alluding to their lives, legacies and dreams. Basie and Ray Charles, inspiring Thad’s love of bebop and jazz music.
Additionally, Mumford’s brother, Jeffrey, recalls hearing his brother
blast songs from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and
Damn Yankees through their bedroom wall. The brothers also spent
time appreciating art at the National Gallery, while Basquiat’s mother
often took him to the Brooklyn Museum. Mumford enjoyed building
replicas, having constructed a working stage model with lights and
curtains, and a scale replica of Yankee Stadium, with the latter being
an ode to his one true love: baseball.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Receipt / Poem), 1982, Oilstick and typewritten text on
perforated computer paper (continuous feed), 11 x 7 5/8 in. MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr.
44 Richard LiPuma, Manager. 45
Mumford was a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees, despite being Mumford and Basquiat shared many of the same formative child- for Sesame Street, but still needed help with phonics. It featured
INDUSTRY INSIDERS GOLDEN
from Washington, D.C. “Now you’re saying, ‘You’re from Washington, hood experiences, uniting them in their interests. They both grew various comedy and musical segments and introduced audiences to
D.C., why the Yankees?’ Because the Washington Senators, the motto up in upper-middle class homes, surrounded by art and music. Just CROWNS RECEIVING stars like Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman. Despite the diverse
for the team was ‘Washington Senators: First in war, first in peace, as Mumford idolized his baseball heroes, so did Basquiat admire BROOKLYN BROTHERS HANDS cast, behind the scenes was more homogenous, with Mumford later
last in the American League.’ They were terrible! They had very few Black athletes and musicians, particularly ball players, boxers and jazz joking, “I was the diversity.” Although he was fired after a couple
CREATING
Black players.” artists. Linguistic and visual portraits of the great Charlie Parker and of months due to inexperience, twenty-year-old Mumford was
Dizzy Gillespie appear in Horn Players (1983), while nods to baseball DRAWING WRITING BRIDGING quickly rehired after several staffing changes and went on to win
However, the Yankees were not on the right side of history regard- world-record holder Hank Aaron are seen throughout Basquiat’s GAPS his first Emmy Award with the writing staff in 1973 for Outstanding
ing integration. Jackie Robinson’s signing to the Brooklyn Dodgers in oeuvre. Those that Basquiat respected received crowns, bestowing Children’s Programming.
1945 marked the first time a Black player was signed to a Major League them with the honor and status that Basquiat knew they deserved. The ball boys’ dismissal from the team left Thad to his education
team, paving the way for other Black athletes. Yet, the Yankees did Perhaps he and Mumford bonded over their admiration for those (which was still not at the top of his to-do list) and allowed him Thad’s musical appreciation was put to good use, as he penned several
not integrate until 1955 with the signing of catcher Elston Howard, they saw themselves in: Black men who succeeded in a world that the time to begin his writing career as a page at NBC in Manhattan. songs for the program, including “Phantom of Love,” performed by
becoming the third-to-last team to do so. Looking back, Mumford told them they couldn’t. Mumford’s entry-level job at the network marked his foray into Moreno. The songwriting would later follow Mumford to Sesame
said he wished that he would have known more about the nature of Hollywood, though he went in blind. Like many others, he was in- Street, where he worked as a contributing writer throughout the 80s
the game and the role racial prejudice played in something he loved so Despite the similarities in their upbringings, Basquiat’s childhood spired by The Dick Van Dyke Show. Mumford spent his childhood and 90s, writing and performing hits like “The Ten Commandments
much. However, as he got older, he “learned to put their racism into was punctuated with periods of documented trauma and strife, watching Ed Sullivan, Alan King, Joan Rivers and Flip Wilson crack- of Health.” He recorded the song himself as Dr. Thad, a green puppet
context.” But for a young Mumford, baseball was still pure of heart where Mumford’s was not. The bodily trauma of a car accident at ing jokes: that taught children the best ways to stay healthy. The song was a
and full of heroes. He looked up to the greats like Mickey Mantle and age seven, the volatile nature of his mother’s mental health prior to parody of the 1958 doo-wop hit “The Ten Commandments of Love”
Whitey Ford, joking that “Mickey Mantle was the first blonde I ever her hospitalization, running away from home as a teenager: These “I didn’t have it formed in my head yet to be a writer. I just knew by Harvey and the Moonglows, a favorite style of Mumford’s.
fell for, not Marilyn Monroe.” stressors molded Basquiat, pushing him in a different direction from I wanted to be around showbusiness. I loved acting, I wanted to be
his and Mumford’s point of intersection. an actor. But I was told by my parents, my mother specifically, every After the success of The Electric Company, Mumford’s career began
In 1967, Mumford “harassed” his way into a ball boy position for the Sunday morning, that there were ‘no parts for colored actors. No branching out to programs geared toward adults. He wrote a couple
New York Yankees. In fact, after his family moved to New York, he parts, no parts at all. You’re wasting your time.’” episodes each for shows like Good Times and That’s My Mama, which
was one of the first Black men to hold such a position at a time when were marketed more toward Black audiences, and he went on to
racial tension among players and fans was still palpable. In his inter- After watching from the sidelines as comedy’s greatest stars per- write several episodes for Maude, starring Bea Arthur in the titular
view with the Archive of American Television, Mumford had this to formed on The Tonight Show stage, Mumford began to think, “Well, role. Mumford rejected the idea that he was offered certain oppor-
say of his upbringing: maybe I can do this. Maybe I can write jokes.” His headstrong and tunities because of his race, insisting that he took whatever opportu-
determined nature—the one that carried him through his childhood nities were given to him: “As a twenty-three-year-old, you just want
“I think my dad and my mom wanted to raise my brother and I and into the Yankees’ dugout—would prove an asset in the studio. a chance.”
without the sense of being contained within a narrow world of being Thad thought nothing of waltzing right up to Marshall Brickman and
Black. A lot of parents raise their kids like ‘You can’t do that; you can’t Hank Bradford, Johnny Carson’s showrunner and head writer, re- Maude, while still a comedy, addressed several social and political
do that.’ I had none of that—and in the process became so pushy, just spectively, and asking for sample monologues. He pestered Bradford issues, including race, sexuality and feminism, before such topics were
headstrong, because I didn’t have any fear.” into pitching Carson some of his jokes, eventually working his way commonplace on television. One of Mumford’s teleplays from 1977
into the star’s monologue and becoming a regular contributing centered around Maude’s conservative neighbor and his objection to
Mumford would take a bus from D.C. to New York for games, where writer. Mumford also wrote for Rivers, landing a few jokes while she a gay bar that opened in their town. The episode is spent examining
he would stay with a cousin in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood hosted The Tonight Show. Looking back on his start in a 1986 inter- the arguments in a funny, approachable manner, ultimately defending
in Brooklyn, just a few short miles from Basquiat’s childhood home view, Mumford said: the gay community and its right to exist happily in the neighborhood
in Park Slope. Despite starting college at Hampton Institute, a his- without prejudice. This open approach to the world became one of
torically Black college in Virginia, Mumford would sneak up to New “I now realize, seventeen years later, just how much time he Thad’s greatest strengths, helping him to create scripts that still hold
York to see the rest of the Yankees’ season through. He would go on [Bradford] spent helping me write jokes. ‘Cause I was a pain in up today. Mumford attributed his ability to effectively write for both
to write a letter to the president of Fordham University, in the Bronx, the butt…How to write and craft a story came later. I learned Black and white audiences to his worldview: “Because I didn’t have
asking for a mid-semester transfer. A recommendation letter from how to write jokes first.” this sense of a limited world, this ‘black glass ceiling,’ most of them
the Yankees’ president helped secure his placement, and he enrolled [other Black writers] did. And so, they didn’t understand how white
that same year. He rarely went to class, though, stating, “I was just Mumford continued to hone his burgeoning writing talent as a page people talked or thought.” Conversely, in a 1983 interview, Mumford
having too much fun.” By the end of the 1968 season, Thad and his and contributor until Brickman put him in contact with the William noted that:
fellow ball boys had been fired from the team for giving balls away Morris Agency, a leading talent group that had once represented the
to kids in the stands, even forging players’ signatures on them. Yet, likes of Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. At the time, there “Many writers who create Black characters don’t have the remotest
there was no bad blood between the writer and his home team, with were no Black writers actively working in comedy, but William idea of how such people would really act. They create stereotypes
Mumford eventually being invited back for “Old Timers’ Day.” The Morris still signed him to a contract, seeing promise in the young because their own perceptions are based on stereotypical images that
Yankees’ Hollywood prodigal son returned home to the stadium, this writer. they’ve seen or read.”
time in his own pinstripes, to celebrate his achievements and catch a
few balls. The connection to a powerhouse agency helped increase Mumford’s
job prospects, quickly leading to an offer to write for The Electric
Company. The show was geared toward children who were too old

46 47
By 1979, Mumford had over two dozen writing credits to his name.
WRAPPING CLOSE LAST SCENE WE FILM, WE WRITE, WE FILM, WE
That same year, he was tapped to write a segment for Roots: The
Next Generation, a sequel to Alex Haley’s powerful account of a Black OF WAR PAINT
family’s experience in America, broadcast on ABC. Mumford asked
his friend, Dan Wilcox, to help him, having partnered with him on Mumford and his writing partner, Dan Wilcox, were brought onto Mumford was writing the final season of M*A*S*H in Los Angeles in
various writing ventures since their shared time on The Electric the M*A*S*H team in 1979, in the show’s eighth season. The hit com- 1982 as a young Basquiat ventured to the city three times that year,
Company. However, the Roots producers feared that having a white edy-drama followed an Army surgical unit during the Korean War working fervently on pieces for his upcoming shows at the Larry
writer would be distasteful. “They were determined to have one and the trials and tribulations of its members. It was based on a 1970 Gagosian Gallery. It is easy to imagine Mumford’s and Basquiat’s
Black writer without some honky attached to him,” Mumford said. movie, which was in turn was based on a book by the same name. The budding friendship abuzz with the energy stemming from the cre-
show was a cultural touchstone, having aired from 1972 to 1983, and ative quests both men undertook. 1982 was one of Basquiat’s most
The two wrote the script anyway and had planned to credit only redefined what television was capable of communicating. pivotal years, seeing the twenty-one-year-old paint some of his most
Mumford and split the profit. But, in a last-minute change, Mumford coveted and sought-after works, including the Untitled skull that sold
submitted the script with both his and Wilcox’s names, much to the Mumford holds writing credits for thirty-six episodes, including at Sotheby’s for $110.5 million in 2017, over three decades after its cre-
producers’ chagrin. “It was the bravest thing I ever saw a human fan favorites like “Are You Now, Margaret?” in which Margaret “Hot ation. The artist would show around the world that year, including in
being do,” said Wilcox in a joint interview with Mumford. Thad said Lips” Houlihan is accused of being a Communist sympathizer, and New York, Los Angeles, Italy and Zurich.
it was simply “decency.” The two would go on to work as writing “Goodbye, Radar,” which sees a beloved character’s send off. Along
partners throughout their respective careers, most notably working with the M*A*S*H writing team, Mumford earned eight nominations With all the hype surrounding Basquiat’s talent, Mumford was en-
for the career-defining hit show M*A*S*H. from the Writer’s Guild of America and Primetime Emmy Awards, couraged by friends to purchase some of his art, believing that it
winning one of the former in 1980 for “Are You Now, Margaret?” could potentially be a good investment. Yet, it is difficult to dismiss
“I don’t think I should be compared to Black artists, but with all the purchase as merely an impersonal transaction. The argument
artists.” – Jean-Michel Basquiat Perhaps Mumford’s most noteworthy achievement, however, is the that Basquiat only needed the money, while plausible, simply does
M*A*S*H series finale, “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” airing in 1983. not hold up considering the emotional depth displayed in most of the
Despite the numerous racial barriers that Mumford surmounted in Basquiat, like Mumford, had to navigate the pressures of racial stereo- At the time of its release, the two-hour television movie drew 121.6 work. The “25 works bringing riches” were not duplicates or throw-
both baseball and Hollywood, his career was, as Desson Howe wrote types throughout his career. The artist was (and still is) often classi- million viewers, the most viewers of any series finale to date. In fact, aways; instead, these exceptional, fresh paintings illustrate scenes
in a 1986 article, “neither in spite of being black nor because of it.” fied as a graffiti artist or street artist due in part to his SAMO© roots, it remained the most-watched television broadcast until 2010, when from both men’s lives, cementing their connection in acrylic paint
Mumford famously proclaimed, “I don’t want to be called a Black a categorization Basquiat actively rejected. While Mumford opted to it was surpassed by that year’s Super Bowl. and oilstick. It seems unlikely that the artist would create such per-
writer or a Black producer. I’m a producer and a writer who happens “quietly” suggest Black characters, Basquiat demanded that Blackness sonal work in search of a quick fix or a night out. Basquiat spent his
to be Black.” In his early career, he was “consciously not using race as be seen and heard. “The Black person is the protagonist in most of career giving crowns of honor to himself and to those he admired,
a calling card.” But, as his influence and opportunity grew, Mumford my paintings. I realized that I didn’t see many paintings with Black and he has crowned his friend Thad Mumford in the form of these
recognized his own power and influence on Black narratives: people in them,” he said in his famous 1985 New York Times inter- twenty-five works.
view. Basquiat’s countless self-portraits place him alongside heroes
“All I ask for is balance…It wouldn’t occur to most white people to think like Charlie Parker, Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron and many others, It is as if Basquiat knew his star would burn hot and bright:
of parts for Black actors. What I can do is say quietly, ‘What about a all of whom wear their crowns and halos with pride. His work ad-
Black character?’ And people say, ‘Oh that’s great.’” dressed inequality and racial stereotypes, sometimes with a sense of Crowning glory brings cheers and statues
humor and playfulness, but always without reserve. Both men actively Oh how grand we feel
refused the stereotypes placed upon them by the white-dominated Oh how lovely our life will be
industries in which they succeeded. Having come of age watching A baseball a bird a television our play a future brigh(t)
television programs for which Mumford may have written, Basquiat
surely found admiration for Mumford and his successes, as well as the The collective “we” and “our” implies that the writer believed the two
growing representation of people of color in the media. The artist men would remain friends, if somewhat optimistically. He alludes to
appreciated television and film, with his constant inspiration from the accolades they both received in their careers and will receive in
cartoons and movies being well-documented. In an interview with their future. Basquiat was still so young at just twenty-one, with no
friends Tamra Davis and Becky Johnston, Basquiat said: way of knowing he would soon join the “twenty-seven club”. Mumford
clearly cared for his friend, perhaps sensing his “raw emotion” and
“[If I didn’t paint, I’d be] directing movies, I guess. Ones in which the vulnerability he gave off as both an asset and a weakness, one
Black people are portrayed as being people of the human race. And not that could hurt him if he was not careful. In this poem, the writer
aliens and not all negative and not all thieves and drug dealers and the warns them both to“beware the fleeing wretched loneliness”, a lone-
whole bit. Just real stories.” liness that dissipated with the pair’s friendship. In the end, Mumford
packed his friend’s artwork away in a storage locker. He never sold
Mumford and Basquiat’s creative careers did indeed “bridge gaps,” ex- them; in fact, he didn’t tell anyone about them
panding the idea of Black roles in both Hollywood and the art world.
“All of my friends sold the paintings I gave them. Pretty much all of
them.” — Jean-Michel Basquiat

48 49
Basquiat returned to Los Angeles in 1983 for his second Gagosian
show. The works exhibited included Hollywood Africans (1983) and All
Colored Cast (Parts I and II) (1983), which addressed Hollywood films
and the roles Black people played in them, conceivably inspired by his
time spent with Mumford. His career only skyrocketed from there,
becoming one of the art world’s most controversial and sought-af-
ter stars. His career was marked by an overwhelmingly large body of
work contained within his ten short years of activity, brought to an
abrupt halt with the artist’s tragic overdose at the age of twenty-sev-
en. There is no recorded acknowledgment from Mumford regarding
his “Brooklyn brother’s” passing, the artifacts of their bond contained
within a storage locker tomb.

Mumford’s career continued throughout the 1980s and into

the 1990s. He wrote episodes for recognizable hits like Alf and A
Different World, which aired for several years. Younger audiences
may recognize his later work, which included Clarissa Explains It
All, Gullah, Gullah Island and Blue’s Clues. As time went on, though,
his credits dwindled, a victim of Hollywood’s brutal ageism. In his
later years, he wrote articles for The New York Times sports section,
usually about baseball and the role of race in sports, all of which fea-
tured his quick wit.

In his older age, Mumford suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome, a

battle scar earned from decades of late nights spent at his typewrit-
er, a technology he refused to leave behind. His storage locker was
auctioned off as a result of missed payments a few years before his
passing. Behind that padlocked door sat a pathbreaking writer’s life-
time of achievements: a signed bat from his Yankees teammates, his
Electric Company Emmy, his M*A*S*H dog tags and twenty-five works
made by a friend one bright, LA summer. It is difficult to imagine that
a man with such a life, such a legacy, could be contained within a few
square feet of windowless space.

Mumford passed away in 2018 at the age of sixty-seven, while visiting

his father back East. The New York Times published an obituary cel-
ebrating his accomplishments, and his name scrolled across the “In
Memoriam” tribute during the Emmy Awards that year. Audiences
may still see his name in the opening credits of a TV Land rerun.
But to those who worked with him, who witnessed his talent, his wit
and humor live on. And for the enrichment of the world, Thaddeus
Q. Mumford, Jr. thankfully left us his Mumford Basquiat Venice
Collection.
Danielle Coluccio is the Curatorial
Assistant to the Director of the
Orlando Museum of Art. She re-
ceived her degree in art history
from the University of Central
Florida and will be pursuing a mas-
ter’s degree in art history in the Fall
of 2022. She is currently working
on OMA’s upcoming exhibits,
including Jean-Michel Basquiat,
Jackson Pollock, and Michelangelo.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Acme Toy Co.), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard, 54 x
50 36 inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 51
DIEGO WAS FULL OF New York/New Wave was a critical and popular success drawing huge
crowds that lined the block. Cortez had given Basquiat a prime lo-

UNQUENCHABLE PASSION cation and featured nearly two dozen works in the exhibition. This
prominence launched his meteoric career as critics, art dealers, col-
lectors and an enthusiastic public took note of the impressive work
of this 20-year-old artist. For a time following the exhibition, Cortez
Diego Cortez was a leading curatorial voice of New York’s cultur- continued to further Basquiat’s career, connecting him with gallerists
al vanguard in the 1970s and 1980s. Raised in a Chicago suburb, he and collectors and helping him gain some financial stability through
earned a master’s degree in film and performance from the School the sale of his works. Basquiat’s first solo show in the U.S. at the
of the Art Institute of Chicago before arriving in New York in 1973. Annina Nosei Gallery in March 1982 sold out, and he was soon an art-
An artist, producer, curator, community organizer, entrepreneur, and world celebrity with all the attending benefits, pressure, and dangers
more, he delved into the art and music world of downtown at a time of of such status. While he continued to have artistic success, the years
profound change in the city and its cultural scene. This was a period before his death in 1988 were marked by the turmoil of failed per-
when the city was financially broke and crime-ridden, but rents were sonal and professional relationships and growing drug use. Even
cheap, and would-be artists, musicians, poets, and others who wanted through this time, Cortez—who believed that Basquiat’s 1982 works,
to be part of what was happening gravitated to Manhattan’s down- including the twenty-five paintings in the Mumford Collection,
town neighborhoods like the East Village and districts of abandoned were among his very best—remained a champion of the prolific
industrial lofts south of Soho. Alternative spaces and performance young artist. As Suzanne Mallouk, a long-time girlfriend of Basquiat
venues, cooperative galleries, and hangouts like Club 57 and the recalled, “throughout Jean’s career Diego got a lot of important
Mudd Club emerged as centers for new art, music and an aesthetic people interested in Jean’s work. Without Diego, Jean might never
mix punctuated by social activism, improvisation, graffiti, punk, new have been famous.”
wave and in-your-face anarchy.

The Mudd Club, located in Tribeca, was the polar opposite of An opportunity came in 1980 with The Times Square Show. It was
Midtown’s glitzy Studio 54. Co-founded by Steve Mass, Anya Phillips, organized in part by Collaborative Projects, Inc. (Colab), a group of
and Cortez, the club featured new wave, no wave and post-punk which Cortez was a founding member, and he supplied a list of some
bands; experimental music; performances by Allen Ginsberg and artists to show. The sprawling, chaotic exhibition was presented at Hansen Mulford received his
William Burroughs; and shows of emerging artists and fashion de- an abandoned massage parlor in what was then a run-down, dicey M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art,
signers. The cultural scope of the Mudd Club was a perfect match for area of the city. In addition to experimental painting and sculpture, Temple University and B.A. in Fine
Cortez’s vision, later describing his curatorial practice as a “sociology the exhibition included music, fashion, performance, and media by Arts from the University of South
of elements that make up a scene.” Young cult celebrities like David a new generation of artists, leading Richard Goldstein of the Village Florida. He joined the staff of the
Byrne, Debbie Harry, John Lurie, the Cramps, and the B-52s were reg- Voice to claim that The Times Square Show was “the First Radical Art Orlando Museum of Art in 1981
ulars, as was a little-known artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It was on the Show of the ’80s.” Among the exhibition’s many distinctions was its and is currently Chief Curator
dance floor of the Mudd Club in 1978 that Cortez first met Basquiat. introduction of the work of Basquiat to the New York art world and and head of the Collections and
Cortez remembered, “He looked very unusual; a black guy with a the public. Exhibitions Department. Since
blonde Mohawk and he was dancing beautifully.” From the outset, 1988, he has been member of the
Cortez was impressed with Basquiat’s rare talent. While The Times Square Show was a debut for Basquiat, his real break- museum’s senior management
through as an up-and-coming art world star came in 1981 with the team with responsibilities to
“We were friends for almost a year until I saw his SAMO graffiti. I exhibition New York/New Wave at the city’s premier alternative space develop and implement the mu-
then realized that he was a visual art genius. This work was incredi- P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens. This time Cortez was the seum’s annual program of exhi-
ble. As he was always broke I asked him to make some paintings and curator, and he created a groundbreaking exhibition featuring well bitions and to develop and care
drawings so he could begin to make some money from his art. I could over 100 artists and approximately 1,600 works. A fusion of visual for the Museum’s Collections of
help him do that.” art, experimental music, and underground fashion, the exhibition American Art, Art of the Ancient
encompassed the myriad trends of the avant-garde scene in which Americas and African Art. While
At the time Cortez met Basquiat, the artist was known only to a small Cortez had been immersed since his arrival in New York. The exhibi- serving as curator, Hansen par-
circle of friends by his tag SAMO©, and his curt, satirical, and poetic tion marked a generational change, featuring a slate of young artists ticipated in the organization’s
graffiti that appeared on walls in lower Manhattan. Earlier in the year, that would dominate the stage in the 1980s and beyond. transition from a community art
Basquiat had dropped out of high school, left home, and was living on center to a regional collecting
the streets (sometimes under a cardboard box) or with any of various museum, including four building
downtown friends. Intrigued by Basquiat’s innate charisma, Cortez expansions. Together with the
visited him at a girlfriend’s apartment to see his work. Like many museum’s curatorial team, he has
who were to follow, Cortez recognized the artist’s visceral talent and helped to grow the permanent
fervent creative energy and sought ways to further his career. collections with numerous gifts
and acquisitions.

52 Diego Cortez and the Jean-Michel Basquiat, Thaddeus Mumford Jr. Venice Collection 53
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES BASQUIAT ARRIVES ON THE SCENE Even in 1982, newly arrived in a city that didn’t know his name,
Basquiat possessed a dazzling star power that was undeniable to ev-

BASQUIAT IN LOS ANGELES—1982 For the young artist eager to explore new opportunities and envi-
rons away from the entrenched reputation of “Samo©”, the endless
eryone who met him. Recalling a 1982 art opening at Ulrike Kantor’s
gallery, Davis says, “he hadn’t had his show [at Gagosian] yet, so
people didn’t really know who he was. But when he walked into a
demands of obtrusive collectors, and the frustrating experience of
room, it was like a superstar [walking] into the room. He had so much
watching his artwork being sold before he could even complete it,13
Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant Spago opens its original Hollywood lo- charisma. Nobody had seen anything like that. And so he walks into
1982 was also a year of great creativity, fueled in part by the energy,
cation in January 1982 where it will continue to command long lines the gallery […] we then created a little VIP section in the back office,
revitalization, and change of pace Basquiat experienced during his
and celebrity diners for the next two decades.1 A gallon of gasoline which was where I was working the whole night. [We were] hanging
trips to Los Angeles. Already celebrated in New York, Jean-Michel
costs, on average, $1.32 (about $3.68 in 2021 dollars). 2 Chariots of Fire out back there, listening to music [and] the whole art world was out
Basquiat came to Los Angeles—a city that he loved and returned
wins the Academy Award for Best Picture in a ceremony hosted by in the front.” 18
to many times—for the first time as a relative unknown—but
Johnny Carson; 3 Dallas and M*A*S*H* rule the television airwaves.4 feted by star gallerist Larry Gagosian, who rolled out the metaphor-
Future movie star and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Basquiat similarly livened up the elaborate dinners following gallery
ical red carp
is a fixture at Venice’s Muscle Beach. 5 Commuters lose, on average, openings as well as the Los Angeles collector and gallery social scene.
over forty hours per year to the negligible action of sitting in traffic.6 In her biography of Basquiat, Phoebe Hoban reported that Basquiat
Basquiat was not bashful about anything, including his ambition to
And Jean-Michel Basquiat comes to the West Coast for the first time, had a brief affair with the married Ulrike Kantor during this trip
The Basquiat Venice Collection be famous while he was alive and not posthumously like too many
ready to make his mark. to Los Angeles.19 Davis recalls her reaction to this surprising tryst.
is comprised of twenty five paint- great artists. The peripatetic lover of life wanted to take in as much
With a disbelieving laugh coloring her voice, Davis recounts saying to
ings on cardboard and plywood as possible of the glitzy Los Angeles scene. Once Madonna, Fred
1982 is considered most significant year of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s him, “I was like, ‘what are you doing?’ […] He created this huge scandal
created by the 22-year-old former Hoffman, and he dined in the Twentieth Century Fox commissary
short-lived artistic career. On the professional level, it was the year that everybody was talking about […] he would do crazy things like
New York City street artist during filled with familiar celebrities. Hoffman was struck by what Madonna
the former street artist was elevated to art world rock star. Basquiat that […] he knew how to get attention immediately. And [Ulrike] was
a visit to Los Angeles in 1982. and Basquiat told him.
had his first solo shows in 1982: at Annina Nosei Gallery in New York, my boss!” 20
Painted in a ground floor studio
Larry Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, and Bruno Bischofberger They assured me that someday they would be famous, and that
in the Venice home of his galler- Meanwhile, Basquiat formed his own connection with Matt Dike that
Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland.7 Indeed, 1982 was also the year he everyone in this commissary would know who these two aspir-
ist Larry Gagosian, these unique would also last until the artist’s death in 1988. Dike had met Basquiat
was first exhibited amongst art-world peers like Keith Haring and ing young artists were. Over the years I have often returned to
works were purchased by a cele- when they were both New York-based teenagers attending an NYU
Julian Schnabel at venues both in New York (Marlborough Gallery, my memories of that afternoon. Of course, they were correct.
brated African American televi- dorm party; it was kismet that they met later in Los Angeles, connect-
BlumHelman) and abroad (Galleria Civica in Modena, Italy; Galerie Today Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna are as renowned as
sion writer Thaddeus Q. Mumford, ed by Gagosian. Following Basquiat’s success in Los Angeles, Dike
Delta in Rotterdam, the Netherlands). Basquiat became the young- any star Hollywood has produced.14
Jr. and put in a storage locker. became his Los Angeles assistant and close friend. 21 Over the course
est-ever artist to participate in the vaunted vanguard art exhibition
Thirty years later, they were ac- of Basquiat’s successive trips to the city, recalls Davis, Basquiat would
Documenta in 1982 in Kassel, Germany; it was also the year in which Filmmaker Tamra Davis, who would ultimately direct an acclaimed
quired by the present owners. As party at Power Tools, 22 the famous club run by Dike that opened in
Basquiat painted the now-iconic painting Hollywood Africans (now in documentary on the artist, The Radiant Child (2010), befriended
we shall see, the fact that Basquiat 1985 and closed in 1987 and was, at its peak, located in Downtown Los
the collection of the Whitney Museum). Basquiat on this initial trip in April 1982. A film student and assis-
created these never-before-seen Angeles’ Park Plaza Hotel.
masterpieces in Los Angeles—at a tant to Los Angeles gallerist Ulrike Kantor, Davis, along with future
On a more personal level, Basquiat first befriended his idol Andy Delicious Vinyl record producer Matt Dike (1961–2018),15 then an as-
time and in a place where he was Basquiat would also party at the Rhythm Lounge on Melrose, which
Warhol during this year, leading to the creation of the remark- sistant to Gagosian, were tasked with showing Jean-Michel a good
able to experiment, be himself, was opened in September 1982 by photographer Salomon Emquies.
able double portrait of Warhol and Basquiat Dos Cabezas.8 In 1982, time in the City of Angels: “‘He doesn’t know how to drive. He’s your
and express freely and unrushed a Emquies recalls: “It was one night a week: Thursday night. Very fast,
Basquiat also met and began dating the young popstar whose fame age […] take him out to clubs, make sure he’s happy,’” paraphrases
variety of feelings and ideas—is a it became very popular. I introduced rap and hip-hop that was start-
would grow to eclipse nearly all others: the mononymous Madonna. Davis, recalling Gagosian’s directive.16
significant contributing factor for ing to become big back then. It was still kind of underground, I would
According to Basquiat’s biographer Phoebe Hoban, there are a few
their magnificence. say. Matt Dike was deejaying, and he was also assisting Jean-Michel
apocryphal stories about how the pair met that autumn: either at Davis and Basquiat quickly developed a strong friendship that would
the Mudd Club, a hip, punk TriBeCa nightclub open from 1978–1983; for Gagosian.” While Emquies did not personally meet Basquiat until
last until the end of his life. The pair initially bonded over their shared
or while Madonna was filming the video for “Everybody,” her debut one of the artist’s 1983 trips to Los Angeles, it is possible Basquiat
interest in cinema; opportunities to take in all kinds of movies abound-
single (released October 6). While just launching their careers, both made trips to the happening Rhythm Lounge with Dike in 1982.
ed in Los Angeles. “We would just get in the car and drive and go to
were poised for greater fame. Basquiat’s and Madonna’s relationship Emquies recalls:
the movies,” recalls Davis. “I remember such a good indie film scene,
seems to have been volatile, with his drug use conflicting with her and there were so many cool theaters at the time”—like the Nuart in
far more regimented, health-conscious lifestyle.9 While Basquiat Jean-Michel would hang out at the club a lot. Every time he was in
Santa Monica, or the Rialto in South Pasadena, and the Silent Movie
is known to have taken back (and destroyed) paintings that he had town he would come. At one point I was doing a video of a friend of
Theater at Fairfax near Melrose. “Jean-Michel and I would go to old
given her during their relationship,10 Madonna seems to remember mine […] I premiered the video at a little party at a friend’s house and
movies, always, or foreign films […] Chinese movies and Hong Kong
Basquiat fondly. On December 6, 2018, Madonna shared an image 11 Jean-Michel was there and he really liked it. He said, ‘[…] my friend
action films […] Fassbinder films and Godard.”17 This fascination with
of the two of them on Instagram festooned with animated hearts.12 Rammellzee’s coming to town and I’d like to see if you want to do a
film lasted over the course of his life. In fact, Davis recalls, during a
video.’ So he performed at the Rhythm Lounge and I videotaped it,
subsequent visit to the city, “[Basquiat] bought a video store—that’s
[…] it was just Toxic deejaying and Rammellzee rapping and it’s just
how Jean-Michel was with videos. He was so excited.”
kind of like a performance art kind of thing […] Jean-Michel came to
the studio I was using at UCLA, and he made some drawings that I
wanted to superimpose on the video. It’s basically an art video […] it’s
kind of a rare record of that time.23

54 55
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: DRAWINGS/VISION:
PAINTINGS, LARRY GAGOSIAN NEW YORK, JANUS GALLERY
GALLERY
In between his Gagosian Gallery solo shows in April 1982 and March
April was the watershed month of 1982 for Basquiat as far as his trip 1983, Basquiat’s work also made another Los Angeles art gallery ap-
to Los Angeles is concerned. Gagosian, whom Hoban described as pearance: this time, in a small group drawing show titled Drawings/
a “kindred spirit,”24 aggressively courted Basquiat, and his efforts Vision: New York at the former Janus Gallery, located at 8000 Melrose
led to a successful, sell-out show of paintings, co-organized by Avenue. Drawings/Vision: New York ran during July of 1982, closing
Basquiat’s New York gallerist Annina Nosei. Jean-Michel Basquiat: on July 31, and included nine New York–based artists including
Paintings opened April 8 and closed a month later. Paintings in- Basquiat, Mike Glier, Roberto Juarez, Ken Goodman, Pedro Perez,
cluded Untitled (L.A. Painting), Six Crimee [sic], and Untitled (Yellow and Lynton Wells.
Tar and Feathers) 25. Los Angeles’ art barons Eli and Edythe Broad
purchased paintings. Salomon Emquies recalls attending the This show is a footnote in Basquiat’s extensive exhibition history,
opening: “That was my first time ever seeing Basquiat’s paintings. sandwiched between much higher–octane solo shows with Larry
I thought they were really different and extremely colorful […] a lot Gagosian in Los Angeles. However, it was his second Los Angeles
of primary colors.”26 Subsequent LA Weekly calendar listings for Basquiat’s Gagosian show show during his extremely productive year of 1982, and it has not
described the paintings as “graffiti-style,” despite Basquiat chafing at been much discussed or analyzed, with the exception of two contem-
Local critical opinion of Jean-Michel Basquiat: Paintings tended to fall the label of “graffiti artist.” 29 Writing more broadly on artistic trends poraneous reviews from the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly.
into a pattern of identifying Basquiat as a graffiti artist somewhat in the summer 1982 edition of Art in America, critic Hal Foster fell
out of his element amidst gallery walls. William Wilson reviewed into a similar pattern of describing Basquiat as a graffiti artist who Critic Robert L. Pincus reviewed Drawings/Vision in the Times on
Basquiat’s Gagosian show for the Los Angeles Times on April 16 in seemed to have stumbled/parlayed himself, picaresque, into more July 16, noting that of the artists included, only Basquiat had had a
an article titled “N.Y. Subway Graffiti: All Aboard for L.A.” (Bearing critical art world success: local solo exhibition and was thus the highest–profile artist—at least
in mind many writers do not choose their headlines, the title of this in Los Angeles. He singled out Basquiat’s drawing Untitled II in his
review reinforces the prevailing Los Angeles view that Basquiat was The graffitists have turned the walls of the city into spaces of response review, writing:
a graffiti artist.) —for response outside the media of TV, magazines, etc […] So what
do the media—into which the art world is tapped—do in response to Basquiat, well publicized for his graffiti–style paintings, offers faces
Locating Basquiat within the Neo-Expressionist movement, this response of the graffitists? Mediate it, absorb it. The underground and figures in oil stick on paper. Like Dubuffet’s figures, his most
Wilson mentioned Basquiat’s origins as a “kid-gang subway is pulled into a TV studio, the Bleecker Street Station is redrawn in obvious ‘high art’ precedent, Basquiat’s are brutally ugly even as they
graffiti painter” and described his “traditional substructure” a West Broadway gallery. There are other reasons why graffiti was allude to art historical icons of beauty. In ‘Untitled II,’ he makes this
as Abstract Expressionism, contrasting him with Altoon and ordained an art—its economic value could not be assured without strategy most explicit with his version of an archer. But when deprived
Dubuffet. Ultimately, Wilson praised Basquiat, writing: “there is such a taxonomic shift—but surely the subversion of the subversive of his sophisticated painted surfaces, his images look like furtively and
never any sense that Basquiat is faking. We are simultaneously con- is a principal motive. The official reclaims the unofficial, the galler- hastily scrawled wall drawings.32
vinced that he is a tough street-voodoo artist and a painter of aston- ies absorb the graffitists. Thus the street–artist Samo becomes Jean-
ishing precosity [sic].” 27 Michel Basquiat, the new art–world primitive/prodigy; and the work Critic Kathi Norklun reviewed Drawings/Vision in LA Weekly’s July
of Keith Haring, a mediatory figure in graffiti–become–art, appears 16–22 edition, describing Basquiat as one of two “subway graffit-
Hunter Drohojowska devoted one long review to Basquiat at on the huge Spectacolor sign atop Times Square, January 1982). ists” (along with Pedro Perez) in the show. Taking the opposite tack
Gagosian and Julian Schnabel at fellow blue-chip Los Angeles gallery Graffiti, the act of antimedia response, becomes an art in the media of Pincus, Norklun praised Basquiat’s contribution, albeit faintly,
Margo Leavin Gallery for the LA Weekly April 23–29 edition. In her of irresponsibility.30 writing: “Jean–Michel Basquiat displays a facility with line that was
article, she analyzed how both artists wore their “art-star status,” as not apparent at his recent show [at Gagosian].”33
well as commenting on their perceived authenticity. After making a splash at Gagosian in 1982, Basquiat’s reception on
the West Coast changed irrevocably—and with it, the widespread, Despite the documentation of Drawings/Vision in these contempora-
It is an exotic mythology: a 22-year old black street artist […] is justified recognition of the artist not as a graffitist plucked from the neous Los Angeles publications, the circumstances of its organiza-
plucked from [a] group show by [a] prestigious SoHo gallery […] I street, but as a sophisticated artist with a broad array of referenc- tion—and the precise Basquiat drawing exhibited there—remain a
don’t know if I believe any of it, and unlike Schnabel, Basquiat showed es, historical allusions, and contemporary motifs at his command. mystery. 34
no interest in explanations. If Schnabel’s paintings are about surface Reviewing his March 1983 exhibition at Gagosian for the Los Angeles
aggression, formal concerns and impatient responses to a bankrupt Times, critic Suzanne Muchnic directly contradicted the “central
culture, Basquiat’s works are direct and furious reflections of a deca- myth about Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting,” which was “that it’s
dent, sadistic society. 28 done by a New York street urchin.” She compared him to Dubuffet
and Rauschenberg, writing: “Basquiat has a sure sense of vigorous
shape and composition. His line […] is purposeful and knowing […]
one gets a sense of an artist who sets down words as a means of pos-
sessing knowledge.”31

56 57
BASQUIAT AND HEROES AND MONSTERS:
THE LOS ANGELES VIBE THE THADDEUS MUMFORD
COLLECTION
One of the most famous works in the 1982 Gagosian show is Untitled Writing in 2015, Fred Hoffman recalled meeting Basquiat in Venice
(L.A. Painting), which differs from earlier paintings in its expansive in November 1982, when the artist was preparing works for his How Jean-Michel Basquiat befriended Thaddeus Mumford remains This dynamic was also present in the 22-year-old’s everyday life.
use of blues and turquoises and its relatively spare composition. 35 So second Gagosian show, held in March 1983. According to Hoffman, unclear. While Basquiat was experiencing his first taste of both Davis recalls accompanying Basquiat on shopping trips to Maxfield,
how did L.A. influence Basquiat as he created new bodies of work? some of the silkscreen editions Basquiat produced while in Venice national and international fame during his blowout year of 1982, an expensive clothing store off Melrose, and recounts the reaction
Peter Relic, a music historian and friend of Matt Dike, muses: referenced Muscle Beach; he reportedly created his masterwork Mumford, the late owner of the collection known as Heroes and he garnered. “He would be wearing fancy clothes but they would be
Hollywood Africans, which was exhibited in the Gagosian 1983 show, Monsters, was enjoying similar acclaim as one of the writers and pro- covered in paint […] and then he’d walk in there with me, and I’m
“LA felt very different and wide open […] more like a frontier town in during his time in Venice. Hoffman wrote: “In the removed environ- ducers on M*A*S*H* (1978–1983).40 In 1982 alone, M*A*S*H* won the a blond girl […] I’m sure I was pretty. I was 19 years old. And they
the 80s and 90s: not so densely packed with people and in the pre-in- ment of Venice, he seemed to find a security and solitude. Away from Golden Globe award for Best Comedy Series, and was nominated for looked at us like we were crazy, like we were going to come in and
ternet era. Lifestyles weren’t so transferable from one coast to another. New York, this emergent talent was able to get on with his mission the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. Mumford and his writing rob them […] like they would almost block the entrance […] I went in
So I would guess that to Jean-Michel, getting out to Los Angeles was with significantly less distraction.” When Basquiat returned from partner Dan Wilcox were also nominated for Writers Guild Awards there the first time with him and he literally had to show wads of cash
like a huge sigh of relief from the density and pressures of New York New York to Los Angeles following his 1983 show, Hoffman recalled, in both the Comedy and Drama Categories.41 […] he was so offended by it.”46
City.”36 he worked at a studio Hoffman found for him in Venice. Hoffman
concluded: While we don’t know how Basquiat and Mumford’s connection James Blanco draws attention to the unusual presence of pine trees in
Davis concurs: began—or how long it lasted— Basquiat would undoubtedly have Hit the Brakes from the Mumford Collection. “I think somebody took
Out the back door of the studio was a small patio, separated from the been deeply impressed by Mumford’s success in white-dominated him up to either Big Bear or Arrowhead or Tahoe […] took him out
“I feel like there’s a lightness to LA, and I think that’s what he really alley by a wooden slat fence […] Within a day or two, many of the Hollywood. Tamra Davis suggests: and showed him more of California […] Thinking of a young man like
liked. New York is heavy and intense, and it’s very complicated. I feel wood slats had been reassembled horizontally and attached to long Basquiat, coming from the subways and the streets of New York […] I
like his L.A. work […] maybe got a little lighter and sparser. [T]he vertical shafts of wood—a new form of picture support born directly “Jean-Michel would have been enraptured and talked to him. He think there’s a different vibe.”47 Davis also remarks on the tree motif,
amount of space that you have when you work in LA—it also allowed from the Venice studio experience. The first wood-slat picture support would have done anything he could to hang out with that guy. That’s offering a different interpretation: “he would also have books open
him to work on a few things at once.”37 was painted bright gold and became the background for the now ac- who Jean-Michel was interested in […] He would be so psyched to have that were symbols—like hobo symbols. [He] might find that shape of
claimed painting “Gold Griot,” depicting a looming and regally posi- met that guy. There’s no question: that guy would have had a huge a tree in a hobo symbol or in a Native American symbol.” 48 Eleanor
The sun, sand, and surf of Venice specifically held an appeal for tioned head and torso. The discovery of a new means of presenting a impact on Jean. No question.” Nairne similarly identified Basquiat’s use of hobo code in paintings
Basquiat. James Blanco, who authenticated the handwriting on the painting had enabled the artist to push his work in yet another new like Five Fish Species (1983).49
Heroes and Monsters collection, says: and exciting direction. The Venice years were not only a prolific but Commenting on the poem Basquiat composed for Mumford, also in
pivotal period in Basquiat’s career.39 the Venice Collection, Davis recalls, “Jean-Michel was into Burroughs, Basquiat is particularly known for remediating the imagery and text
“I could see Basquiat coming in from New York, ending up on Venice and he was into poetry and all that. Everybody in New York—people surrounding him, leading his paintings to be replete with references
Beach and just going ‘wow, how cool is this?’ […] Just a real eclectic One such work from Basquiat’s 1982-83 trips to Los Angeles was Self- did poetry. Poetry was a really big thing.”42 to the popular culture and sports of the time. 50 The paintings in the
vibe and scene and group of people that were there. And just activity Portrait, which the artist painted on one of the doors in Matt Dike’s Mumford Collection contain imagery resembling Batman-looking
all the time, going [and] coming and going […] it was packed, always apartment on Santa Monica Boulevard. Along with numerous draw- Looking at the artworks in the Mumford Collection, Davis observes logos (Self-Portrait with his cowboy hat and wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s
[…] People back then in the short shorts and rollerblading […] You ings given to Dike, Self-Portrait remained in Dike’s possession until his repeating motifs of trucks in paintings like Cat & Firetruck and Two flying suit; Stop Sign), Felix the Cat (Cat & Firetruck), and a very
had the vendors, they’d set up there […] people on the beach playing death and would be auctioned by Phillips as part of the collection To Blue Cars that are present in many of his other works. As a child in large baseball and smaller basketball (Baseball). Another work in the
volleyball, you had the pier nearby for the amusements […] and it was Repel Ghosts in May of 2019. Also painted during this time: the path- Flatbush, Brooklyn, Basquiat was hit by a car and spent time in the Mumford Collection, Colorful Face, with its large eyes, oblong head,
kind of like Baywatch. People’d be talking with the lifeguards […] It breaking Thaddeus Mumford collection of cardboard works, current- hospital, where his mother brought him the famous Gray’s Anatomy, and slender neck, bears a passing resemblance to one of the biggest
was cool to go there […] I could imagine Basquiat just coming and ly on display in Heroes and Monsters. whose images of skeletons would reappear as symbols in many of films of 1982: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
being influenced by that.”38 his paintings43—such as Blue Skull, as well as the skull-like Head with
Halo. “The milk trucks, the fire trucks, the ice truck […] the chaos on
the street […] with the buildings in the city”—present in Self-Portrait
with his cowboy hat and wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit, Industry
Insider, and Yellow and Black Buildings—“that’s an important event in
his life that reoccurs a lot.” 44

Several works in the Mumford Collection bring up comparisons

with Basquiat’s self-portraiture, highlighting an almost Du Boisian
double-consciousness.45 There’s a clear disconnect between how
Basquiat was perceived and how he saw himself being perceived
evident in these works. Davis says: “He knows he’s doing self-por-
traits, but he’s also making himself scary. When I look at those scary
portraits […] I think that that’s how he felt when people looked at
him or when he looked at people […] he was just different with how
people reacted to him. And he invoked that.”

58 59
BASQUIAT’S L.A. LEGACY LOS ANGELES ART GALLERIES AND
VENUES: MAJOR 1980S PLAYERS
Basquiat’s seminal work in Los Angeles in 1982—as reflected in the
Gagosian and Janus Gallery shows and the Mumford Collection—is
all the more remarkable given his battle with his demons, particularly LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY
his drug addiction which would spiral out of total control and even- GAGOSIAN GALLERY (1980–PRESENT) EXHIBITIONS (LACE) (1978–PRESENT)
tually kill him six years later.
The first of worldwide art dealer Larry Gagosian’s galleries, Gagosian LACE is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition and performance
The footage that would become the backbone of Tamra Davis’ The Gallery opened in 1980 on Almont Drive and represents some of space known for its “dedication to the art of our time that focuses
Radiant Child—one of the few Basquiat interviews where he is gen- the most famous modern and contemporary artists in the world, on freedom of expression; experimentation with ideas, materials, and
uinely open, engaging, and affectionate with the interviewer—was including Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer, Takashi Murakami, and Sally new forms; and content that is challenging and socially engaging.”
created during Davis’ and Basquiat’s time spent hanging out in Los Mann. Larry Gagosian co-organized Basquiat’s first Los Angeles Originally located in Downtown Los Angeles, it moved to Hollywood
Angeles and Venice during the several years of their friendship. “I exhibition with Annina Nosei, then Basquiat’s New York galler- Boulevard in 1993. LACE stresses the importance of community
always had a camera in my hand,” remembers Davis, “and he was like ist. Presently, Gagosian has several locations in New York City and engagement and dialogue, and has exhibited and supported artists
‘you should make a movie about me,’ and that’s how the documentary branches in Paris, London, Geneva, Basel, Athens, and Rome as well like Bill Viola, Adrian Piper, Gronk, Nancy Buchanan, and Bruce and
starts. We would go out and film together. [He’d say] ‘let’s go out and as in Beverly Hills. Norman Yonemoto.
film today. Let’s go to the race track and film.’”51

While crafting the film, Davis delved deeply into Basquiat’s works:
“I would stare at his paintings and see if I could get any messages MARGO LEAVIN GALLERY (1970–2012) LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF
or try to figure it out.” During Basquiat’s trips to LA, Davis got to ART (LACMA) GALLERY SIX EXHIBITION
observe him painting up close and personal. Davis sets the scene: Founded by dealer Margo Leavin, it exhibited major twentieth-centu- SERIES (1982–1983)
ry Pop Art, Minimalist, and Conceptual artists like Claes Oldenberg,
“He would have a TV playing, and there would be cartoons [like] Dan Flavin, Alexis Smith, and John Baldessari over its 40-plus years. Gallery Six was a series of exhibitions and performances that took
Batman […] Whatever old movies, whatever he would be watching, Primarily located at 812 North Robertson Boulevard, it balanced a place at the Los Angeles County Art Museum between 1982–1983.
he’d have a TV on without the sound. He’d have music on […] He also roster of New York and Los Angeles-based artists over more than Organized by the Modern and Contemporary Art Department of the
had books always open […] he would draw and paint all the time, and five hundred exhibitions. museum, it showed Los Angeles-based and contemporary artists, in-
he would do it so fast.”52 cluding Julian Schnabel, Susan Rothenberg, Jim Dine, Tony Berlant,
ROSAMUND FELSEN GALLERY and Italo Scanga.
Phoebe Hoban wrote that during Basquiat’s last trip to Los Angeles (1978–2016)
shortly before his death in 1988, he spent time with both Davis and
Matt Dike. Hoban’s narrative largely focuses on Basquiat’s loss of Founded by dealer Rosamund Felsen, Rosamund Felsen Gallery
control to his addictions, and the helplessness Davis and Dike felt,
L.A. LOUVER (1975–PRESENT)
exhibited Los Angeles-based artists over the course of nearly 40
caught in the middle and unable to help their friend. years, including Paul McCarthy, Chris Burden, Lari Pittman, and Founded by dealer Peter Goulds, L.A. Louver is located in Venice,
Mike Kelley. Originally located on North La Cienega Boulevard, it California. The gallery exhibits European and American modern
Peter Relic recalls discussing this time with Dike. “[Jean-Michel moved several times across the city to West Hollywood, to Santa and contemporary artists including David Hockney, Dale Chihuly,
saw Dike as] one of those people who [didn’t want anything from Monica’s Bergamot Station arts complex, and to Downtown L.A.’s Edward and Nancy Kienholz, Rina Banerjee, Deborah Butterfield,
[him]. [He didn’t] have to spend psychic energy trying to figure out Arts District. and Alice Neel.
what [his] angle [was] […] [Basquiat] goes to Hawaii to dry out. And
then he comes back clean-ish, and stays with Dike that summer, and
then he goes back to New York and dies. So that’s really when Jean-
LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE OF
Michel and Matt have this time together—buddies hanging out one CONTEMPORARY ART (LAICA) BROCKMAN GALLERY (1967–1989/1990)
more time.” 53 (1974–1987)
The only major gallery in Los Angeles “run by and for black artists,”
There is no doubt that Jean-Michel Basquiat’s name is synonymous Not to be confused with the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Brockman Gallery was founded by Dale and Alonzo Brockman Davis
with the hustle and bustle of New York City’s art world. Yet in many Angeles, currently located in Downtown Los Angeles, LAICA was and was located in Leimert Park, Los Angeles—the “Black Greenwich
ways—specifically, his love of Hollywood, cinema, and popular founded as a dues-collecting democratic arts organization with Village” according to filmmaker John Singleton. Brockman also con-
culture as well as his desire for fame—he was also perfectly in tune a board of directors comprising of artists, critics, and gallerists. tained studio space, and exhibited then-up-and-coming artists like
with 1980s Los Angeles. The bodies of remarkable work that he Originally located in Century City, it did not have a permanent staff, John Outterbridge and David Hammons as well as Noah Purifoy,
created in Los Angeles remain comparatively under-explored. In but relied on volunteers and rotated curatorial duties amongst its Elizabeth Catlett, and Romare Bearden. During its existence, it was a
the six years Basquiat was an itinerant feature of the Los Angeles art membership. LAICA exhibited artists including Bruce Nauman, Allan significant community space, hosting free concerts and other events
scene, he made lasting professional and personal impressions, leaving Sekula, Allen Ruppersberg, Barbara Kasten, and Laurie Anderson as well as art exhibitions.
behind masterpieces and lifelong friends alike. in both solo and themed group shows, and published an acclaimed
journal of criticism.

60 61
JANCAR/KUHLENSCHMIDT GALLERY THE WOMAN’S BUILDING AT CALARTS ULRIKE KANTOR GALLERY (1979–1986)
(1980–1982) (1973–1991)
Ulrike Kantor, then married to gallerist Paul Kantor, first opened a
Founded by Tom Jancar and Richard Kuhlenschmidt, Jancar/ The Woman’s Building was an explicitly feminist art space consisting gallery in 1973 on Rodeo Drive. The second iteration of the Ulrike
Kuhlenschmidt was located in a Wilshire Boulevard building base- of studios and exhibition space, created by and for women artists, in Kantor Gallery was located on La Cienega, and exhibited up-and-
ment and exhibited artists like Richard Prince, Louise Lawler, affiliation with the California Institute of the Arts. Founded by Judy coming Los Angeles artists like Roger Herman and Gary Lloyd.
and Christopher Williams in mostly solo shows. It was known for Chicago, Arlene Raven, and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, it was orig- According to Phoebe Hoban, Kantor had a brief affair with Basquiat
showing underrecognized Los Angeles and New York-based artists, inally known as the Feminist Studio Workshop, and soon took on the upon his arrival to Los Angeles in 1982.
and was not particularly focused on sales. In 2006 Tom Jancar would moniker of the “Woman’s Building” as a reference to the space of the
go on to operate Jancar Gallery, which closed in 2016. same name at the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition.
JANUS GALLERY (C.1973–1986)

LOS ANGELES MUNICIPAL ART GALLERY GALLERY 825, LOS ANGELES ART Janus Gallery was founded by dealers Janice “Jan” Turner and Dan
(LAMAG) (1954–PRESENT) ASSOCIATION (1958–PRESENT) Saxon in either 1972, 1973, or 1974. Originally located in Turner’s
townhome on Sweetzer Avenue, the gallery moved to a location on
Located in Barnsdall Art Park, LAMAG is “the longest running Gallery 825 is the exhibition venue of the nonprofit Los Angeles Art Market Street in Venice in 1977, where it was cited as part of Venice’s
institution in Los Angeles devoted solely to exhibiting art.” Focusing Association (LAAA) (begun 1925). Also referred as the Southern free-spirited art scene. Janus Gallery subsequently moved to its
on underrepresented local artists, LAMAG has played a critical California Contemporary Art Galleries, Gallery 825 has been located Melrose Avenue location in 1980, where it exhibited Drawings/Vision:
part in the careers of artists like Eleanor Anton, Catherine Opie, on 825 North La Cienega Boulevard since 1961. LAAA currently has New York. It changed its name to the Jan Turner Gallery in 1986.
Kerry James Marshall, Barbara Kruger, Mark Bradford, and Vija over 300 members, and counted Millard Sheets and Man Ray among
Celmins, and continues to foster the next generation of important its historic membership.
Los Angeles practitioners. GALLERY 669/MIZUNO GALLERY
(1967–1984)
HERITAGE GALLERY (1961–PRESENT)
ASHER/FAURE GALLERY (1979–1994) Founded by dealer Riko Mizuno, Gallery 669 (named for its address
Founded by art dealer Benjamin Horowitz, Heritage Gallery is on La Cienega) exhibited experimental works of art by well-known
Founded by dealers Patricia Faure and Betty Asher, the West “perhaps the oldest continuously operating gallery in Los Angeles.” and local artists, including Ed Moses, Robert Irwin, Ken Price, and
Hollywood-based Asher/Faure Gallery was known for bringing New Known for bringing the works of African American modernist Billy Al Bengston. Gallery 669 changed its named to Mizuno Gallery
York artists to the attention of Los Angeles audiences and art col- Charles White to wider audiences, Heritage Gallery also represents in 1969, and moved to its Little Tokyo location in 1978, where it would
lectors. Asher/Faure represented artists like Craig Kauffman, Morris major Social Realist painters including José Clemente Orozco, as well remain until moving to a space on Robertson Boulevard in 1983,
Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Richard Artschwager. Following Asher’s as other significant artists like Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Raoul where it remained until its closing.
passing in 1994, Faure started the Patricia Faure Gallery at Bergamot Dufy, Romare Bearden, and Margaret Burroughs.
Station, where it remained until she sold it to gallerist Samuel
Freeman in 2006.

Deborah Krieger, M.A., is a grad-

uate of Brown University’s Public
Humanities Master’s Program.
She earned her undergraduate
degree from Swarthmore College,
where she studied art history,
film, and German. She previously
worked as the Curatorial Assistant
at the Delaware Art Museum in
Wilmington, DE. Her writing
has appeared in the Los Angeles
Review of Books, Hyperallergic,
Artillery Magazine, the Philly
Artblog, and other publications.
Deborah is currently the Exhibit
& Program Coordinator at the
Museum of Work & Culture in
Woonsocket, RI.

62 63
 ah
TIMELINE: 1982 By Debor eger SELECTED BASQUIAT MUMFORD-RELATED
ri
K EXHIBITIONS ARE FACTS ARE ALSO
IN BOLD. IN BOLD.

JANUARY 1982 FEBRUARY 1982 MARCH 1982 APRIL 1982 MAY 1982 JUNE 1982

Wolfgang Puck opens Spago54 2/1: “Late Night with David Letterman” pre- April–July: Basquiat participates in 4/1: LA Times reports outcomes of Writers’ Sisters of Survival, Shovel Defense Basquiat has planned show at Emilio
mieres, Bill Murray is first guest, NBC63 Transvanguardia: Italia/America, Guild of America awards.75 (Thaddeus performance Mazzoli Gallery in Modena, Italy, but
LA Artists For Survival (anti–nuclear artist 2/6–3/6: New Paintings by Jay McCafferty, Galleria Civica in Modena, Italy. Artists Mumford and his writing partner Dan Bruno Bischofberger learns that dislikes the experience of creating
group) has first meeting55 Cirrus Gallery64 include Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Wilcox are nominated for two WGA Basquiat has left Nosei’s Gallery works on demand for the show and
2/16–3/13: Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns: Francesco Clemente, et al Awards for M*A*S*H episodes. “A 5/8–5/16: New York Islanders win Stanley cancels it.92
1/6–1/24: Paul McCarthy, “Humanoid,” The End Game Opposition & Sister 3/5: John Belushi dies of a drug overdose69 War For All Seasons” is nominated in Cup in four games against Vancouver
LACE56 Squares are Reconciled,” LA Louver65 3/6–4/1: Basquiat, Annina Nosei, NYC70 the comedy category, and “Bless You Canucks84 Frank Zappa song “Valley Girl” is released93
1/13: Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson are 2/17: Death of Thelonius Monk66 3/19: Blake Edwards, Victor/Victoria71 Hawkeye” is nominated in the drama 5/14: John Milius, Conan the Barbarian85
inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame57 2/19: Wes Craven, Swamp Thing is released 3/19–5/22: John Outterbridge, Brockman category.) 76 5/20–6/19: Ellsworth Kelly, Margo Leavin 6/4: Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek II: The Wrath
1/15–2/20: Lynda Benglis, “Flux & Fusion: in theaters.67 Gallery72 4/3–5/8: Julian Schnabel: Recent Paintings & Gallery86 of Khan94
An Exhibition of Sculpture,” Margo Leavin 2/24–3/28: “Jim Morris, Drawings,” LACE68 3/25: Cagney & Lacey premieres, CBS73 Drawings, Margo Leavin Gallery77 5/21: John Huston, Annie87 6/4–6/26: “Jancar/Kuhlenschmidt Closing
Gallery58 3/29: Chariots of Fire wins Best Picture at 4/8–5/8: Basquiat, Larry Gagosian 5/23: LA Times reports Basquiat will be Exhibition.” The gallery opened in May
1/20: Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a 54th Academy Awards74 Gallery78 in the upcoming Documenta show88 1980 and showed Richard Prince, William
bat on stage in Des Moines, Iowa59 Reviewed LA Times, William Wilson, 5/25–6/19: Philip Guston, Asher/Faure89 Leavitt, et al95
1/24: San Francisco 49ers beat Cincinnati April 1679 5/27–6/8: LA Lakers win NBA 6/4–7/9: Basquiat participates in
Bengals in Super Bowl XVI60 Reviewed LA Weekly, Hunter Drohojowska, Championship against Philadelphia 76ers, 4 “Pressure to Paint” group show at
1/26–2/27: Allen Ruppersburg, “Searching April 23–29 edition (Schnabel at Margo games to 2 90 Marlborough Gallery, NYC. Also in-
for Passion and Sex” LAICA61 Leavin also reviewed in this article)80 5/28: Sylvester Stallone, Rocky III91 cludes Diego Cortez (curator) and Keith
1/30: 39th Golden Globe Awards at the 4/22–5/23: Julian Schnabel, LACMA Gallery 5/31: Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger is released Haring96
Beverly Hilton Hotel. On Golden Pond Six81 6/8: Negro/Major League Baseball player
and Arthur win Best Picture in a Drama/ 4/22–7/4: Basquiat in group show Satchel Paige dies97
Comedy, respectively, and Hill Street Blues/ “Running ’82,” New York Road Runners 6/9–7/9: Lari Pittman, Sunday Painting,
M*A*S*H win for television. Thaddeus Club. Includes Keith Haring, Willem de LACE98
Mumford is a celebrated, award-winning Kooning, Kiki Smith, etc.82 6/10–7/3: David Hockney,LA Louver99
writer and producer on M*A*S*H.62 4/30: NASA names Sally Ride as a Mission 6/11: Larry Holmes defeats Gerry Cooney
Specialist on the shuttle Challenger. She is for boxing heavyweight title in Last Vegas.
the first female American astronaut. Cooney was considered the “great white
On June 18, 1983, she will go into space.83 hope” of boxing100
6/11: Steven Spielberg, E.T. The Extra–
Terrestrial.101 (Colorful Face from the
Basquiat Venice Collection looks some-
what like E.T.)
6/11–7/15: Basquiat participates in “Fast”
group show at Alexander F. Milliken
Inc., NYC 102
6/15: Studio Museum in Harlem opens its
144 West 125th Street location103
6/19–9/28: Basquiat Documenta 7,
Kassel, West Germany. He is the young-
est of 182 artists including Warhol,
Beuys, Twombley, Richter, Haring, et
al104
6/23–7/30: Basquiat participates in
BlumHelman group show, NYC105
6/24–7/25: Tony Berlant, LACMA Gallery
Six106
6/25: John Carpenter, The Thing107
6/25: Ridley Scott, Blade Runner108

64 65
JULY 1982 AUG 1982 SEPTEMBER 1982 OCTOBER 1982 NOVEMBER 1982 DECEMBER 1982
7/2–7/31: Tony Berlant, LA Louver109 8/1: Formal Hall of Fame induction ceremo- Salomon Emquies opens the Rhythm Granmaster Flash debut album The Message Basquiat is in Venice, CA, working on Live Evil (live album) by Black Sabbeth
7/3: Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert ny for Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson115 Lounge club,118 where Basquiat later is released new Gagosian Gallery work for 1983 is released
at Wimbledon (6-1,3-6,6-2) 8/1–9/3: “Women Writing Poetry in records a video with Rammellzee and 10/1:Epcot Center opens, Florida show, including silkscreens138 During 12/1–31: Basquiat at Galerie Delta in
7/10: Green Card: An American Romance by America,” broadsides and poetry by women Toxic in 1983.119 10/1: Remington Steele premieres on NBC this visit for several months, he paints Rotterdam, the Netherlands144
Bruce and Norman Yonemoto presented, printers including Audre Lorde, at the starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce twenty five paintings in the Heroes & 12/2: Permanent artificial heart is implant-
LACE110 Woman’s Building116 9/9–10/9: Deborah Butterfield at Asher/ Brosnan Monsters at the Orlando Museum of Art ed in Dr. Barney B. Clark at University of
7/9: Steven Lisberger, TRON111 8/6-8/9: Target LA Art Festival, art fes- Faure120 10/6: Madonna’s debut single Everybody is 11/2: Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley Utah145
7/16: Basquiat has a drawing in tival commemorating the bombings of 9/10–10/23: Roger Herman, Ulrike Kantor released130 loses CA gubernatorial election to George 12/7–12/31: Richard Diebenkorn, LA
“Drawings/Vision: New York” at Janus Hiroshima and Nagasaki Gallery121 10/9–11/13: Keith Haring, Tony Shafrazi, Deukmejian139 Louver146
Gallery, LA which is reviewed in Los 8/13: Amy Heckerling, Fast Times at 9/11–10/9: Basquiat’s first solo show at NYC131 11/4–12/11: Basquiat’s solo exhibition at 12/8: Richard Attenborough, Gandhi147
Angeles Times and LA Weekly and Ridgemont High117 Galerie Bruno Bischofberger in Zurich, 10/12–10/22: MLB World Series, St. Louis Fun Gallery, NYC140 12/10: Alan J. Pakula, Sophie’s Choice 148
includes Mike Glier, Roberto Juarez, Switzerland122 Cardinals beat Milwaukee Brewers 4 games 11/13: Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial 12/17: Sydney Pollack, Tootsie149
Lynton Wells, Pedro Perez. It closes July 9/14–9/15: Queen plays Inglewood Forum, to 3132 opens, Washington DC141 12/26: “Man of the Year” for TIME
31. This show is not mentioned in Hoban CA (Los Angeles area)123 10/16-1/19/83: Zeitgeist show at Martin 11/16: NFL strike ends142 Magazine is the personal computer150
or Saggese.112 9/19: 34th Primetime Emmy Awards on Gropius Bau in Berlin, group show includ- 11/30: Michael Jackson’s Thriller is
7/23: George Roy Hill, The World According ABC. Hill Street Blues and Barney Miller ing Warhol, Stella, Schnabel, et al. released143
to Garp113 win Outstanding Drama and Comedy, 10/19–11/15: Charles White Retrospective,
7/28–7/29: Queen plays Madison Square respectively.124 Thaddeus Mumford is Heritage Gallery133
Garden, NYC114 nominated as a producer in the Comedy 10/22: Ted Kotcheff, Rambo: First Blood134
category for M*A*S*H.125 10/23–11/20: Basquiat has solo show of
9/20: NFL players begin 57–day strike126 one painting, Field Next to the Other
9/21: Janet Jackson, Janet Jackson (debut Road, Galleria Marco Diacono, Rome,
album)127 Italy135
9/25–10/23: Alexis Smith, “Satan’s 10/27: Prince, 1999136
Satellites,” at Rosamund Felsen Gallery 10/30: Basquiat performs with
and “Christmas Eve, 1943” at Margo Leavin Rammellzee, Diego Cortez, Tricnology,
Gallery,reviewed by William Wison, LA Iconoklast Panzerism at Squat Theatere,
Times, 10/1128 NYC137
9/30: Bruce Sprinsteen, Nebraska
9/30: Cheers debuts on NBC129

66 67
WORKS CITED Giacobbe, Alicia. “Mr. Chow—Iconic Hoffman, Fred. “Jean-Michel in Black and McKenna, Kristine. “Scenes From a Family
Restaurateur to the Stars—Looks White.” Gagosian Quarterly, Fall Gallery: Paul Kantor, his former
Back on 50 Years at the Top.” 2018. https://gagosian.com/quarter- wife Ulrike and their son Niels have
Architectural Digest, February 14, 2018. ly/2019/01/25/essay-jean-michel-bas- devoted their lives to art in L.A.—even
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/ quiat-black-and-white/ if the role of art dealer is misunder-
Abrahams, Megan. “The Los Angeles Art Cascone, Sarah. “Madonna Says Jean- Dominguez, Laura. “The Woman’s Building: story/mr-chow-50-years stood.” Los Angeles Times, January
Association Legacy.” Fabrik Michel Basquiat Took Back and L.A.’s ‘Feminist Mecca’.” KCET, Hyacinthe, Genevive. “I Am Basquiat: 22, 1995. https://www.latimes.com/
Magazine, January 1, 2016. Destroyed Paintings He Gave Her.” February 21, 2017. https://www.kcet. Gotthardt, Alexxa. “What Makes 1982 Tracing Jean-Michel Basquiat’s archives/la-xpm-1995-01-22-ca-23145-
https://fabrikmagazine.com/ Artnet, March 16, 2015. https:// org/shows/lost-la/the-womans-build- Basquiat’s Valuable Year.” Artsy, April Alterity and Activism in Paint and story.html
the-los-angeles-art-association-legacy/ news.artnet.com/art-world/bas- ing-l-a-s-feminist-mecca 1, 2018. https://www.artsy.net/article/ Performance.” In African American
quiat-took-back-madonna-paint- artsy-editorial-1982-basquiats-valu- Arts: Activism, Aesthetics, and Futurity, Mersereau, Jeremy. “Thriller is 35—here are
Andersen, Thom. Los Angeles Plays Itself. ings-277735 Drohojowska, Hunter. “Schnabel and able-year edited by Sharrell D. Luckett, 175-205. some other iconic things from 1982.”
2004. Basquiat: Explosions and Chaos.” LA Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell A.Side, November 30, 2017. https://
Cavazos, Nidia. “Professor discusses Weekly, April 29, 1982, page 19. Gottlieb, Laurie. “Home is Where the University, 2019. ontheaside.com/music/thriller-is-35-
Aniftos, Rania. “Madonna Posts Throwback Basquiat’s use of appropriation in Art Is.” Los Angeles Times Home here-are-some-other-iconic-things-
Photo With Ex-Boyfriend Jean-Michel artwork.” The Daily Texan, October Foster, Hal. “Between Modernism and the Magazine, January 26, 1975. Accessed Knopka, Rosemarie. “Outsiders from-1982/
Basquiat.” Billboard, December 6, 2018. 8, 2014. https://thedailytexan. Media.” 1982. Originally published in via Adsausage Archives Facebook Welcome: Brockman Gallery
https://www.billboard.com/articles/ com/2014/10/08/professor-dis- Art in America, Summer 1982 edition. post, December 17, 2020. https://www. & the Art of Inclusion.” Los Metcalf, Stephen. “The Enigma of the Man
news/8489113/madonna-throw- cusses-basquiats-use-of-appropria- Reprinted in Recodings [sic]: Art, facebook.com/adsausagearchives/ Angeles Archivists Collective. Behind the $110 Million Painting.” The
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blog/1982-timeline/# University, August 2008. https:// jean-michel-basquiat and Jessica Gambling. “Los Angeles 2016. https://www.latimes.com/en-
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Radiant Child. 2010. georgetown.edu/cctp-802-spring2017/ in Venice.” HUMANITY Magazine, McKenna, Kristine. “Opening a New
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Time Decorated: The Musical Influences Deron, Bernadette. “44 Retro Images Of pdf zensofhumanity.com/blog/2015/12/14/ L.A. Louver gallery moves to bigger Cienega Area.” Los Angeles Times,
of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Part 3 of 3. The What Life Was Like In 1980s Los jean-michel-basquiat-in-venice/ quarters but takes with it years of March 11, 1983, page 116.
Broad, 2021. https://www.youtube. Angeles.” Edited by Leah Silverman. Ghorashi, Hannah. “Los Angeles’s support for West Coast artists.” Los
com/watch?v=ST6Cp3S5uLs&t=3s All That’s Interesting, January 10, 2019. Rosamund Felsen Gallery to Close.” Hoffman, Fred. “Basquiat’s L.A.” Los Angeles Angeles Times, January 15, 1995. https:// Muchnic, Suzanne. “Institute at a
Updated January 12, 2019. https://all- ARTNews, June 30, 2016. https://www. Times, March 13, 2005. https://www. www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm- Crossroads: Artists Have Their Say on
Buchhart, Dieter, and Eleanor Naire, eds., thatsinteresting.com/1980s-los-angeles artnews.com/art-news/market/los- latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005- 1995-01-15-ca-20295-story.html LAICA.” Los Angeles Times, February
with Lotte Johnson. Basquiat: Boom angeless-rosamund-felsen-gallery-to- mar-13-ca-basquiat13-story.html 27, 1985. https://www.latimes.com/
for Real. 2017. Paperback edition: New close-6608/ archives/la-xpm-1985-02-27-ca-8974-
York: Prestel Publishing, 2020. story.html

68 69
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14-mn-57412-story.html American Studies, May 2011, Vol. 45, No. james-van-der-zee/ getty.edu:30008/getty_images/digi- “Margo Leavin Gallery records.”
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Times, July 7, 1991. https://www. and Critical Responses. Oakland: com/watch?v=H7f5ZaiUZgo article/2007/01/26/oscars-1982/ officialdata.org/
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07-ca-2930-story.html Spooner, James, and Ed Patuto. “James Wulffson, Jennifer. “The Adorable “Dale Brockman Davis.” Now Dig 2006 (bulk 1970-2006).” Getty
Saggese, Jordana Moore. Reading Basquiat: Spooner and Ed Patuto on the Patricia Faure, 1928-2008.” X-Tra, This! Art and Black Los Angeles, Research Institute, Collection
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main/2021/1/27/james-spooner-and- dale-brockman-davis
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Time.” Spin.com, November 14, 2013. Publishing, 2011. Stern, Karl. “1982 - Your complete When Roberto Juarez in discussion with the archive the-year-1982/
https://www.spin.com/2013/11/beat- It Was Cool Guide to the year 1982 author, June 2021.
bop-basquiat-k-rob-rammellzee-freak- Schnabel, Julian. Basquiat. 1996. in pop-culture, music, and more.” “For the Record.” Los Angeles Times, “Rosamund Felsen gallery records,
freak/ WhenItWasCool.com, https://www. Peter Relic in discussion with the author, February 5, 1998, p. 96. 1978–2014.” Smithsonian
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Peabody, Rebecca, Andrew Perchuk, City: Los Angeles and Urban Theory when-it-was-cool-pop-culture “Gasoline Prices Monthly & Annual www.aaa.si.edu/collections/
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Seed, John. “Driving Mr. Basquiat.” thetvratingsguide.com/2020/03/writ- author, June 2021. “Heritage Gallery.” http://www.heritagegal- awards
Pincus, Robert L. “50 U.S. Artists in JohnSeed.com, January 26, 2011. http:// ten-asking-where-cheers-is-by.html lery.com/
Documenta 7.” Los Angeles Times, May www.johnseed.com/2011/01/driv- “A Legend in Her Own Time.” “The Los Angeles Institute of
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Janus Gallery exhibition Drawings/ 2017. April 24, 2018. https://www.marie- “About the Gallery.” Gagosian Gallery. Timeline_of_Los_Angeles.html getty.edu/pacificstandardtime/ex-
Vision: New York. Los Angeles Times, claire.com/celebrity/g19872761/ https://gagosian.com/about/ plore-the-era/locations/the-los-ange-
July 16, 1982, page 115. Sieroty, Chris. “Celebrity chef Wolfgang celebrities-you-forgot-dated/ about-gallery/ “Information.” Jancargallery.com. https:// les-institute-of-contemporary-art-lai-
Puck to close Spago.” United www.jancargallery.com/info.php ca-1974%E2%80%9377/
Relic, Peter. “Got the Time: Matt Dike & Press International, February Wilson, William. “N.Y. Subway Graffiti: All “Artists.” L.A. Louver Gallery. https://lalou-
Jean-Michel Basquiat.” To Repel Ghosts: 12, 2001. https://www.upi.com/ Aboard for L.A.” Los Angeles Times, ver.com/artists.cfm “Information.” L.A. Louver Gallery. https:// “The Woman’s Building: A Brief History.”
The Collection of Matt Dike. Phillips, Archives/2001/02/12/Celebrity- April 16, 1982, page 99. lalouver.com/info.cfm http://thewomansbuilding.org/history.
2019. https://www.phillips.com/ chef-Wolfgang-Puck-to-close- “Beverly Hills 20-Year html
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mercurial co-founder of rap label 1988.” Online Archive of California. 1985-08-25-ca-24782-story.html al-exhibition-1995-2015/ “Winners and Nominees 1982.” Golden
Delicious Vinyl and collaborator on The Getty Research Institute, Special “Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Globe Awards. https://www.golden-
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20180313-story.html xpm-1987-09-23-sp-6303-story.html brockman-gallery/ cords-5495

70 71
BASQUIAT’S UNIVERSE
AS EXPRESSED IN THE BASQUIAT VENICE
COLLECTION

by James
This never-before-exhibited collection of twenty-five paintings
created by Jean-Michel Basquiat in Venice, California, in 1982 offer a
remarkable and unique opportunity to explore the multi-faceted uni-
verse of his imagination. These motifs, themes and subjects are bril- Blanco
liantly expressed in these works replete with heroes, monsters, ghosts,
royalty, the streets, ghastly heads and faces, reptiles, bats, cowboys,
Native American symbolism, autobiographical references and a
shout-out to his patron and celebrated African American television
writer Thaddeus Q. Mumford, Jr. who purchased the entire collection.

In the Basquiat Venice Collection (“the Collection”), we see the Self-

Portrait (1982), which is a more developed and impressive painting
in color than its black-and-white version Self-Portrait (1982). Several
of the skulls [Self-Portrait, Skull (1982), Industry Insider (1982) and
Blue Skull (1982)] capture key elements of those skull paintings All in all, this treasure trove of Basquiat creations—from the break-
that have recently sold for fantastic prices: Untitled (1982) [$110.5 through year of his best work—richly enhances our admiration of his
million], In This Case (1983) [$93.1 million] and Flexible (1984) [$45.3 genius. These exquisite paintings comprising the Collection further
million]. Many works in this extraordinary Collection embody el- cement his iconic stature as a gifted artist whose all-too-brief career
ements found in the dozen highest-priced Basquiat paintings. from graffiti tagger to stardom left us with works of singular beauty,
childhood innocence, sophistication and multi-faceted social, polit-
ical and racial messaging. It was here in California during 1982, far
from the market pressures in New York City that would later over-
whelm him, that the young artist—already a mature painter for his
tender age of twenty-two—demonstrated the clarity of his vision and
expressed his compelling narrative characteristic of his masterpieces.

The following discussion presents samplings of Basquiat’s imagery

and themes from this Collection with some comparisons to the es-
tablished known works by Jean-Michel Basquiat as presented in the
Jean-Michel Basquiat Catalogue Raisonné 12 by Enrico Navarra, a 376-
page volume (Volume I) and a 312-page companion volume (Volume
II), and Basquiat Works on Paper, a 375-page volume.

These three volumes present high-resolution photographs depicting

Basquiat’s life work. I also consulted The Notebooks by Jean-Michel
Basquiat, edited by Larry Warsh—a 310-page collection of the artist’s
handwritings and sketches.

An important significance of a catalogue raisonné is providing a

baseline for comparison of any artwork that is newly found to well-
known, established works by a particular artist. Having reviewed
these 1,373 pages countless times over the last four years and com-
paring them to the twenty-five paintings in the Collection, I am able
share my understanding of the universe of Jean-Michel Basquiat as
gleaned from his artwork with my spotlight on the exceptional paint-
ings in the Collection.
2 Published by Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris; 3rd Edition (2000).

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Untitled,” painted in 1982, sold for $110.5 million at a Sotheby’s
72 auction in May 2017. 73
THE THREE-POINTED CROWN AND
CORONATION OF HEROES
One of the preeminent themes in Basquiat’s works and the
Collection is the three-pointed crown. During my odysseys through
the Collection, the signature Basquiat theme of the three-point
crown was prevalent, either appearing on a head, incorporated into a
head or positioned somewhere alone, less conspicuous in the paint-
ing.

In Blue Skull (1982) from the Collection, we see the yellow crown
positioned at the lower right of the work in an inconspicuous place
just above Basquiat’s name “JEAN.” Throughout the Collection,
we see at least fourteen examples of the less-prominent uses of the
three-pointed crown.

Sometimes, the three-pointed crown is cleverly incorporated into a

head, such as we see in the Collection’s Self-Portrait with his cowboy hat
and wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit (1982) with the ghost head,
which is strikingly similar to the images on the right from Volume II,
Catalogue Raisonné.

In Crown Face II (1982) from the Collection, we see the three-point Basquiat loved boxing and revered famous African American boxing
crown positioned on the head of the person in the painting. champions. He was very attracted to Joe Louis who was widely re-
garded as the greatest fighter in the history of boxing and was one
Thus, these three uses of the three-pointed crown show us that of the most popular Black athletes of his time. Joe Louis was the
Basquiat used the crown in different ways as a symbol to sign his youngest boxer of his era to become heavyweight champion of the
paintings as well as to honor his heroes. world—a reign he maintained for twelve years. In the Catalogue
Raisonné Volume Works on Paper (pg 40), we see Basquiat’s painting
In Crown Face II, we can also see at the lower right the phrase “World of Joe Louis with a halo.
famous all time champion of the World.” This boast could easily be
attributed to Cassius Clay, aka Muhammad Ali. Indeed, Basquiat even Basquiat grew up watching Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and other fight-
painted the work below to honor “Cassius Clay.” (Catalogue Raisonné, ers on TV with his father. “These fond memories with his family also
Volume II, pg 120) fostered a great deal of respect in Basquiat for the athletes as individ-
uals.”  (Scott Nussbaum, interview, October 29, 2019) (https://news.
artnet.com/market/basquiat-boxer-phillips-1691164)
“[T]hroughout his life, Jean-Michel closely identified with boxers,
athletes and warriors . . . .” Id.

As a further demonstration of Basquiat’s interest in boxing, page 21 of

Works on Paper depicts a photograph of Basquiat with Andy Warhol
(yet another one of his heroes) where they both are wearing boxing
gloves and boxing shorts.

Although this BROOKLYN DODGERS piece (Catalogue Raisonné,

Volume II, pg X) [Untitled (1982)] references on its face a baseball
team, the work is a listing of famous boxing matches by Basquiat’s
boxing heroes. Without the assistance of the internet in 1982,
Basquiat, a voracious reader, must have called upon his legendary
memory and/or had input from his father and others in order to as-
semble this impressive, detailed list of past boxing face-offs.

74 75
BASEBALL

Growing up in New York City, Basquiat was fond of baseball, as seen In the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, pg 37, A Panel of Experts (1982),
by the BROOKLYN DODGERS work above, returning to the nation- we see a painting with the words at the upper right “SATURDAY
al pastime in other pieces. MORNING CARTOON.” In the right image frame, we see “Beep
Beep” and the bird, an obvious reference to Wile E. Coyote and the
In the Collection’s Baseball (1982), the baseball is prominent at the Road Runner. And what child watching cartoons at that time didn’t
bottom of the painting. Basquiat’s interest in baseball is further seen eat “SUGAR COATED CORN PUFFS” as written at the bottom of
in the sketch below where Basquiat writes “Famous Negro Athletes” the piece?
(Works on Paper, pg 18). On the same page, there is also a sketch of
Satchel Paige, a famous African American pitcher who was inducted In the Collection’s Three Birds, Car & TV (1982), we see three crows
into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Coincidentally, Thaddeus Q. inside a television set at the upper left side of the painting. For those
Mumford, Jr., who purchased the Collection from Basquiat in 1982, who remember, the “Heckle and Jeckle” animated cartoon show
was the first African American batboy for the New York Yankees. was aired from 1956 to 1966 and later from 1969 to 1971. These
identical, yellow-billed magpies were always up to something mis-
One of his most celebrated and exhibited paintings, Famous Negro chievous, which is perhaps why children enjoyed watching the show.
Athletes (1981) is an oilstick on paper that was originally a graffiti However, the birds in this painting may be derived from Dumbo’s
mural. Four roughly scribbled, dark faces are huddled over a base- guardian crows.
ball and the title. Famous Negro Athletes hails sports as one of the few
fields where Black Americans were allowed to dominate with their In Three Birds, Car & TV, Basquiat displays his playful tongue-in-
excellence. cheek humor. While the crows are themselves inside a TV, they
appear bored while watching a plain-looking news reporter who is
A YouTube video shows Basquiat wearing a football helmet on which inside another television set at the upper right of the painting. These
he has painted “AARON” and his iconic crown. https://www.youtube. TV sets have large knobs on them indicative of the time period. A
com/watch?v=uY9Irc4wsHA TV set with large knobs on it can be seen in the Collection’s Industry
Insider (1982) to the right of the tall head.

That Basquiat used cartoon shows as part of his inspiration can further
CHILDHOOD ALLUSIONS be observed by the painting of Bugs Bunny with his carrot lounging
inside the familiar Warner Bros. circle. The image (Vitaphone, 1984) is
from the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 243.
“Basquiat primarily emphasized the symbols of childhood and juve-
nile popular culture, and his works contain hundreds of examples,
In the Collection’s Hit the Brakes (1982), we see a blue bat. It is likely
such as comic books and cartoon studios: ACTION COMICS, MAD,
that the mid-1960s “Batman” television show gave Basquiat the
MARVEL COMICS, DISNEY, WARNER BROS., A.A.P., METRO
impetus to paint the bat in this painting. For those who remember, in
GOLDWYN MAYER, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, COLUMBIA;
the 1960s television series, Batman wore a blue suit, cape and hood.
cartoon and comic characters: Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Superman,
This painting is also an autobiographical reference to eight-year-old
Jimmy Olson, Batman, Robin, Joker, Dick Tracy, Popeye, Olive Oyl,
Basquiat getting hit by a car as a young boy.
Lone Ranger, Rocky, Bullwinkle, Gumby and Pokey” (Catalogue
Raisonné, Volume II, pg 38).
We also see a blue bat at the right side of the Collection’s Reptile with
Claws and Crown (King of Creatures) (1982) although it is less promi-
The Collection’s paintings also illustrate the popular cultural symbols
nent than in the previous painting.
widely televised over the 1960s and 1970s. In the Collection’s Cat &
Firetruck (1982), we observe what I surmise is Felix The Cat, the star
Bats are widely observed while turning through the pages of the
of an American animated syndicated television series. Although this
Catalogue Raisonné with such examples seen in Volume I, pg 59 and
series ran only three seasons (1958–1960), the episodes were rerun
pg 291. In this example from the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg
for many years.
163 (Piano Lesson For Chiara (1983), we see Batman standing next to
Robin with the “Batman” logo on the front of his uniform.
As an example of Basquiat painting cartoon characters in his other
works, in the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 128, we observe a
1983 acrylic featuring a Moose (or Water Buffalo) whose inspiration
may have come from the animated cartoon series “The Adventures
of Rocky and Bullwinkle” (1959–1964). However, given the message
“Secret Society,” I wonder if the image is really of a Moose, which
could be taken from “The Flintstones” “Water Buffalo Lodge” ani-
mated series (1960–1966).

76 77
COWBOYS AND NATIVE AMERICANS

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, there were many cowboy shows like
“The Rifleman” (1958–1963), “Gunsmoke” (1955–1975), “Maverick”
(1957–1962), “Cheyenne” (1955–1962) and “Bonanza” (1959–1973).
I watched all of these shows and their reruns when I was a child and
young teenager growing up. These, too, were the heroes of the time,
adored and revered by children and juveniles alike. So, it would be no
wonder that shows like these would have influenced Basquiat when
he, too, was growing up.

Reflections of cowboy-and-Native American days can be seen in

the Collection’s Self Portrait (1982) with the tribal man holding a
spear or arrow. Note the striking detail of similarities between the
Collection’s painting and that depicted in the Catalogue Raisonné.

In addition to spears, arrows, which usually include fletchings, are seen

in the numerous Collection paintings from 1982: Crown Face II, Cat &
Firetruck, Hit The Brakes, Eyeballs/Eat, Industry Insider, Acme Toy Co.,
One More King/Czar and Red Face & Yellow Crown.

One More King/Czar (1982) from the Collection is an example

where we see arrows underneath the three-point crown.
Arrows such as these are very common among the known
works by Basquiat as can further be observed in the following work,
Hit the Brakes.

In Hit the Brakes, we also see a Native American in the foreground Basquiat’s interest in Native Americans is further seen in the Catalogue
of a pine forest defiantly holding up an arrow (or spear) in the air Raisonné, Volume I, pg 18, with this painting featuring a teepee. With
as a lariat is being cast at him from the upper left of the painting. his encyclopedic knowledge of history, culture and art, Basquiat had
Although an anachronistic reference, it appears that Batman has no problem painting subjects with anachronistic contradictions, like
swooped in to save the day. Note the crown and distinctive block here where cars appear in the same work as a teepee.
signature in the lower-right corner.
In the Collection’s Self-Portrait with his cowboy hat and wearing
Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit (1982), we see in the center of the paint-
ing a cowboy with wings. The use of a similarly shaped cowboy hat
in a similar color appears in the known works of Basquiat as seen in
the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, pg 106, frame 4. Both paintings
have a feather.

In Self-Portrait with his cowboy hat and wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s flying
suit, the vertical lines representing the quills of the wings extend ran-
domly above the horizontal wing structure, and the same carefree
random pattern can be observed in the example below found in the
Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 132 and 133. Note also the oblong
head with no eyes, the boxed/rectangular torso, the spindle legs and
the three-pointed toes of the bird feet.

It has been suggested that the bird wings depicted in Self-Portrait with
his cowboy hat and wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit represent the
flying wing suit created by Leonardo da Vinci. It would hardly be sur-
prising that Basquiat, being self-taught in math, science, anatomy and
history, would imagine such a suit to dress up one of his subjects.

78 79
MONSTERS AND SCIENCE FICTION
When I was a child during the 1950s and 1960s, I recall the old black-
and-white sci-fi thrillers, such as “The Crawling Eye.” Although con-
sidered “cheesy” and boring by today’s cinematic standards, it scared
me back then to the point that I still remember it today. I ponder if
perhaps that frightening “The Crawling Eye” creature—that crawled
around torturing its victims on a Swiss mountaintop—was the inspi-
ration for this Eyeballs/Eat (1982) painting in the Collection. Note to
the lower left of the painting the cavernous jaws inside of the door
entrance where the word “EAT” is written inside the flesh-devouring
creature’s mouth.

The Collection’s Blue Skull (1982) is a painting of a creature with an In the Collection’s Industry Insider (1982), a tour de force work chock-
elongated skull and huge caged mouth and large, piercing eyes. We full of symbolism, we see what appears to be a mummy in the upper
can see magenta outlines of mountains over the front of the skull head right background and a large creature head in the foreground. Note
with the pine forest in the background, perhaps indicating that this the concentric circles in the mummy’s eyes, which is a very strong
creature lives in the mountains. Many of Basquiat’s faces resemble representation of creature eyes by Basquiat.
African masks with hallowed eyes and caged mouths. The example
below is depicted in the Catalogue Raisonné Works on Paper, pg 30. Another Basquiat persistent style is to paint the teeth with very
defined block corners and an open mouth, as we see in the colorful
Self-Portrait, Skull (1982) is another Collection painting of a creature head in the foreground. To the left of the creature’s mouth is a red
with a large caged mouth. In this case, both eyes are created from door behind, which appear to be small birds hiding from the creature.
concentric circles presenting a crazed look. It is impressive that the
technique of different coloration and ways of filling in the pupils en- To the right center of the painting is another period-era television set
hances the disturbed look of this demented creature. with the large knobs where, of course, we would watch TV sci-fi and
thrillers and see such creatures as are present in this painting.
At the upper right of this work are the words running uphill
and written in red, “Doesn’t Really Matter.” Careful study of Industry Insider is one of many Collection paintings where Basquiat’s
the image reveals that to the left of these words appears to be a gun drawing skills are evident.
with the muzzle flash proceeding from right to left along the top of
the painting. The Collection’s Reptile with Claws and Crown (King of Creatures)
(1982), the theme painting for this Heroes & Monsters show, displays
In Dog & Wolf (1982) from the Collection, we see a furry Wolf-Dog a scary reptile with red claws and a gold crown upon his head. This
that has attacked a person who is lying on the ground. The word exquisitely crafted painting is the quintessence of excellence of
“Snakes” is added to the painting. This could be a reminiscence of Basquiat’s works from 1982.
the 1941 movie “Wolfman.” However, it may reference the “snakes”—
the people who discriminated against boxing champion Joe Louis.
The Collection’s Red Face & Rat Monster (1982) is fraught with
meaning pertinent to the Heroes & Monsters exhibition. In case there
were any questions about it, Basquiat writes of the green creature,
“Rat Monster.” There must be something evil about it because
painted above the Monster’s head is “666,” along with a pentagram.
666 is called the “number of the beast” in Chapter 13 of the Book of
Revelation in the “New Testament” and signifies the Devil or Anti-
Christ. Given the “666” reference, the red face may indicate the Devil.
This painting could have been a reference to the 1976 movie The Food
of the Gods in which friends hunting on a remote island find killer rats
that have mutated from a substance percolating up from the ground.
As a solution to this rat problem, the hunters blow up a nearby dam
to flood the killer rats, and that is perhaps why in this haunting paint-
ing we see the house toppling down, apparently being swept away by
the flood.

80 81
THRILLERS PINE TREES
In the Collection’s painting Yellow & Black Building (1982), we see Of the hundreds of paintings presented in Volume I of the Catalogue
what I believe is a reference to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 classic movie Raisonné, there are no images of pine trees prior to works painted
“The Birds.” I remember that at the time it came out, I was ten years in 1982, but in 1982 and thereafter, they do appear. Yet, Basquiat’s
old, and all the adults were talking about this movie. There was even version of pine forests do appear in the Collection’s paintings: Blue
an advertisement (I recall cleverly disguised as a news report) that Skull (mountains and pine forest), Hit The Brakes and Three Birds,
the movie was so scary that a man had a heart attack watching it in Car & TV. This leads me to believe that during his time in Venice/
the theater. Consequently, the adults were talking about making sure Los Angeles, Basquiat made a trip up to Big Bear, Mammoth or Tahoe
they were healthy before going to see the movie. where he was impressed by the many towering pine trees. It is during
1982 and later when we begin to see such pine trees in the Venice col-
In Yellow & Black Building, we observe the birds flying over Alfred lection works as well as in other pieces outside of the Collection, such
Hitchcock’s head and the classic Hitchcock side profile as used in as Swiss Son (1983) (Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 170). Sasquatch
Hitchcock’s TV series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” (1955–1962). As a appears to be protecting its baby from the savage.
matter of interest, in 1945, Hitchcock made a request of Salvador Dalí
to create a nightmare in a dream sequence for Hitchcock’s psycho-
analytic thriller movie “Spellbound.” After “Spellbound,” Hitchcock
engaged Dalí to paint works to be used as props adorning the walls in
the room scenes of Hitchcock’s TV shows and movies.
YOUTHFUL MEMORIES AS
INSPIRATION FOR HIS PAINTINGS
In the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 200–201, a 1984 painting
(O.M.R.A.V.S.) shows a person on an early wall-mount hand-crank
INFLUENCE OF PICASSO telephone with the two large bells on its face. These phones were
still around in the 1960s as I myself remember seeing them in my
Basquiat was influenced by several artists: da Vinci, Pollock and relatives’ homes. It was common for Basquiat to reflect back to his
Warhol. In the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 239, we see a por- earlier memories as resources for subject matters for his paintings.
trait of Pablo Picasso who was another hero of Basquiat. We find
the influence of Picasso upon Basquiat in two other paintings where The Collection’s Acme Toy Co. (1982) likewise references earlier
Basquiat positions the eyes offset or on top of one another instead of times with “ACME TOY CO” (featured in the “Roadrunner/Wile
side-by-side. In the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 245, we find the E. Coyote” animated shorts) written on a chalkboard. Acme Toy
classic Basquiat lizard with his orange eyes vertical instead of hori- Company was a fictional corporation that was a running gag man-
zontal. Further, in the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, pg 224, we find ufacturing products backfiring and failing at the most inopportune
another work by Basquiat, which also shows the eyes in the classic moments.
vertical Picasso style.
Note also the Army tank and medical banner images ingrained into
In Batman with Top Hat, we see yet another example where Basquiat post war–era children who heard war stories from WWII returned
positions the eyes of the subject on top of one another. Here, Basquiat vets and watched war movies. Similar to the Army tank in Acme Toy
honors his hero Pablo Picasso by integrating Picasso’s style into his Co., the painting Untitled (1981) in the Catalogue Raisonné, Volume
own artwork. 1, pg 27 also includes an Army tank in the painting with its barrel
pointed to the left as in this Acme Toy Co. painting.
The Collection’s painting Face (With Orange Halo) (1982) is another
example of Basquiat positioning the eyes on top of one another. In Gringo Pilot (Anola Gay) (1981) (Works on Paper, at pages 92–93),
Basquiat cites Colonel Paul Tibbets, the best-known pilot of World
The oblong caged mouth and the halo are also features that Basquiat War II, and his B-29 Superfortress bomber the Enola Gay that
regularly incorporated into his paintings. dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.

82 83
CONCLUSION
I have been in the field of Forensic Document
With these foregoing, notable similarities, it is beyond dispute that Examinations for over thirty years. I was
these authentic Collection paintings from 1982 mirror and are inte- formerly commissioned (“sworn”) with the
gral elements of Basquiat’s universe. Indeed, some are better con- Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
ceived, drawn, colored and executed than works in the Catalogue Firearms working as a full time Forensic
Raisonné. The Collection is a significant discovery for the art world Document Examiner employee in their
that advances our knowledge, and deepens our appreciation, of Western Regional Forensic Science Crime
Basquiat’s singular genius. laboratory.

The works in the Catalogue Raisonné reveal a unique universality, After an extensive background investigation I
social commentary, fascination with popular culture and egalitarian- was issued a federal top secret security clear-
ism common to Basquiat’s universe vividly depicted in the Collection. ance due to the sensitive nature of informa-
The editor of the Catalogue Raisonné, Enrique Navara, who assembled tion to which I was exposed. In this position
imagery from hundreds of Basquiat works to create his official com- I worked cases for the numerous field offices
pendium, concludes that Basquiat’s paintings: (“Posts of Duty”) in the United States and in
the U.S. Protectorates and Territories of the
“owe nothing to the myth or to the drugs, or to the skin color of its Special Agents of ATF which also occasional-
Hero. They only show us a work that is full, consistent, lively and con- ly involved joint investigation cases with the
tinuously explosive. Jean-Michel Basquiat is not only the son of the DEA and FBI.
America where he was born and lived, or of the Africa of his distant
ancestors. He is from all continents, from all those who have discovered I left this position on good terms for a full
and adopted him. He is from all cultures, his works are heavily influ- time Forensic Document Examiner employee
enced by them. He is not simply a witness of Black History because he position with the California Department of
refers to other peoples and other struggles, such as the Chinese who Justice where I examined cases for hundreds
were used to lay the American railway tracks.” of government and law enforcement agencies
throughout the State of California. I left this
Enrico Navarra, Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II pg 8. position on good terms to enter private prac-
tice as a Forensic Document Examiner and
Jean-Michel Basquiat has entertained, scolded, educated and inspired have been in full time private practice now for
us. Thankfully, in many ways, he has posthumously shown us the way. over eighteen years.
As reflected in his stunning body of work, including the twenty-five
paintings in the Collection, this prodigy helps us interpret our own Part of the work of forensic document examin-
universe today. To his admirers, Basquiat, in trying so honestly to ers is to evaluate all forms of written materials
cope with his own monsters, is our hero. (human output) whether symbols, markings,
graffiti, pictograms, monograms and stylized
writings. Also considered are the methodolo-
gies, style and techniques employed. The eval-
uation further includes an evaluation of the
substrate upon which those markings appear
as well as the marking implement whether
writing pen, pencil, color markers, brushes,
stylists or etching and engraving tools.

Over the course of my work as a Forensic

Document Examiner I have also examined
and offered authentication opinions on paint-
ings concerning the following artists: Henri
Matisse, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Jackson
Pollock, Erte (Romain de Tirtoff ), Salvador
Dali, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Willem de
Kooning, Rembrandt van Rijn, Edgar Degas,
John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Wassily
Kandinsky and Edward Hopper.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump,” painted in 1982, sold for over $100
84 million at auction in June 2020. 85
BASQUIAT TRANSCENDENT In the Black community, “Oreo” is an offensive slur, the evolution
of the phrase “Uncle Tom.” This intensely offensive term is used in

REIMAGINING AMERICA’S MOST the Black community as an insult from one Black person to another.
Calling someone an “Oreo” implies that the person is “Black on

INFLUENTIAL ARTIST the outside but white on the inside.” This epithet describes a Black
person who has adopted behavior, mannerism, attitudes, language
styles and values similar to white society at the expense of connect-
ing with one’s Blackness. This baneful word implies that someone is
The most influential artist in American history is a Black man from We must stop reinforcing this hackneyed notion that the art world either unaware, uneducated, uncomfortable or unaccepting of one’s
Brooklyn: His name is Jean-Michel Basquiat. He was an art auction rescued Basquiat from nothingness. This facile characterization is own Blackness. Furthermore, it conveys an idea that there is solely a
record holder, clothing designer, band member, Billboard-charting misleading since the temporary life that Jean-Michel lived as a graffiti singular way to be Black. “Oreo” is a reductive term that attempts to
producer and cultural icon. It’s clear that Jean-Michel’s creative artist is a far cry from his parents’ affluent Brooklyn home. He is not reinforce cultural stereotypes rooted in racism. This is a label that is
genius took many forms. Transcending beyond the fine art world and someone who was living in obscurity, destitute on the streets, who not received well nor does it wash off easily.
touching music, film, fashion and personal style, his inspiration has happened to have fallen into the art world as many would like us to
permeated the globe. Whether you relate to his artwork as prolific or believe. Rather, Jean-Michel knew what he wanted to become from a No one person is guilty, however. This is a systemic issue that This story points to a fundamental reason behind such misinterpre-
child-like, people appreciate him as a global icon, who in a short time young age, professing that he would become a famous artist and often permeates the hierarchy of the art world’s ecosystem. The lack of tations: There is a failure to speak to those who knew, loved and lived
of less than ten years, left a huge impact on the world. confidentially proclaiming that he would work with Andy Warhol—a cultural inclusivity extends to every corner of the industry: artists, with Jean-Michel in the interpretive conversation. This inaccurate
prediction that came true. collectors, gallery owners, curators, managers, auction houses, critics story has continued to be published in major art publications and
However, the true story of his life and genius has not been told. Raised and art fairs. To ensure we communicate accurate depictions based has been taught in art and art history programs, which further per-
by a Puerto Rican mother and a Haitian father, Jean-Michel embodied Jean-Michel wrote for his high school newspaper in a collaboration on a multi-faceted viewpoints, the industry itself would need a petrates a distorted reality. Many published Basquiat subject matter
in a myriad of ways the American Dream and all the perils encoun- with famed graffiti writer Al Diaz. Together, they created SAMO© change in perspective. experts and people who retell his story only knew him in a profes-
tered in its pursuit. His exposure to fine art and science by his mother (“Same Old Shit”), a moniker that still inspires and challenges today. sional context. Imagine your co-workers being asked to define you in
as a young boy would forever profoundly influence his artwork. Jean- Some say “SAMO©” was written to wake up society from its ma- Jean-Michel Basquiat was very much a Black artist in a white art your totality. Since they only know you through a professional lens,
Michel’s father was a successful accountant who also owned proper- trix-like slumber; this street poetry was a combination of graffiti world as is evidenced in how the art world views, interprets, hoards their knowledge about your life story would be lacking. To do any
ty, but he may not have always been as enthusiastic about his son’s and public outcry. It was here that the two started to gain notori- and monopolizes his work without regard for the impact. Often, mis- person’s life justice, we must find a wider set of lenses to view him as
path as an artist. It is a cultural norm in some Caribbean homes that ety, and a larger ego is justified for that of two young men at the representations due to a lack of cultural competency go unchallenged a multi-faceted individual.
a parent’s preferred life path for their children is one of working hard time. They turned it into a very dynamic, intellectual and important because of the perceived expertise of the people—curators, critics,
to achieve academic excellence, which they hope will lead to financial body of work that provoked thought in New York City streets from dealers—who create them.  Too often, the art world unsurprisingly anoints a white male to give
success. It is the aspiration for a professional degree—doctor, lawyer, 1978 to 1979. It was more of a controlled experiment in hype for the his insight into the work of a Black man in America. This not only
engineer or nurse—that takes precedence over creative pursuits, teenage duo, an early collaboration that seamlessly mixed an editorial One conspicuous example is a diptych that Jean-Michel Basquiat has inherent glaring negative consequences, but it is also plainly
which are seen as less desirable. smoothness with words and flips on established concepts that forced created for Al Diaz. The two would call each other “WALA”—like offensive. Their inability to relate to the artist culturally feeds
unique examination of established norms. They never saw it becom- one would say when performing a magic trick—part of a shared perverse, distorted interpretations of the artwork. For example, how
Nonetheless, Jean-Michel’s mother continued to champion his art- ing a cultural icon decades later. coded language. Jean-Michel would often behave in ways that drove can white males, no matter how well-intentioned, relate to the Irony
istry with trips to the Brooklyn Museum of Art. And she ignited his his friends, especially those closest to him, mad. As an attempt to Of Negro Policeman or Defacement more than the actual victims of
love of science early on by gifting the young Jean-Michel with a copy Misinterpretations of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work are often so make amends, he gave Diaz a diptych that read “To and From WALA” police violence?
of Gray’s Anatomy, planting the seed that would blossom into and glaring that the inaccuracies become exasperating. One notable illus- at the top. It was the artist’s unique olive branch to his friend, an
begin the thread of science that is interwoven throughout much of tration is the commentary about Oreo, a painting by Jean-Michel in artwork that contained a specific term of endearment only used Notably, Chaédria LaBouvier was the first Black curator, Black
his work—a small, overlooked tidbit that misshapes his legacy. 1988. The work depicts the word “Oreo” in black on a white circu- by Jean-Michel and Diaz to refer to one another. This true sign of woman curator and first person of color to curate an exhibition in
lar background encompassed inside of a black oval on a green back- friendship and love was regrettably sold by Diaz to raise money to the Guggenheim’s 80-year history. Her exhibition “Defacement: The
Art historians often attempt to sell a singular story that Basquiat was ground. While giving an interpretation of Oreo, a world-renowned buy recording equipment. Less than a year after he sold the work, Untold Story” is the most culturally competent Basquiat exhibition
a New York City street kid plucked from homelessness. This ubiq- curator opined that it represented a quintessential example of Jean-Michel died and though Diaz searched for decades, he was not ever curated at a major museum. Though a triumph in many ways,
uitous false narrative is a sensational tale, but it misrepresents Jean- Warhol’s impact on Basquiat’s work, drawing parallels to Basquiat’s able to locate it for over 30 years. Then, one day, Diaz was invited to LaBouvier described her time at the Guggenheim as “the most racist
Michel’s true origin story. This “street kid” narrative is laughable to use of brands and commercialism. While it is true that Basquiat the home of an Ivy League professor for an interview. On the wall, he professional experience of [her] life.” She was excluded from key pro-
those who knew he was raised in a middle-class home, one that a high and Warhol had a professional relationship, this critique lacks cultur- saw the professor’s prized Basquiat. The professor proudly shared a gramming and panel discussions and from speaking with the press.
school friend recalls as “the nicest houses he had ever been to…” al competency. published catalog featuring the work, claiming that Basquiat painted Essentially, she was used for her Blackness and femininity. She was a
the piece on a road trip from Washington State to Los Angeles, hence means to make the museum seem like it was becoming more diverse.
the phrase “To and From WALA.” Her experience is but another example of the un-inclusive environ-
ment that permeates the art industry, especially in museums.

LaBouvier’s show included Irony Of Negro Policeman, which provid-

ed insight into the Black community’s twisted relationship with and
irony of Black policemen. Historically, Black people have been dis-
proportionally subjected to a farce racist punishment system. Thus,
the idea that a Black person would subject himself to this oppressive
system rampant with white supremacy is ironic at best.

86 87
Jean-Michel himself is pulling terminology, cultural references and Through no fault of their own, people tend to pull from either learned If the art world continues to maintain a homogenous power structure
sentiment from his experience as a Black man—a message that may or personal experiences when attempting to understand or inter- that promotes whiteness as the standard, that uses whiteness as its
not be picked up by everyone. He himself was both an artist and a pret things, but they are not always aware of the inaccuracies or bias lens and eschews diversity, it will perpetuate the lack of representa-
canvas, painting from his own life experience. The title work of the that may be glaringly obvious to other cultures.  People are allowed tion we see today, leaving us disadvantaged in our perspective. The
exhibition “Defacement” also explores the institutional racism that to experience and interpret music without a self-anointed subject arts infrastructure must be re-envisioned to embrace a heightened,
exists in the NYPD in particular: It depicts officers brutally beating matter “expert” explaining the lyrics, references and influences. Thus, sustained level of multi-faceted diversity in artists, managers, cura-
and killing a young artist named Michael Stewart for doing graffiti in the viewpoints and conversation have to expand. The art world so tors, galleries, designers, auctioneers, art directors, museum direc-
a NYC subway. This work was created by Jean-Michel as a requiem easily champions diverse art. Yet the administrative labyrinth fre- tors, museum staff, art educators, critics, taste makers, authors and
for Stewart and as a cathartic release of emotion for himself. It wasn’t quently overlooks the value of ethnic inclusivity, thereby further publications. If not, we all risk continued marginalization of crucial
something he created to be displayed in a gallery or museum; rather, diminishing the voices of color in America whose path is already lit- voices in the dialogue.
he painted it on the studio wall of famed artist Keith Haring as an tered with minefields.
outlet for his grieving after Stewart’s death. The intense empathy This extraordinary exhibition of 25 exquisite paintings by Basquiat
must have been overwhelming for Jean-Michel, who likely thought Jean-Michel Basquiat’s impact from the early 1980s to today demon- from 1982 is a positive step in the direction of making Basquiat ac-
the same thing many Black people have thought when confronted strates his financial and creative influence on the art market, galler- cessible to his multi-variegated constituencies. This unique collection
with police violence: “That could have been me.” ies and auction houses as well as fashion and hip-hop. His artwork offers us the unprecedented opportunity to see Basquiat as Basquiat,
is more in demand now than ever with the major auction houses, at ease painting for himself and not affluent collectors or gallery
Jean-Michel stood against people being influenced by mass media or private collectors and financial institutions all clamoring to own or owners. This is both artist and canvas unleashed as we see in so many
big corporations as he proclaimed early on when creating SAMO© profit from a piece of the Basquiat action. delightful ways how Basquiat was free to express in his singular style
graffiti with Al Diaz. If he were alive today, he would recoil at the use of and voice his thoughts and feelings about a host of issues ranging
Stevenson A. Dunn, Jr. was born and raised in
his name and singular images (such as the lizard and the three-pointed A major, gratifying aspect of Basquiat’s legacy is his continued in- from his blackness to his demons.
Brooklyn, N.Y. and is a Founder and Owner
crown) in mass advertising—a case in point being Tiffany’s rhetoric fluence on artists who have forged their own paths in the art world
of The Bishop Gallery, alongside his business
behind its recent marketing campaign, which claimed Basquiat was but have clearly been influenced by his aesthetics and charismatic With much appreciation to the Bishop Gallery and Stevenson Dunn.
partner and fellow Founder Erwin John. Dunn
inspired by its “robin’s-egg blue” and somehow was paying homage persona. Indeed, his aesthetic is so pervasive that he is deserving of
has curated Fine Art exhibitions and Arts
to the jewelry giant. This point is further proven when you note that his own style of art: “The Basquiat School.” Artists such as Bradley
Programming for over a decade, including
friends, collaborators and even Jean-Michel’s former assistant have Theodore, Genesis Tramaine, Quiana Parks, Gianni Lee and Banksy,
hundreds of art shows with emerging and es-
verified the lack of material connection in Equals Pi, the artwork fea- just to name a few, have all been inspired by Basquiat. The crown,
tablished artists from 6 continents. Focusing
tured in Tiffany’s latest campaign. crayon depictions and aesthetic constantly show up in art,  and
on making art more accessible, Dunn has
given his iconic status, even his image has been made into art, with
brought exhibitions including a wide range
Jean-Michel’s unique aesthetic of combining mundane concepts high- his picture plastered across T-shirts. In a real sense, Basquiat has
of world-renowned artists to his community
lights the need for input from those who were around him during become a commodity, like images of Einstein, Monroe and Lennon.
of Bed-Stuy, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat,
their creation. These people must not be eliminated from the larger His impact on fashion is undeniable as designers and brands such as
Norman Lewis, Ed Clark, Maria Dominguez,
story as they know the source of inspiration and shared the artist’s Coach, Off-White, Reebok and Dr. Martens have used his artwork or
Sam Adoquei, Nanette Carter and Al Diaz.
journey. As a young man, Jean-Michel borrowed his roommates’ aesthetic in some of their most well-known designs. The Brooklyn
Also, exhibiting acclaimed photographers
things—namely Alexis Adler’s textbooks as she was matriculating Nets basketball team even have branded their court with his signa-
such as Barron Claiborne, Ernie Paniccioli,
through her bachelor of science degree, a continuation of his fascina- ture three-pointed crown and their game jerseys pay him homage.
Brittany Sensabaugh, Anuar Patjane and
tion with science and his use of anatomy and skeletal structure heads.
Victoria Ford. Currently, working with mul-
Jean-Michel’s musical influence spans 40 years from his days with
tidisciplinary artists like Quiana Parks, Jules
The skyrocketing prices for Basquiat’s paintings—largely purchased Test Pattern and Gray, cameos with Blondie and a Billboard-charting
Arthur, Sophia Dawson, Ron Draper, Juan
by non-Blacks—is a testament to his greatness, but it is also a com- song with Rammellzee and Al Diaz. He has shown up in numerous
Carlos Pinto and Zeph Farmby to push the
mentary on the perils of exclusion. The results of monopolizing hip-hop lyrics and his personal hairstyle has influenced musicians like
contemporary art conversation forward to
Basquiat’s work by affluent groups, nearly exclusively, has allowed Jay-Z, The Weeknd and others who have chosen a similar form of
a new generation. Dunn, facilitates art col-
many of the narratives created around him and his artwork to elim- self-expression. He has undoubtedly become one of the most influ-
lecting classes, moderates artists talks and
inate the rich diversity in his life and creations. This creates a par- ential forces among creatives and artists around the world for the
expert panels internationally. Milestones
adigm where the diverse viewers, collectors, critics and enthusiasts last forty years. 
include working with the Smithsonian, U.S.
don’t see themselves in the overall narrative.
Congress, Armenian Museum of America, and
How can such a multifaceted artist still be viewed through a singular
co-curating seven Basquiat solo exhibitions
lens? To even begin to understand this genius, one must approach
in New York City, Miami, and Switzerland.
him from a variety of perspectives: from the people he touched, the
Stevenson A. Dunn, Jr. is an accomplished
people who knew him, the people who loved him and the people
speaker and commentator, presenting at
who share his cultural heritage and who are routinely left out of the
Harvard University, US Naval Academy, and
mainstream art world. The grave implications from this practice is
other Universities, appearing on various news
sidelining any inspiration for the next generation of Caribbean and
programs including BET, MSNBC’s Squawk
Latinx kids from Brooklyn because Basquiat’s prevailing narrative is
Box and has been recognized in The Art
not relatable.
Newspaper and Hyperallergic

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THE MUMFORD COLLECTION: AN Looking back now almost four decades to his first time in LA, I con-
tacted one former client and collector who attended the Basquiat

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BASQUIAT opening at the Gagosian Gallery that year. “It was a packed event, full
of celebrities—a sea of heads,” as Jeff Kerns, a creative director for
films in Hollywood, recently described the occasion in a telephone
el
By Micha in
conversation from his home in Palm Springs. “Gagosian openings
To meet Basquiat as I did in 1981—I was all of twenty-nine—was not back then were great social events,” Kerns continued to tell me.
e
to immediately like him. He came across as a brat: spoiled, selfish and
at the same time, timid and shy. But he was a phenomenon, a growing,
Kl “Gene Kelly, the actor, was there—I had not known he was an art col-
lector—along with many others from Hollywood who came to see
developing talent with a longer and larger list of followers and sup- the works of this mostly unknown new talent for which there was
porters. These included museum curators and directors, the editor a growing buzz and a great deal of curiosity and excitement.” Kerns
of Artforum magazine, critics and, of course, dealers who saw in this recalled seeing some very large paintings, including the triptych Six
man gold. Crimee, 1982, which is now in MOCA’s permanent collection. In the
description of this work from an auction of Scott Spiegel’s collection
He was set up to work in the basement of Annina Nosei’s gallery on in 2017, the catalogue reads:
Prince Street, and Annina asked me to mind the store while she trav-
eled to Europe on business. It wasn’t the most ideal of spaces for the Six Crimee is the depiction of six black heads, each highly individu-
artist, but it was free and useful and so he worked. I would occasion- alized and expressive, each topped by a nimbus, each hovering above
ally drop in with a collector, which he found so annoying, but at the abstract gestural paint strokes, a row of numbers, graffiti-like scrawls,
same time it was a chance for him to be Basquiat! and some recognizable imagery resembling game boards. The figures
and surrounding space are all bathed in, even caught up in a rich,
In the early spring of 1982, the young Basquiat was invited to prepare Though temporarily stationed on the ground floor of Gagosian’s aqua-marine atmosphere. No matter where he was, he was a New Yorker. As a person of mixed
for an exhibition at the prestigious Larry Gagosian Gallery in Los warehouse building on Market Street in Venice, California, adjacent race in a predominately white, male business, it was quite novel,
Angeles (April 8–May 8, 1982). He was working in a fairly sparse, to the Pacific Ocean, Basquiat’s own world was completely the op- “I bought a painting on wood from the show, several drawings and a even in the economic boom of the ’80s. In an online issue last year,
newly designed and renovated studio space that was completed the posite: no beaches or freeways. He was a New Yorker, an urban child, series of xeroxes and two signed posters,” Kerns continued. “That ARTnews reported:
year before. Basquiat lived and painted with the radio on, listening to Brooklyn-born and -raised with a Puerto Rican mother and a Haitian painting—my painting, in fact—was part of a documentary film
Michael Jackson’s latest hit “Thriller,” while reports of the Falklands father. He was a young, ambitious artist with street smarts, attitude about Basquiat that was made while he was in LA and was featured In 1985, the New York Times Magazine featured a shoeless Jean-Michel
War between Great Britain and Argentina came in on his TV. He and high energy, who spoke three languages and had a lingering drug in his first traveling retrospective.” Basquiat on its cover. Titled “New Art, New Money,” the piece it ran
watched President Reagan’s historic trip to what was still a divided habit. An autodidact, his talent was a never-ending desire to know with was ostensibly about the artist, but its focus was really the vague
Cold War city, West Berlin. This was ten years before the Rodney and demonstrate what he knew. The way Basquiat learned to de- Since Basquiat exposed so much of himself through the random and concept of the “art star”—a celebrity who not only made a lot of money
King trial and the LA race riots that were to follow. scribe this world and transcribe it visually into his art was picking seemingly endless dispatch of imagery, it is hard to pinpoint specific (largely unheard of ), but who didn’t care if others knew how much
up on the robust overlay of media and street life and self- taught art influences on the artist coming from across the board: sources could money they made (terribly uncool). Art stars, the article said, went to
history, mixed into a somewhat chaotic, if not frenetic, scratchy and be day-to-day city life, cars and traffic, religion—lots of halos—and the Midtown New York hotspot Mr. Chow, a trendy watering hole that
symbolic coded language of recognizable forms and words. From sports. For example, boxers and baseball players are regular char- doubled as a place to be seen and a place to have a drink. That made
the street came cars, trucks, taxis, apartment houses and tenements, acters in his works, as are quotes, phrases and numbers, buildings Basquiat quite unlike Jackson Pollock and his contemporaries, whose
street signs and sometimes a lonely dog. Add to this collective of and houses. His work was filled with the neighborhood and cultural clubhouse, the West Village Cedar Tavern, was described as “grubby”
personal stock images the introduction of language—all languages, tropes he carried with himself. and anonymous.
that is. These were symbols, numbers that were the tags, marks, logos
and emblems that appeared both as graffiti and also as commercial Inroads had been made by several contemporary women: Jenny Holzer,
advertising everywhere you looked in the city—from vacant lots to Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman seem to have broken the glass
subway cars and billboards along the main Brooklyn artery, Flatbush ceiling and established new expectations for women artists both here
Avenue. To Basquiat, who was raised in a multilingual household, lan- and abroad. In 1989, for example, Holzer took over the Solomon R.
guage was special. As an artist, it was as important as imagery; so, too, Guggenheim Museum with her Truisms. In the next decade, in 1995,
was color as fundamental as drawing. For Basquiat, both characteris- MOMA acquired the entire body of Sherman’s black-and-white film
tic elements of his art spilled out onto the paper or canvas, unedited stills for a cool million dollars. Art and money were now permanent
in ways layered and immediate, spirited and intuitive. This abundant, fixtures of the scene, and Basquiat was going to get his share of that
youthful and energetic passion is what grabbed the attention of the prize no matter what.
art world some forty years ago from the East Village of New York
City all the way across the ocean to the galleries of Europe and Japan. His belief in his own success and future is spelled out in a poem ded-
icated to Mumford.

If one is to review works made in that very early period for what
was to be a short- lived career, ’82 saw some of his best work being
made. What was the driving force that year: success or recognition
or exposure?

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Like Pollock’s Lavender Mist, certain Basquiat works have reached Basquiat is also an astute, mostly self-taught student of the history Mumford may or may not have been in attendance at the great Perhaps symbolic of this relationship is another large canvas from the
the status of masterpiece. First, he demanded attention—then, his art of painting and, like most artists, he has his own personal panthe- Gagosian social event in ’82, but his unique collection of works were same time: Orange Sports Figure, 1982, depicting a crowned head—the
and now, his prices. He is fulfilling that American dream of becoming on of those artists he admires the most, encompassing a wide range all made subsequent to the opening of the show. artist as prince and hero—and the outline of a baseball, all enmeshed
a legend long after his death. The question today is: Who next takes periods and styles, from the Renaissance of Leonardo to the New in a field of orange like a work by one of his many painting heroes, the
his crown? York School of Franz Kline and, later, the highly celebrated worlds All the works were painted on cardboard or plywood that Basquiat great Abstract Expressionist master Franz Kline. And though Kline is
of Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly. Twombly was an American artist had collected from nearby stores. Some of the cardboard works renowned for his early and very dramatic black-and-white paintings,
Even with the influx of new money in the art world with painting who self-exiled to Italy in the late ’50s because of a failed relationship. contain isolated images that would appear later in larger works; he used orange often in his later bold color paintings; it is a color that
coming back and artists across the board having one or two or even In Italy, he was more at home to engage in compositions that matched others are specific to the buyer of this work, Thad Mumford. bespeaks energy and power. In a lengthy 1977 essay on the artist, art
three venue shows at uptown and downtown galleries, Basquiat his passion for classic poetry and rough, graffiti-like picture-making. Basquiat was working on his forthcoming premiere in LA and historian Albert Boime described the Abstract Expressionist painter
was breaking ground since he was among the first artists of color to He developed a very personal calligraphy, a language of his own though he sold works, he also was willing to do some private deals by explaining that “… he [Kline] identified on a day-to-day level not
achieve such status. He was proud of his mixed race. He also was an making, like the upstartBasquiat. It is in Italy where Twombly’s works to keep body and soul alive. Basquiat’s introduction and subsequent with the solitary intellectual but with matinee idols, star athletes.
artist of color at a time when the world was watching the first impact were better understood, felt and cherished. “My favorite Twombly,” meetings with this television executive, writer and producer Thad And the famous political personalities with whom he felt he had a
of the AIDS crisis and its ultimate effects on various groups: rich and Basquiat is quoted as saying, “is Apollo and the Artist, with the big Mumford led to a friendship that continued beyond the artist’s time close bond. He equated the ultimate aim of his career with their kind
poor, black and white. On May 31, The Los Angeles Times published the name ‘Apollo’ written across it.” Basquiat, like Twombly, saw the in Venice, California. In exchange for his much and always-needed of popular success.” How Basquiat-like is that?
first front-page story on AIDS in the mainstream press: “Mysterious power of text, of bringing together words or phrases and images—a cash, Basquiat sold Mumford a selection of works made especially
Fever Now an Epidemic.” And though race and racism in America kind of visual slam, if you will. At one moment, there is the word, and for him—each intimate, personal and anecdotal to their friendship. One can only surmise how Basquiat would have imagined these
would be explored, discussed and argued in the ’80s and ’90s until a at the next moment, there is the visual collision of paint and graphite. One wonders if in Mumford Basquiat found a role model, someone works installed, perhaps across a wall, with the two largest, Acme Toy
person of mixed race stepped forward as a possible candidate for the Yes, others have used words and images—from Cubism to Larry who was a great success in a creative industry. After all, few fathers Co. and Industry Insider in the center around which smaller elements
President of the United States, Basquiat would appear like a predictor Rivers, Grace Hartigan and Squeak Carnwath—but no one has used imagine art as a means to success or an honest living! make up a kind of universe of images reflecting on the bigger state-
of our future. His art is both witness to and participant in the battle language with such frenetic abandon and impulsive determination. A ments. Among the elements of that universe are plenty of heads, a
that is at hand for minorities and people of color in the U.S. Basquiat work—no matter the scale—can have the look of a comput- From a critical point of view, the cardboard was a kind of nod to base- self-portrait with arrow, a relatively small work that reappears in a
er monitor flooded with data both linguistic and visual. ball cards since these works are a smaller scale than the paintings. larger format in an almost all black-and-white, larger-scale painting
As he worked his creative magic in LA, the great wave of new fig- And, as I discovered, not only was Mumford a baseball memorabilia entitled Self Portrait, 1982.
uration was coming out of the studios of Jonathan Borofsky in And for Basquiat, like most Americans since the invention of radio, collector, but, as noted, he also was the first African American bat
California, Malcolm Morley on Long Island and the older Philip there is of course, music: rock and jazz; Jimi Hendrix and Charlie boy for his home team, the New York Yankees. Obviously, they met in Basquiat is always there, symbolic as a crown or realistic as a figure.
Guston in Woodstock, as well as from sculptors like Joel Shapiro and Parker, each men of color with their own strong sound and message LA, but the two men shared a love of their local team and the game. Here he is, a young, Black man standing in front of an otherwise
Judith Shea. And there was gallery and institutional recognition: a to express, and both heroes to the young painter. Charlie Parker (“the classic expressionist backdrop—meaning the New York School—an
“Re Figuration,” Max Protetch Gallery, New York; “Body Language: Bird”) personified the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist. Typical of Basquiat’s “Art Brut” style from this collection are works arrow in hand, a warrior for a new era. It is not unusual for a painter,
Figurative Aspects in Recent Art,” MIT List Visual Arts Center, 1981; Basquiat, too, was that uncompromising artist. Hendrix is quoted as such as Blue Skull and Baseball. Each is an amalgamation onto the or any artist for that matter, to reuse something they fancy in other
“Figuration,” University Art Museum, University of California, 1982. saying, “You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.” cardboard of both images and words. It is as if Basquiat is busy talking, compositions. His world is very much a measure of Basquiat, the
Both notions resonated with Basquiat, the uncompromising artist, thinking, writing, drawing and smoking all at once and translating or artist, and like so many other artists, from Picasso to de Kooning, the
Basquiat needed cash, and TV producer Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. the crazy man. It is a toxic formula for genius as well as for tragedy. transferring that hyper-energy into a small section of cardboard. One self is present at each turn and at each moment. And both large works
offered him $5,000. In exchange, Mumford received these twenty-five might imagine these works as both messages and paintings—savagely presented in the exhibition are a kind of double portrait of Mumford:
works painted on cardboard. I can’t imagine that Gagosian would On the recent anniversary of Basquiat’s death at age twenty-seven in autobiographical and simultaneously both hero and monster. When Acme Toy Co. could be a nod to Mumford’s work on “M*A*S*H,” a
have been pleased to see canvases being removed from the studio and 1988, one critic wrote about a photo he had found online: he had no money, explained Daniel Himmelfarb, manager of an art network television program that focused on the men and women
not going to his gallery. Cardboard is very portable and easy to move! supply store, he simply stole materials. And when he needed drugs, serving in the U.S. Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the
Here he is in 1983 with Rammellzee on Santa Monica Blvd, in front he would take drawings, trade them and move on. Korean War, and Industry Insider, of the producer/writer himself.
Mumford, a successful producer and writer for such ’70s TV shows as of Maxfield’s (his favorite clothing store) just a few blocks from
“M*A*S*H” and “Good Times,” had been the first African American Gagosian Gallery on North Almont. On the right is his painting Hung together, these marvelous works might be a long letter to his Is it possible that for each of the twenty-five elements in the Mumford
bat boy for the New York Yankees. In fact, it was his baseball mem- “Hollywood Africans.” Jean was a mess, a genius, a victim and his own friend, a long transcription of ideas and conversations that the two Collection, we could find that element used in a larger painting? Is the
orabilia and the stack of Basquiat works that were auctioned in 2012 worst enemy. Brief exposure to him was extremely powerful for me. shared. In their exchanges and discussions about their lives and back- real gift here a kind of encyclopedia of Basquiat at age twenty-two?
as the result of an unpaid storage bill. In Basquiat, Mumford saw the ground, there was not only an exchange of stories but a measure of
same drive and push that allowed him to break the color barriers in lives and emotions of being a Black artist in a white culture. Both men
Hollywood and go on to have an enormously successful career. were high achievers and both sought fame, which is the name of the
game for many.

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These are the two largest works in this collection. The latter might By the time of Basquiat’s death in 1988, the resale market had become Seeking approval in a mostly white male–dominated art world, one By summer of 1982, Basquiat headed back to New York, with shows
be considered as an unofficial portrait of Mumford himself. Here is strong and then stronger. As the public now knows, a painting by wonders how he would have felt had he lived to be forty-seven, in being planned there and in Boston, Zurich and Tokyo. Basquiat was
a large-scale head surrounded by specific references to Mumford’s Basquiat can bring a king’s ransom. He is sought-after by collectors 2008, the year Barack Obama—a mixed-race man like Basquiat— becoming a known entity, an artist who went from a street artist—he
career in Hollywood and in television production. In composition, around the globe and admired no doubt as much as President Obama. became our President, a man who won against all odds. did not like being called a “graffiti artist”—to participating in exhibi-
this portrait is very much akin to the Portrait of Glenn painted two And like his hero Warhol, Basquiat was an artist whose work was un- tions at mainstream galleries and museums. He entered a now-more-
years later in 1984, a portrait of the writer and editor Glenn O’Brien derstood by both the art crowd and the non-art crowd. His populari- Basquiat lived in the pre-AIDS world, the world of the early Reagan than-ever international art world flush with new money and anxious
and long-time Basquiat supporter, which is now on view at the ty is his communication understood by all. years and the trickledown economy, a world before fax machines and to discover new talent and new energies that seemed in line with an
Museum of Modern Art. Of their friendship, O’Brien wrote in 2013: before the internet and the cell phones that are now ubiquitous parts emerging new class of collectors. This new world was becoming a
It is interesting that these same images are never of a specific place of our lives. Now, so many years later, we are living in a new order, one global one as jet travel, the fax machine and the new desktop com-
Basquiat and I became very good friends and he continually amazed or time of day, like an artist’s studio or a room in a house. They seem that is marked by the tragedy of 9/11, which in some ways threw the puter began to reform our culture. This is one of the reasons that
me. Here was someone who had introduced poetry to the spray paint to be made on the go, between places, no time to hang around, no events and stories of the previous decades aside, placing our focus on Basquiat was so immediately recognized beyond the U.S., with shows
on the walls, but then he turned out to be the most amazing draughts- backgrounds, no features and little detail other than the structure and the events since. Now, we are catching our breath, looking back again and dealers in Europe and Japan. His great success in LA and the
man I’d ever seen. To watch him draw was a revelation. His line and color of a head or face—each flat, frontal, somewhat naive in execu- to see what happened. It is noteworthy, I think, that of all the artists works he produced for Mumford all are now part of a larger reper-
his concept came from beyond. He was a star. So I put him in the tion. Many recall the neighborhoods whose walls are marked with of the ’80s, Basquiat was both in and out of the picture the way Keith toire of highly sought-after art produced by a young artist with great
starring role of the film Downtown 81, playing a kid trying to make it names, numbers, signs. Crowns symbolizing the local gang, the Latin Haring was. He was less mainstream in a way for his time, and though drive, intensity and a vision of himself as both hero and victim in late
as an artist. For the first time he had enough money to make pictures Kings, found their way into many of Basquiat’s later works. The pres- he was presented by major galleries, there was less critical support, it 20th-century America. What this collection of twenty-five works
on canvas and good paper, and a place to sleep where he had the key. I ence of the crowns asks us: Isn’t he, too, in some way a Latin King? seems, for a gay man or a man of color. Now, though, there is a rush represents is a model of a world lived by an artist, a bright shooting
knew he was great—he was electric. A tesla coil with dreadlocks—cool to collect and present works from these communities, both in books star that appeared, gave light and quickly dimmed. Left behind is his
fire emanating wherever he went. Faces stare back at the viewer: some are skulls, some masks, some and museum exhibitions, for they do tell us about a time now lost. message—in color and on numerous fragments of cardboard—for all
monochromatic heads. All are visualized translations of emotions In fact, I was struck that even John Berger, a remarkable writer and to now enjoy.
This “draughtsmanship” is not that classical line of Ingres or Degas or and thoughts into sketchy, nervous lines.Some are more subtle draw- thinker about art, had included a brief essay on Basquiat in his latest
Picasso. It is a style that is far more expressive and at the same time ings and paintings in which the face is rendered with delicacy, grace, book, Portraits. Among the seventy-four artists he has written about,
child-like but ever so intense and decisive. and though reckless in appearance, are sophisticated in structure. he explains this about Basquiat: “With this vivid, amusing, furious and
Basquiat focused mostly on the eyes, mouth and hair. The wild eyes of diverse alphabet, he spells out what he sees happening around him or
Mumford’s head is frontal with his teeth in profile. His head is like youth, a sure indicator of emotional states—anxiety, rage, fear, love— within him, or he spells out what he knows in his blood but has never
an enlarged photograph, surrounded by bits and pieces of the sitter’s are truly the window to the soul. The mouth is a grill of teeth, and been fully acknowledged.”
world, from a TV set to an award statue standing atop it. The head is his hair is tall and spiked. And for the young Basquiat, this soul was Michael Klein is a private dealer
a kind of X-ray of the man, the head separated into compartments, neither at peace nor satisfied. It was a soul on fire. The immediate, Basquiat is like the recently deceased singer/songwriter/performer and freelance and independent
with Fauve-like segments of color, a characteristic of Basquiat, which and yet contained, passion suggests that the fire was an engine for Prince, a ladies’ man, but also something androgynous, middle-class curator for individuals, institu-
is found in a similarly painted small panel painting of around the same a deeply creative and passionate man. He was a man who Al Diaz, roots but a rebel for a myriad of reasons. He is gifted, wounded and tions and arts organizations. He is
time and recently exhibited in a Basquiat show at the Bishop Gallery a longtime friend and collaborator in the days of SAMO, said didn’t almost unapproachable. He is that rare species of poet, hustler, lover a highly regarded writer, curator,
in Brooklyn, New York, entitled Neptune’s Palace, referring to the apart- have a practical bone in his body but who was committed to art-mak- and creative powerhouse who followed no rules but was eager to and program director. He served
ment where Basquiat procured his drugs and swapped his art for coke ing for years. Yet at the same time, he was predestined to never attain learn and then to transform everything into his own brand of art, as the first in house Curator for the
and pot. The material around him, like bits of hieroglyphs that explain maturity and enjoy days of looking back at his own past and remi- made on his own terms, and he survived because of it. The material Microsoft Art Collection based in
life, tell a story and detail the personality. niscing. For Basquiat, everything envisioned in these works is about around him, like bits of hieroglyphs that explain life, tell a story and Redmond, Washington between
the immediate present. There is no future, there is no past, there is detail the personality. 1999 and 2006 directing art acqui-
Large or small, there is an attention to detail and to a well-crafted only now. sitions, commissions, collection
surface in all the works in this collection. Basquiat was determined to management in house exhibitions
always include something of himself, whether it is the stick figure–like Today, we are well aware of self-portraits by such contemporary artists and an education program for
form that stands with an arrow in hand that surely is a self- portrait as Chuck Close, Alex Katz or Alice Neel. They seem more interested the company’s 50,000 employees
or the image of a crown or the cluster of birds that, like pigeons, seem in representing the physical self: how they or others look. But other and has been the executive direc-
to be everywhere in these works and is a reminder no doubt of home artists have used the process of portraiture, specifically self- portrai- tor of the International Sculpture
in New York City. ture, to explain and explore their character—their inner being, if you Center based in New Jersey. Klein
will—to tap into the psychology of the self. has been a regular contributor to
Everything is relatively small and easy to pack up and move to another Sculpture Magazine in addition to
place because Basquiat was always on the move, almost unable or un- Dürer’s self-portrait at age twenty-eight, painted in 1500, or Warhol’s writing reviews and feature arti-
willing to stand still. Most were made before and around the time platinum-blond fright wig selfies from 1986, or the late, now-famous cles for Art in America, ARTnews,
of his first solo show as SAMO in 1981—no, not in New York, as one 1973 self-portrait by Picasso at age ninety-two, are examples of pic- Artnet and www.theartsection.
might think, but in Italy. Back in New York, Basquiat’s work was next tures of the self in the mirror or an X-ray–like outline of the artist’s com, among others. He has pre-
shown at the Fun Gallery in the East Village, Basquiat’s neighbor- skull. They are factual representations of age the way Basquiat’s sented public lectures across the
hood, instead of in the then-trendy Soho galleries. This was followed works are a factual representation of boyhood; Basquiat was only US and has served as adjunct
by additional shows in Europe and in larger mainstream New York twenty-seven when he died. In some ways, these images are akin to faculty to New York University in
galleries, which initiated his long relationship with Annina Nosei. those by Cindy Sherman, in which she changes into different persona New York as well as other univer-
He had his first show with her in 1981 and the use of her basement for the camera. For Basquiat, it is a change of the state of being, of sities and colleges.
space for work. Later, she set him up with a studio on Crosby Street. mind, of the attitude of self. This cache of self-portraits seems to
He moved on to Mary Boone’s hugely famous West Broadway gallery swing between the extremes of self-doubt and excitement, between
after which the marketplace took over. clear-headedness and a mind affected and altered by drugs.

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WORK ENTRIES

UNTITLED
(REPTILE WITH CLAWS AND A CROWN / MONSTER KING)

This image of the demon/dragon/lizard creature has also been re- As in all of Basquiat’s works, there are various words and referenc-
ferred to as the “King of Creatures.” But we believe it represents es, either real or otherwise, though nothing is arbitrary in the art of
something else. The central figure is created in black, green, purple, his world. We see the word “Bat” occur three times in magenta and
blue, orange and red. Its arms are raised with interesting attention blue on the right side of the painting. We see the word “Bat” several
paid to the joint areas. The arms terminate in clawed “hands” depict- times in green just in the background of the words in magenta. We
ed in red crayon and outlined in red marker. The claws face toward also see a magenta and blue depiction of a bat along with the words
the Monster and not away from it. The circular eye of the Monster “Eat Bat” and “Feed Me, Fry Me” seemingly emanating from the crea-
is heavily worked in multiple colors. There are various scratchings, ture’s mouth. Bats are a recurring motif in Basquiat’s works and they
markings, symbols and colors that also compose this work. are depicted in several ways, including like the one shown here. But
others are clear references to the superhero Batman, to bats that are
The snarling Monster bares its razor teeth in such a way that the shown with upside-down Basquiat crowns for wings. On our left side
viewer can look through its mouth to see the teeth on the other side. of the painting in the white area, there are incised lines in the paint
The depiction of the teeth this way may be unique to this image by that are grid-like; in other works in the Mumford Collection, Basquiat
Basquiat. We will see many teeth in the pages to come, but none like uses these grids to represent structures and buildings.
this. Atop the Monster’s head sits a significant three-pointed crown
worked in gold and purple crayon…the colors of royalty. The crown The reason we chose this to be the signature image of the Heroes &
also has magenta and purple emanations coming from it. This is a Monsters groundbreaking exhibition is because it encapsulates the
common motif in Basquiat’s depictions of crown and halos, which are entire theme as we interpret it. Basquiat is the Hero, autobiographi-
at times interchangeable and shown together and sometimes become cally seen in the form of the crown (his “signature”), and the Monster
a “crown of thorns.” is Life. It is rough and savage. The streets are a hard life with ev-
erything against you…poverty, homelessness, racism, drugs, scams,
There is an orange phallus-like appendage that also may serve as an prostitution, pansexuality, vampires and vultures (of the art world, in
arm, but the reference is unmistakable. That shape may also have a Basquiat’s case), and the new terror on the streets of New York be-
basis in Hobo Code (meaning “easy mark”), which Basquiat would ginning in 1980…AIDS. Basquiat experienced it all very acutely, and
have known only too well from being for a brief time both a home- as we will see in the coming pages, he frantically, frenetically, emo-
less person living on the street, or specifically in a box in Washington tionally and psychologically vomits all this out in an attempt to deal
Square Park. He was a graffiti artist and tagger, who was originally with the Monster, while all the while attempting to escape into the
discovered because of his street philosophy writings with his cohort, world of ecstatic substances, such as cocaine and heroin, that would
Al Diaz, the second half of the pair of street artists known as SAMO© ultimately be the poisons that ended his life.
(Same Old Shit), which they began in the spring of 1977. Along the
bottom are markings and colorings in predominantly orange, with
red marker and a purple grid shape, which in Hobo Code refers to the
“police” or even “jail.”

Previous: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Self-portrait, Skull) (detail) Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Reptile with Claws and a Crown / Monster King), 1982, Matte
1982, Matte acrylic, oil paint, wax crayon and paint stick on corrugated cardboard, 12 x 12 acrylic, wax crayon, paint stick, marker and incisions in the paint, on corrugated cardboard, 15
98 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection Group x 14 5/8 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection Group 99
UNTITLED
(MYSTERY CREATURE/BAT)

On the reverse side of Untitled (Reptile with Claws and a Crown), there
is a mysterious figure drawn on top of what appears to be a painted
black background with white superimposed on it. Basquiat has
drawn two large concentric-circular eyes and an oval mouth worked
in purple, blue, yellow, green and orange. The teeth are exposed in
the mouth and are highly unlike the Monster “relative” on the other
side of this painting. These teeth are rounded and depicted in purple,
white, red, orange and green.

Many references can be made to what this face may be—such as a

werewolf or Lon Chaney Wolf Man horror character. However, we
believe that given the upturned nostrils of the simply depicted nose
and the spiky ears on top on the head, this is the face of a bat. Thus,
the verso is now linked with the painting on the front side. Unlike the
other side with the Monster, no words are depicted here.

In the Mumford Collection, many of the works have some sort of

work (however minor) on the reverse. Whether it be a crown with
emanations or a doodle of a bird’s head, Basquiat liked marking the
back. Maybe in this way, he believed he was “sealing” the two sides
of the cardboard. In any event, by using cardboard, Basquiat had the
freedom to create whatever he wanted on both sides of the piece—an
opportunity not afforded by canvas.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Mystery Creature/Bat) on reverse of Untitled (Reptile with Claws
and a Crown / Monster King), 1982, Matte acrylic with wax crayon and paint stick on corrugated
100 cardboard, 15 x 14 5/8 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection Group 101
UNTITLED
(THREE BIRDS, A CAR, AND A TELEVISION)

Muddled layers of black and green fill the voids between three vi- To the right of the birds is a linked chain of circles in yellow, transi-
gnettes in Three Birds, a Car, and a Television. Highlighted with bright tioning to a hollow red outline. The chain extends from the top of
yellow and disconnected, the images incorporate several elements the page, drawing the viewer’s eye to the bottom. A yellow car domi-
that permeate Basquiat’s work. nates the lower half of the composition, outlined in green and purple.
Underneath the left tire is a scribbling of bright red, perhaps repre-
The upper-left corner holds three birds, resembling either crows or sentative of blood, while the left hood of the car appears scratched.
ducks. Done in a cartoon-like style, the birds appear inspired by the This could be a reference to Basquiat’s automobile accident at the
likes of Daffy Duck and the crows from Disney’s 1941 movie Dumbo. age of seven, resulting in a splenectomy and month-long hospital
Looney Tunes are often referenced in Basquiat’s work, as he appreci- stay. In the car are two figures, one drawn in pink and the other a
ated cartoons as well as comics. Dumbo’s crows, however, could have a nude woman. The female figure’s genitals are drawn facing outward,
deeper context. In the movie, the gang of crows is led by Jim “Dandy” though she lacks defined facial features, potentially implying that her
Crow, an obvious nod to the racial segregation laws enacted in the womanhood is of greater concern than her identity. A glimpse of a
U.S. South. A collection of similar birds can be seen in the artist’s halo can be identified in orange above her head, indicating that the
Tenor (1985). In Dumbo, the group of birds “talk jive” and perform artist may hold her in high regard, bestowing her with honor or a
other caricatures of offensive Black stereotypes. Yet, the gang of sense of protection. The figure could represent his mother, who often
crows sympathize with the downtrodden titular character, eventually visited him while he was in hospital and who helped instill a love of
helping Dumbo learn to fly and reunite with his mother. Race was a art in her son. There are few women in Basquiat’s paintings.
prominent theme throughout Basquiat’s work, and he often spoke of
the role his race played in his feeling like an outsider in the predomi- To the right of the car is the familiar word “SAMO©” stacked ver-
nately white art world. tically. The same can be found in purple in the upper-center of the
composition, referencing Basquiat’s earlier graffiti period with friend
and collaborator Al Diaz. The far right of the work shows a gridded
form with almost-geometric X-like lines below it. This is somewhat
referential to the trunk of a body, as a head can be seen atop the form.
The head features one over-circled left eye and one squinted right
eye, as well as the recognizable gridded mouth. The portrayal of
these differently shaped eyes recurs in Basquiat’s paintings, including
Self-portrait, Skull, Colorful Face or Skull, Industry Insider, Crown Face,
Self-portrait or Black Skull with a Crown inscribed with the word Milk,
Self-portrait or Crown Face II, Face with Orange Halo and Head with
Halo in the Mumford Collection.

From there, a black arrow points to three purple arrows, moving the
viewer’s eye back to the top of the composition. A television is drawn,
emphasized in purple, and shows a garish face with stacked eyes and
a stitched mouth. This image could be linked to whichever program
was playing while the artist created the work, as he was often known
to do.

The entire composition has been accented with dark blue and rusted
orange oilstick, filling the remaining negative space with three music
notes trailing from the car. The top of the work sees lines of repeated
stars, which soon evolve in capital A’s, trailing out of frame. Basquiat
was known to cover previous artworks with layers of paint, redacting
anything he deemed distracting or obtuse. Three Birds, a Car and a
Television is a prime example of the layers of work that lie beneath the
surface of some of Basquiat’s creations.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Three Birds, a Car, and a Television), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic
1 02 on cardboard, 19 ¼ x 15 inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 1 03
UNTITLED
(SELF-PORTRAIT WITH A COWBOY HAT
AND LEONARDO DA VINCI’S FLYING SUIT)

Signed “Jean-Michel Basquiat” with the typical Basquiat spineless Another thing on which Basquiat commented and referenced several
E along the lower-right side, this image depicts Basquiat with his times in the Mumford Collection and in this painting are the black
favorite hat, faceless and wearing something that fascinated him: buildings with yellow windows. Basquiat painted these a bit differ-
Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit. There are multiple images of tall city ently than in other works, first laying down the yellow in oil paint and
buildings in black and yellow as well as several allusions to buildings then painting the black grid over top. The oil paint dries with a glossy
on the upper-right and upper-left sides. There are two faces: one sheen that sets the yellow off as “glass windows” and is texturally very
with dreads and wearing a green hat, a moustache and beard and different than the acrylic, paint stick, magic marker or the spray paint
the other of an African American with the two eyes stacked above that Basquiat did use in some of these works. Basquiat said that he
each other rather than side-by-side as in the other head. This is was always interested in buildings with lights in the windows because
Basquiat’s nod to Picasso in taking the face apart and putting it back they made him wonder what people were doing inside.
together again. Basquiat does this often, and he said that Picasso
influenced him. Dr. Jordana Moore Saggese is a leading scholar on Basquiat and has
confirmed the attribution of this and other paintings in the collection
In the upper-right is a swatch of red as it is balanced in the lower-left, to Basquiat. Dr. Saggese has aptly noted that this painting was a com-
and this balance is mirrored in the swaths of bright yellow in the up- pilation of sorts, an assortment of images of Basquiat’s “greatest hits”
per-middle-left and then again on the lower-right. In the upper-left of his vocabulary and imagery.
is also a ghost-like figure in white with the eyes and mouth drawn
in black. The top of this “spook” turns into a Basquiat crown. This
image is also found on another of Basquiat’s work from this time
period. The only other figure is an image of Abraham Lincoln giving
the Black Power upraised fist as he sits on the left arm of the Basquiat
winged figure.

Many things showing through the paint make us wonder what the
images of writing really are including by the right wing, the feathers
of a hidden arrow; spears and arrows, which show up very often in
Basquiat’s work as symbols of power, are seen here. Basquiat said that
he liked to scratch out or cover over images and words because it
makes people look harder. It is also a nod to some new music just be-
ginning and becoming popular in the early 1980s—rap and bebop—
where “scratching” and “mixing” was a common technique. In the
lower-left, painted in white on a blue field, is a symbol in Hobo Code,
which means “good place for a handout.”

Basquiat was known to wear this hat with feathers at times when he
was out and about, hence the concept of the self-portrait. In fact, in
Tokyo in 1983, Yutaka Sakano did a full-day photo shoot of Basquiat
in his hat. He also studied the notebooks of Leonardo and illustrated
and copied Leonardo drawings into his own paintings.

The image of Lincoln giving the Black Power fist could be a reference
to this specific moment in Los Angeles in 1982 when the Los Angeles
chapter of the Black Panthers was being disbanded and the fact that
Abraham Lincoln was a hero to African Americans. The once-power-
ful chapter and home to Huey Newton had been greatly diminished
by the late 1970s and early 1980s when power was solidified and
moved to Oakland. The Lincoln figure with his upraised fist occurs
several more times in Basquiat’s paintings.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Self-portrait with a cowboy hat and Leonardo de Vinci’s
flying suit), 1982, Matte acrylic, oil paint, wax crayon and paint stick on corrugated cardboard,
1 04 12 x 12 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection Group 105
UNTITLED
(COLORFUL FACE OR SKULL)

This small but powerful work is one of the heavily painted works in On the left side of the work, depicted in red, is a grid, or more appro-
the Mumford Collection, along with its equal, the largest work in the priately, a ladder. The primary use of a ladder is to climb upwards
collection, Untitled (Big Painted Head or Skull), measuring 56 inches by and is symbolically significant to Basquiat’s visual vocabulary where
36.5 inches. This work also contains many characteristic mannerisms nothing is arbitrary. This motif occurs many times in Basquiat’s art.
and techniques employed by Basquiat in other works during these This symbol could also have significance in Hobo Code, where the
same early years. grid symbol means jail or prison, another thematic issue Basquiat
grappled with in the sense of “societal” prison. Basquiat and Mumford
The central image is a head, a skull or a mask, a face-like image with felt imprisoned as Black men in a white man’s world. This was poi-
one squinting eye and one round eye, both done in many colors of gnant for Basquiat as the only Black artist star at the time. Racism
red, purple, yellow, green and white. This is very reminiscent of and oppression, as Basquiat often talked and depicted pictorially
African or other tribal masks. Basquiat was familiar with this as he and in symbology, was a recurring theme and motif in Basquiat’s art.
was with the writings on African Art in Motion and Flash of the Spirit: As mentioned previously, even Andy Warhol, his idol and supposed
African & Afro-American Art and Philosophy by distinguished Yale art friend, called Basquiat the “N” word multiple times in his own diaries.
professor Robert Farris Thompson, who also wrote about Basquiat. This social injustice and racism was clearly seen and experienced by
There is a jagged mouth filled with two rows of teeth and a sharp Basquiat. He talked openly in interviews that he would attend events
jawline in red and blue. One ear is red and the other is blue. A halo with the art world glitterati, but as a young Black man, he could not
with emanations, or perhaps it is a crown of thorns, is found above get a cab to stop to pick him up when he left such events and he was
the head—an image employed by Basquiat in many works with such not allowed in or welcomed in some restaurants.
halo/crowns (some of which are in this catalogue.) The halo/crown is
done in the same multi-colors as are the face and eyes. This “brotherhood” between Basquiat and Mumford is explored in
the context of a remarkable autobiographical poem that they likely
Across the top of the painting is a series of letters and writing that are derived together, which was specifically written in honor of this joint
intentionally covered over and obscured, thereby converting written effort that were these paintings. (The poem is included in this cata-
language into expressionistic forms and abstract shapes. Basquiat did logue.) Mumford likely typed it up as a veteran screenwriter would
this very specific thing in an Untitled piece from 1983 as an oilstick on do, and Basquiat initialed it. Those initials have been verified by
paper work. As we have said before, this was an often-used trait and James Blanco, a handwriting and document expert and written about
element in Basquiat’s works of this period to cover over and obscure by him in this catalogue.
elements rendered in ghost-like pentimenti, or “remembrances.”
Pentimenti, from its Italian roots of the word “to repent,” is very inter-
esting in this context of Basquiat’s heavy use of this as a technique. In
every painting in the Mumford Collection, Basquiat employs this. In
this work, the upper background appears to be covered in words or
symbols and then heavily obscured with multiple colors.

The work is signed with his trademark “JEAN” in the lower-right in

white on top of blue. It appears the head has a neck and shoulders
in blue, white and red. Yellow hovering just above the shoulders
appears to function almost as epaulettes. Epaulettes as decorative or-
naments are worn on the shoulders of some dress military uniforms
and were often gold and signified high officer rank as well as recog-
nizing power. Basquiat’s continued use of the crown as a symbol of
himself, Black power and the history of African kings signifies to him
as well the power of Black athletes—a well-known vocabulary for
Basquiat throughout his short career.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Colorful Face or Skull), 1982, Matte acrylic, oil paint, wax
crayon and paint stick on corrugated cardboard, 8 x 11 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection
106 Group 1 07
UNTITLED
(TWO BLUE CARS)

Two Blue Cars paints a scene outside the artist’s pictorial strategy
of other works in the Mumford Collection. The horizontal compo-
sition features two cars traveling in opposite directions. Both are
rendered in blue and white, with bright red wheels and outlines, the
left car more heavily. There are accents of yellow and orange around
the windows and emphasizing the wheels. A murky green is brushed
behind the two cars, mixed with streaks of white, blue and yellow
to create a blurring effect, not unlike the movement of headlights
at night. The green is flanked on both sides by deep black that sur-
rounds the central scene. Thin red and blue lines are scratched across
the center of the composition, as if coming from the two cars, propel-
ling the vehicles away from one another.

At the top of the picture frame, there are several blue brush strokes
extending a quarter of the length of the cardboard. These lines,
painted in succession, resemble the striped awnings seen on the
facades of storefronts. The left car is slightly smaller than the right,
constructing a depth of field that tells the viewer it is traveling on the
other side of the road. It is as if the artist is standing on the side of the
street, staring at the traffic whizzing past him.

Cars and urban landscapes are frequently recognized in Basquiat’s

work, especially between 1980–81. In Cadillac Moon (1981), a similar
gestural style and texture can be noted in both vehicles, as well as
the same childlike profile perspective. Untitled (Car) (1980) uses the
same horizontal lines to imply speed and movement. Basquiat often
depicts crashing cars and ambulances, referring to the trauma the
artist endured due to a car accident during his childhood. In addi-
tion, Suzanne Mallouk recalls his love of toy cars, stating in Widow
Basquiat, “There were lots of toys around. Jean loved toys. Toy trucks
and cars.” Mallouk also recounts a day when they drove past an old
1940s Chevy, insisting he should buy it: “He said ‘no.’ But a month
later he bought the car pretending it was his idea. But he never
learned how to drive so he hired people to drive for him. When he
went to L.A. he shipped the car there along with a driver.”

At the bottom-right, there is the distinctive “JEAN” with the E lacking

the vertical line. This form of signature or his full name spelled out
permeate his early paintings. In the Mumford Collection, ten paint-
ings bear these marks, while SAMO© and his trademark three-point-
ed crown populate most of the others. This ubiquitous branding was
fit for a king.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Two Blue Cars), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard, 5 ¾ x
1 08 17 ½ inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 1 09
UNTITLED
(“BOXER”)

The composition is dominated by a blind- the numbers are not just numbers: In street a boxer standing in the ring with his fists
folded, truncated, skeletal figure with up- code, they mean “I ate,” something that was raised. In one instance, Basquiat depicts
raised arms in orange and white. The arms very hit-or-miss when living on the street, as a boxer in a ring with arms raised over his
create a protective “umbrella” or “dome” Basquiat did when he was young. head and clutching a spear in The Ring,
over the head in white, orange and green. 1981. Juxtapose this boxer image with one
The head and face are created with bright As for the question of who the work depicts, of Basquiat posed as a boxer in trunks and
orange, white, blue, black and red colors. that is up for debate. Almost all the figures gloves: Basquiat, the warrior, the king, the
The mouth is depicted as open with eight and heads that Basquiat paints are “self-por- winner. Although his arms are upraised in
rounded teeth. Around the head is a halo traits.” The figure in cruciform suggests a victory, Basquiat’s boxer also seems marked
with emanations. Christ-like figure, especially with the halo by vulnerability in the way that his mono-
and its emanations. However, the figure lithic body is pierced in areas that expose an
The body depicts the spine, pelvis and is blindfolded (blinded) and its body is abstracted skeletal grid, while his mask-like
“lungs” exposed, all drawn in white. The exposed down to the organs and bones. We face suggests a skull-like specter of death. In
heart is shown in red with both red and know Basquiat felt this way himself as not fact, the outstretched arms also call to mind
white emanations possibly indicating only a Black man in a white man’s world and the pose of Christ upon the cross, while the
movement or “beating.” To the left of the in his struggle with racism, but maybe more halo might morph into a crown of thorns.
skeletal body is the inscription “HE DIDN’T” so in the art world, where he was a rising Both victor and victim, the boxer that dom-
in white. Just under this in white is “COUNT star, but still looked down upon by his con- inates the frame of Basquiat’s monumental
PLUS” and under this is a series of circles temporaries. Even his supposed later good painting is a complexly conflicted figure.4
(chains) and spiraling squiggles (which friend Andy Warhol described Basquiat’s
in Hobo Code indicates the symbol for apartment after visiting that it smelled like a
judge or “judgment”)1 in white, which ter- “N-----r’s apartment” (N-word.)3 According
minates in a bat drawn in white. The wings to Warhol’s diaries, he referred to all Black
of the bat are depicted as upside-down people as “N----rs.”
Basquiat crowns.
Another possible autobiographical interpre-
To the right of the upraised arm on our right tation springs from racism and the notion
is a crown in white, and just under this is that Basquiat felt vulnerable and exposed.
the inscription “FULLY EMBLEMATIC” in Throughout his life, Basquiat closely identi-
white. Beneath this is a bright-blue “trian- fied with Black boxers, athletes and warriors.
gle” of color, and just beneath that is another Growing up on the hardscrabble streets of
patch of light blue encircled in white with Brooklyn, Basquiat, while comfortably mid-
what appears to be an X, which has meaning dle-class, came face-to-face with economic
in Hobo Code and indicates a great place for struggle and racism for the working class
a handout2. It also appears to contain the in- most especially. We know Basquiat identi-
scription in white “MOMOA,” which could fied with the spirit of boxers as those of de-
be a reference to Basquiat’s mother, who termined fighters who took body blows but
was non-existent in Basquiat’s life because continued to soldier on. He makes specific
his father had her committed to a mental in- references and drawings commemorating
stitution. This notion may be reinforced just Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), Jersey Joe
to the left of this by the inscription “NEVER Walcott, Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and Sugar
NEVER.” Just under this, inscribed in white Ray Robinson. Basquiat made many works
is “© = 18” as a fraction over a Basquiat with references to boxers or outright depict-
crown with emanations. Clearly the © is an ed them in works like Untitled (The Boxer),
autobiographical reference to Basquiat and 1982, and Untitled, 1982. The work depicts

1  Robert Nance, Hidden Signals: Hobo Signs to Underground Railroad Quilts, A Quest Club Paper, December 15, 2017, pp. 13-17.
2  Nance, pp. 13-17.
3  “…skimming through the Andy Warhol diaries at a friend’s house and I stumbled upon some stuff that I can’t really process. In the Andy Warhol Diaries, Andy commonly uses the word “N-----r”
to describe black people. It’s not just that he uses that word for an old-fashioned identifier of black people either, he uses it with negative connotations. For example, when he was visiting the
artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s apartment he said that it smelled like a “N---r’s apartment.” He also comes off as homophobic, which confuses me because he was gay himself. In one entry he even
refuses to eat a sandwich because it was made by a gay man.” https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtHistory/comments/a7nwxq/was_andy_warhol_racist_and_homophobic/
4  Shaun Randol, https://www.themantle.com/arts-and-culture/art-boxing-jean-michel-basquiat.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (“Boxer”), 1982, Matte acrylic, wax crayon and paint stick on
110 corrugated cardboard, 20 x 25 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection Group 111
UNTITLED
(ACME TOY CO.)

“I usually put a lot down and then I take a lot away, then I put some The two central figures contrast the colorful orange, yellow and
more down and then I take some more away, so it’s like a constant white with their strong and detailed black composition. The figure
editing process.” —Jean-Michel Basquiat is painted in two styles, divided at the waist. The bottom ribcage and
hipbones are rendered in hollow geometric shapes, while the upper
Acme Toy Co. commands the viewer’s attention with its size, color body is drawn over black paint in sketched white oilstick. The figure
and pictorial strategy. Swatches of red, orange, yellow and black raises his arms to hold a sign that reads “ACME TOY CO.” in scratchy
are overlapped with broad strokes of white, emphasizing the text white letters. This near-exact figure can be seen in Native Carrying
scrawled within each block. Two central images weight the center some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari (1982), though that sign reads
of the composition with black, gestural lines and white details. The “ROYAL SALT INC ©.” Acme Toy Co. may have been a study for
piece is permeated with contextual puzzle pieces and messages for Native Carry some Guns. Conversely, the artist could be referencing
the viewer to discover, referencing Basquiat’s life, interests and body his own previous work, exploring his application of the figure in a
of work. different way.

The background of Acme Toy Co. is made of strips and blocks of color The phrase “Acme” has several cultural meanings within the 20th
and text. The use of white to highlight and cover the layers of the century. Businesses often used “Acme” in their title, as it was closest
composition recalls Mondrian’s exploration of asymmetry and planes to the top in the Yellow Pages directory. Originating from ancient
of color in Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow (1930). Within the Greek for “highest point,” businesses chose the word to signify the
blocks of orange and yellow are disorienting layers of singular letters, best. American Acme Company manufactured furniture and toys
words and phrases. The letter A, both capital and lowercase, can be until 1967, including toy cars, of which the artist was fond. The most
seen in long rows and varied orientations, rendered in white oilstick. well-known example of “Acme,” however, would be the anything-you-
Basquiat appropriated the letter A for many meanings. Some works could-ever-need provider from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
use it as a reference to the baseball great Hank Aaron, others use it as cartoons. Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner would use Acme-
a phonetic representation of screaming or wailing. Alternatively, the brand anvils and bombs to thwart their rival, to no avail. Basquiat was
letter could be argued as a graphic symbol evolved from the similar an avid cartoon enthusiast, and frequently depicted the likenesses
lines of pointed arrows, triangles or even the points of a crown. As of characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The cartoons were a
the A’s stop, words and sentences come through: “JUST US” and “SO touchstone of both the artist’s childhood and creative process.
YOU DID KNOW?” Underneath those words, the phrase “HERE
COMES THE SAINTS” can be made out in blue block letters and The tank that accompanies the figure is drawn in great detail, unusual
covered by orange paint. In an interview with Isabella Graw in 1987, for Basquiat’s vehicles. Both the tank’s barrel and track feature
Basquiat said, “I cross out words to move them into the background.” strokes of green, black and yellow, giving it added dimension. One
of the wheels features the © symbol, a favorite of Basquiat for both
A strip of yellow in the upper-left corner features strong black letters artistic detail and his signature. The barrel is taking a shot, indicated
and the repeated words “SYNDROME,” “NEGATIVE,” “SIGNED” by the emanating yellow and orange streams. Tanks were not often
and “NEW.” The text style pays homage to the artist’s graffiti tagging depicted in the artist’s work, though one appeared in Untitled (1981),
roots, in a developed and painterly way. Basquiat often copied words in far less detail.
he liked, based on sound or line, and repeated them over and over. A
similar street-art style cloud is painted in the bottom-right corner, One of the two largest compositions belonging to the Mumford
surrounding the artist’s signature. Collection, Acme Toy Co. exemplifies Basquiat’s layered style and
weaves together imagery and text in a playful, stimulating way.
Tucked in the upper-right corner of the composition is a small tri-
angle with the number 3 inside, with a 1/2 mark next to it, followed
by two crowns. This is explained in Widow Basquiat when his lover,
Suzanne Mallouk, describes when a buyer asked Basquiat for his CV:

“He said that if anyone ever asked him for it again he was going to
give the measurements of his hand. He left the apartment and went
out to buy a ruler. When he came back he began to measure his hand
and write it all down: Right hand with four fingers and one thumb.
Palm measures: three and one half inches wide and three and one half
inches long.”

The triangle acts as a coded signature and proof of merit, a jab at

those who dare to lessen him to an outsider within the art world.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Acme Toy Co.), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard, 54 x
112 36 inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 113
UNTITLED
(ONE MORE KING/CZAR)

The dominant and central image in this painting is a familiar Basquiat In the end, the “crown” equals Basquiat both in his own created
crown (this one white on black), framed on our left in white. The visual language and how he associates the power symbol to what he
painting is signed in black “JEAN (crown)” with Basquiat’s trademark is “writing” and albeit “saying,” but the crown stands in for the artist
E without a “spine.” On our right side in white written on black are himself. In fact, when Basquiat grew out his hair, it was shaped like a
the words “One More King” and the words “Czar,” twice, but crossed crown, so he always wore one personally.
out. There is also a white arrow pointing downward, and then an
arrow pointing left and one pointing right, with the words “Czar,”
twice, with one of them partially obscured.

In the center left, there are a series of the letter A in white with the
name “Albert,” which may refer to Basquiat’s SAMO© compatriot,
Al Diaz. There is a white grid on black just beside this, and in Hobo
Code, this symbol can mean “police” or “prison.” 5 This painting is
all monochromatic, except for one delicate feature: The long purple
flower, or stem, on our left stretches from the bottom of the painting
to the top. We do not know what this means.

To return to the subject of the many A letters we find here: This is

nothing compared to other paintings in the Mumford Collection that
are covered in the letter A all across the surfaces, mostly in lines or
grids of the letter. It is not difficult to conclude that what Basquiat is
doing here so prolifically with these A letters is screaming.

The crown is pervasive, and many have tried to deduce its origins.
Many have likened it to power, kings and Basquiat’s idols as seen in
Black athletes, specifically boxers. Whether this is a self-proclaimed
“king of the jungle,” “king of New York” or “king of the world,” these
titles of power were self-possessed outwardly as part of Basquiat’s
“brand.” The kings of jazz, which is almost totally a Black art form,
were led by “Duke” Ellington or “Count” Basie. Hank Aaron was also
the homerun king.

The artist grew up watching Joe Lewis, Muhammad Ali and other
fighters on TV with his father. “These fond memories with his family
also fostered a great deal of respect in Basquiat for the athletes as
individuals.” “His idols were always fighting two battles—constant-
ly having to overcome racial inequality outside of the ring as they
worked toward their championship titles in the ring. Their endeavors
resonated with Basquiat and he chose to portray them this way.”6

Needless to say, the crown, this crown, has become so synonymous

with Basquiat and his brand, that the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA
have taken the crown and the brand of Basquiat as their own—even
including the crown on their court, twice, using Basquiat’s color
schemes, the type and style of how he wrote and, perhaps, even how
he spelled Brooklyn (BKLYN).
5 Robert Nance, Hidden Signals: Hobo Signs to Underground Railroad Quilts, A Quest Club
Paper, December 15, 2017, pp. 12-17.
6 https://news.artnet.com/market/basquiat-boxer-phillips-1691164.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (One More King/Czar), 1982, Matte acrylic, wax crayon and
1 14 paint stick on corrugated cardboard, 9 1/2 x 10 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection Group 115
UNTITLED
(CAT AND FIRETRUCK)

“FIRE WILL ATTRACT MORE ATTENTION THAN ANY “I’m usually in front of the television,” Basquiat remarked in 1985. “I
OTHER CRY FOR HELP.” have to have some source material around me to work off.” 7 Basquiat
—Jean-Michel Basquiat, from his Notebooks created in a space of near-constant stimulation: television on, records
spinning, books strewn around. These sources of inspiration bleed
The composition is, at first sight, a dizzy layering of dense text and into everything he touches, whether in imagery or in visual move-
color. The left half of the painting is riddled with the word “FIRE,” ment. The repetitive clustering of the word “FIRE,” with varying
written repeatedly in overlapping linked block letters, as well as levels of sharpness and clarity, creates a visual syncopation that
“911” and “FIRETRUCK.” In the lower-left corner is a drawing of a mimics the complex and layered notes of bebop jazz, one of Basquiat’s
firetruck, ladder and all, pictured on a stark white background framed greatest influences. The artist’s repetitious use of text nearly strips
on three sides by weighty black lines. The repeated “FIRE” carries the word of its meaning—like when you say a word too many times—
down, this time in neat lines, with several words highlighted in red and it begins to sound foreign. Instead, the word becomes a graphic
and yellow. The E in “FIRE” is written without a spine, a trait often symbol, simply an arrangement of lines. Basquiat had a playful way of
observed in Basquiat’s handwriting. This style can also be seen in his manipulating and reappropriating meaning, as if his art was an inside
“JEAN” signature in the lower-right corner, alongside the signature joke with himself.
three-point crown.
This painting is rich in numerous colors: red, white, black, green, blue,
In the center of the composition is a vague rendition of an American purple and orange. Basquiat’s palette was seemingly endless, allow-
flag. The red-and-white stripes are murky, blending into streaks of ing him the creative flexibility to message with color and express his
pink, with thin blue lines shooting across. Where there would typi- feelings. Color helped hold his paintings together.
cally be stars, there are blue X’s instead. The image tapers down, be- 7 (Basquiat 1985)
coming absorbed by the central image and text.

At the center of the painting, and extending to the right half of the
composition, is a large head resembling Felix the Cat of cartoon fame.
Felix is drawn in rich violet and accented with orange in the gridded
mouth and agitated, encircled eyes. The artist’s sketchy lines are
overdrawn, allowing the oilstick to expose the cardboard substrate’s
ridged texture. Emanating out of the top of the head and into the up-
per-right corner are several layered circles. Some circles feature claw-
like marks at their bottom, not unlike those seen in Untitled (Hit the
Brakes), also part of the Mumford Collection. Basquiat often drew in-
spiration from cartoons and comic books. Characters like The Flash,
Batman, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny frequently appear in Basquiat’s
oeuvre. Felix the Cat would reappear in a collaborative work between
Basquiat and Andy Warhol in 1984–85.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Cat and Firetruck), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on card-
1 16 board, 21 x 25 ¾ inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 117
UNTITLED
(HEAD WITH HALO)

Basquiat’s adroit grasp of color and line are on display in Head with Basquiat often discussed how his contemporaries, as well as his in-
Halo. Beyond its surface-level composition lies a thoughtful study dependent studies of art history, had impacted his work. “I wouldn’t
of one of Basquiat’s most recurring subjects. The head occupies the say a lot [about art history], but that’s the majority of the time the
entire frame, tilted to a near half-profile. An implied line of smudged kinds of books I read.” As a child, Basquiat frequented the Brooklyn
black bisects the face, using planes of green, yellow and white to Museum with his mother, helping foster his interest in art. In Jennifer
divide the forehead. The figure’s right eye creates a bright white void Clement’s book Widow Basquiat, Basquiat’s lover, Suzanne Mallouk,
in the center of the picture plane, emphasized by repeated circles recalls exploring MoMA with him:
of red, green and blue. A strong sweep of yellow on the lower eye
socket looks almost like a sleep-deprived undereye bag. A cyclone of “I realized that he must have been to the MoMA millions of times.
blue defines the figure’s left eye. There are a few black lines near the I had no idea. I never knew when he went. He never mentioned it to
inner corners of both eyes, giving the face an agitated expression. me. I knew that his mother had taken him to museums. Jean knew
The mouth bares Basquiat’s typical gridded teeth, while a scribble every inch of that museum, every painting, every room. I was aston-
of red creates a gestural bottom lip. The halo sitting atop the head ished at his knowledge and intelligence and at how twisted and unex-
is repeatedly drawn over with layers of blue, green and purple, and pected his observations could be.”
casts beams of vivid red onto the face. The rainbow of colors used to
outline the halo are observed in several other works in the Mumford It would make sense that Basquiat’s exposure to artists like Hofmann,
Collection, including the dome over the figure in He Didn’t and the Twombly and Picasso would greatly influence his own artistic style.
facial features in Mystery Creature/Bat.   He often aimed to not only emulate, but also challenge the works that
came before him, carving out his own place in history. While other
The expressive blocks of color in Head with Halo are typical of great artists influenced Basquiat, he developed a distinctive style, use
Basquiat’s Neo-expressionistic style and can be seen throughout his of color and line, and expression that would elevate him to the exalted
work. Yet this  composition  appears to have strong influence from status as superstar that he achieved in only a decade of painting.
the  architectonic  color fields of Hans Hofmann’s  later periods, par-
ticularly  Combinable Wall I and II (1961). The  alternating  blocks of
yellow, green and blue  in Hofmann’s work are given Basquiat’s  ex-
pressive strokes in  Head with Halo.  The  blue “square” of the figure’s
left eye is balanced by the blue in the right of the jaw; the forehead’s
green and yellow are checkerboarded with the bottom half of the
jaw. Just as Hofmann’s geometric fields famously “push and pull”
the work’s surface, so does Basquiat “push and pull” the facial planes
of his figure. Basquiat has taken Hofmann’s geometric balance and
applied it to his own chaotic strokes.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Head with Halo), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard, 12 ¾
1 18 x 8 1/8 in. MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 119
UNTITLED
(SELF PORTRAIT WITH ARROW)

Despite its smaller size, Self-Portrait with Arrow is a commanding

piece due in large part to its stark contrast between the central figure
and the white background. The figure is drawn in thick black lines,
quickly sketched, allowing some white background to peek through.
Bright yellow and blue fill the figure’s torso, legs and crown of the
head. The mouth has the familiar teeth shaped like a grid like Self-
portrait, Skull, Cat and Firetruck, Self-portrait with his cowboy hat and
wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit, Colorful Face or Skull, Blue Skull,
Face with Orange Halo, Head with Halo and Acme Toy Co.

The figure is drawn with a raised left arm clutching a downward-fac-

ing arrow with fletches, while the right arm rests at the side. Both
the right hand and foot have defined fingers and toes, while the left
foot appears clubbed. The right buttock is pushed out to the side, and
an elongated penis hangs between the legs. The hair is in a crown of
dreads, often seen in Basquiat’s self-portraiture. Dots and dashes fall
from the right hand, while a flag-like form stakes claim in the bot-
tom-right of the artwork. Black lines form a gridded symbol, while
another symbol has been smudged out.

This composition is seen in several of Basquiat’s works from 1982.

In Hit the Brakes in this catalogue, the figure is mirrored and features
similar yellow and blue coloring. In Self Portrait (1982), the same
figure can be recognized with the exact arrangement, gridded flag
and forms included. However, that self-portrait is in unyielding black.
While the raised fist would initially give off an air of power or victory,
the downward arrow in its grasp indicates a defensive warning.

The wielding of arrows is a common thematic element in Basquiat’s

work. This could be a defensive mechanism, meant to ward off those
he deemed predatory or unappreciative of his work, or perhaps a way
to signify his own power. The arrow, much like the halo or the crown,
may be a gift that Basquiat gives to those in power or strength.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Self Portrait with Arrow), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic on card-
120 board, 12 x 7 inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 1 21
UNTITLED
(YELLOW AND BLACK BUILDINGS)

Like several other works in the Mumford Collection, Yellow and Black Basquiat’s depiction of cityscapes remained a major theme for the
Buildings highlights the influence New York’s urban landscape had duration of his career. A similar arrangement and simplistic style can
on Basquiat in his early career. The composition’s skyline is com- be seen in The Bond, the Earle or Stanhope (1982), and in Prayer (1984).
prised of five multistory buildings, all anchored at the bottom of Industry Insider not only depicts a two-column building with similar
the frame with a bright, golden yellow. In fact, it appears the artist windows, but within those windows sit small birds drawn in the
painted broad strokes of yellow acrylic paint first, only to define the same style as the bird in Yellow and Black Buildings. The artist could
buildings’ structure with a layer of black paint over top. This com- be drawing stylistic inspiration from the Hobo Code bird symbol,
position and coloring can also be identified in Self-Portrait with His meaning “telephone here,” without intending to communicate a
Cowboy Hat and wearing Leonardo da Vinci’s flying suit in the Mumford message with the design’s linguistic purpose.
Collection. Between the second and third buildings is a tall rectangle,
of similar building shape and size, rendered in orange oilstick. The Additionally, the structure of the buildings evolved over the course
orange appears to be added in after the black, as it can be observed of Basquiat’s career. Originally a pictorial element, the long columns
overlapping the black edges of the buildings. This form does not have and window grids evolved into compositional structure. Soon, the
windows like the others and could represent fire or additional light artist would experiment with canvases divided into segments with
shining from the skyline. long swatches of color, even creating multi-panel frames from doors,
fences and wood panels like those used in Grillo (1984).
The right third of the composition is dominated by a solid figure
painted black, appearing to be a head in profile, nearly the same size
of the buildings. The head features a bulbous nose, one eye and one
ear, all drawn in white oilstick. The mouth is a quick line with a few
implied teeth, while the jagged white marks atop the head could be
either hair or thorns. The features are unlike Basquiat’s typical style
of over-circled eyes and gridded mouths, leading us to believe this
figure is more monster than human.

In the upper-right corner, just above the figure’s head, are several black
symbols. One small bird-like figure flies in the sky, its beak pointed
downward. Flying in formation behind the bird are five small points,
resembling the V shape that children often use to represent birds in
their drawings. There is also a circle with a line slashed through it.
This symbol is a documented part of the Hobo Code, meaning “good
road to follow.” Hobo Code was a cryptic signage used by transient
and vagabond communities to communicate and was used as early as
the 1870s until the 1940s. A key for the coded language was includ-
ed in Henry Dreyfuss’ Symbol Sourcebook. Published in 1972, it was a
practical guide of international graphic symbols and a notable refer-
ence source for Basquiat. Many symbols found in Dreyfuss’ compen-
dium can be seen in Basquiat’s work throughout his oeuvre, including
several paintings in this catalogue.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Yellow and Black Buildings), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic on
122 cardboard, 8 ½ x 11 1/8 inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 123
UNTITLED
(SELF-PORTRAIT OR BLACK SKULL WITH A CROWN INSCRIBED
WITH THE WORD MILK)

The single image of a black “head” or “skull” is roughly painted, and it The nature of the crown has a specific meaning, especially when
dominates this painting. We see one large round eye and one squinty paired with the H just to the left of it. This could very well refer
eye rendered in red, a nose and open mouth with two rows of circular to Harvey Milk. Milk was born and raised and went to college in
teeth in both red and white. The facial illustration is done in one New York City. He served in the military in Korea until he was dis-
single, unbroken line of red. There are also orange eyebrows and a charged for engaging in sex with other enlisted men. He returned to
pink ear. We have seen many of the same things in other works from the city, where he worked as a financial analyst. In 1972, he moved to
this collection, including round and squinty eyes, rendering this head San Francisco, where he became more vocal about his sexuality and
mask-like. gay community issues. He became so popular that he ran for office to
challenge the gay leadership, which he thought was too conservative
The other most dominant feature of this work is a “white” “crown” on gay issues and gay rights.
incised with the word “MILK.” The whole composition sits on a field
of white with some dabs of blue on the left side. In these dabs of blue Milk ran for a Supervisor seat in 1973 and lost, but his popularity grew.
are partial and almost full fingerprints. Beside these blue dabs are a He ran again unsuccessfully in 1976 but was finally successful in 1977.
number of white X’s. There is overpainted red on the lower-left side. He was one of the first openly gay political figures in history. Milk
On the very lower-left are three symbols in Hobo Code discussed served almost eleven months in office, during which he sponsored
below. To the left of the “MILK” crown is the letter H, and this may a bill banning discrimination in public accommodations, housing
give us a clue as to the meaning of the work. and employment on the basis of sexual orientation. The Supervisors
passed the bill by a vote of 11–1, and it was signed into law by Mayor
The black “tar-like” rendering of the head could reference several George Moscone. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Moscone were
things and when coupled with the nostrils and eyes could reference assassinated by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor,
heroin, which is sometimes referred to as “black tar.” Basquiat was ad- because of their views and support of gay rights.
dicted to heroin, and that is why Madonna left him. Larry Gagosian—
the famed dealer who gave Basquiat the chance for a second major Milk became a hero/martyr not only for gay people, but anyone op-
show in the spring of 1983 (following his successful 1982 show for pressed by society. Basquiat was eighteen when this tragic, monu-
Gagosian) and the reason Basquiat was in Los Angeles in 1982—re- mental event about people’s rights occurred. Given Basquiat’s open
membered that Basquiat had done so much cocaine that he had a de- attacks on racism in his works, this event would not have gone un-
viated septum and therefore converted to heroin for his highs. The noticed by him as he felt oppressed as a Black man in a white man’s
grotesque face here is ravaged and whether it was by drugs, pain, life world, which is the subject of one of the essays in this catalogue.
or successes, decay is setting in, and that sense is exuded rawly.
This painting is a cry of emotion for the many ills in this world per-
The symbols in the lower-left support this possible interpretation. ceived or experienced by Basquiat cruelly in many ways despite his
The curly figures (used elsewhere) are Hobo Code for the police, rising success. By now in 1982, Basquiat was starting to experience
judge or judgment. The symbol in the middle is that of “Workhouse the stress of fame. That bittersweet duality would haunt Basquiat as
jail,” which was a symbol warning visitors to do their business and poignantly as the haunting nature of this raw skull here. So, maybe
leave town as quickly as possible. If your timing was bad, you could this is self-portrait. Every work in the Mumford Collection is autobi-
easily get locked up and find yourself working long, hard hours ographical in one way or another.
digging ditches with no pay and release date. Get “snagged” in one
of these situations, and you had better plan your escape from the be- Interestingly, on the verso of this painting is a symbol that comes from
ginning. The “jail” of life—of drugs and fame—would later lead to Basquiat’s book of symbols by Henry Dreyfuss, Symbol Sourcebook: An
the early escape/death of Basquiat by just those same things…life and Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols. The symbol is
drugs (most specifically). composed of two E’s facing each other, and it means “there exists.”

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Self-Portrait or Black Skull with a Crown inscribed with the
word Milk), 1982, Matte acrylic, wax crayon and paint stick on corrugated cardboard, 12 1/2 x
1 24 9 inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 125
UNTITLED
(RED FACE AND RAT MONSTER)

Red Face and Rat Monster is an unusual composition, considering

Basquiat’s body of work. The artist anchors the piece with a central
head, seen in profile and rendered in bright red strokes. Beams of
light radiate from the face, highlighting the left half of the composi-
tion, while the right half is concealed with murky black paint.

While Basquiat depicts heads in nearly all his paintings, here he aban-
dons his typical techniques of over-circled eyes and gestural lines for
a more straightforward design. The forehead is broad and outlined in
one line, while the eye is a single ellipse with three vertical slits for the
pupil. The mouth is agape, with eight defined and connected yellow
teeth. These teeth recall those from the enormous head in Industry
Insider, as well as the lower-left head in Self-Portrait with his Cowboy
Hat in the Mumford Collection.

Perhaps the most notable departure from Basquiat’s familiar style is

the figure’s nose. With its rounded tip and defined nostril, the nose is
unlike the simple geometric shapes used in much of the artist’s work.
However, a similar representation can be seen in several works on
paper in 1983. Untitled (Charles Darwin) depicts portraits of both
Darwin and Gregor Mendel with similar nose styles. Additionally,
Liberty shows a profile that features both the nose and teeth observed
in Red Head and Rat Monster. Basquiat appears to have drawn these
figures from reference material, implying that the figure in Red Head
and Rat Monster could be sourced from an outside image or based on
someone’s likeness.

Both the figure’s eyes and mouth glow with transparent yellow, which
blends outward into cloudy beams with purple waves, as if shining
through the black void. Within that beam of light, there is a second
head belonging to a “rat monster,” rendered in green. The figure has
an angular snoot and two rows of defined, pointed teeth on the upper
and lower jaws. Just like the red head, the mouth is open and radiates
a glowing, yellow beam. The eye is a red ellipse with a small, beady
pupil. While the phrasing of the work implies it is a rat, the creature’s
color and teeth could also be perceived as reptilian, like Godzilla.

Surrounding the creature and head are several words and symbols. The right half of the composition is a black void, with a tilted house
“RAT MONSTER FUCK” sits below the creature, with half the layered over the back of the red head’s jaw. The orientation of the
phrase struck through with a smudged line. “CYCLONE” is repeat- house could be connected to the word “CYCLONE,” as if the struc-
ed twice, sandwiching the word “HOLA.” The word “RAT” can ture was swept up in the eye of a raging storm, à la The Wizard of Oz.
be seen with the word “COCK” adjacent. Near the head’s nose is The white splattering of paint could be debris within the cyclone.
“666,” a widely recognized symbol of the devil, used to invoke Satan. The windows of the house are lit with white and yellow, adding a
Conversely, next to the number is a five-point star circumscribed by more hopeful tone to an otherwise nightmarish composition.
a circle, with lines around the outside. This symbol bears a striking
resemblance to a traditional hex symbol meaning “against demons,”
which has roots in cultures ranging from Mesopotamia, the Amish
and witchcraft. The symbol can be found in Henry Dreyfuss’ Symbol
Sourcebook, a common reference material for Basquiat. The inclusion
of both demonic and protective symbols may represent the dichoto-
my of good and evil that the artist perceives from those around him
or within himself.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Red Face and Rat Monster), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic on
126 cardboard, 10 ¼ x 19 ¾ inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 1 27
UNTITLED
(SELF-PORTRAIT OR CROWN FACE II)

A brown face with large circular eyes and wide-open mouth. The “This is the legend of Cassius Clay, the most beautiful fighter in the
eyes are rendered in white with green, blue, yellow and purple lines. world today. He talks a great deal and brags indeed-y of a muscular
There are large blue nostrils drawn in blue, and the mouth is done in punch that’s incredibly speedy. The fistic world was dull and weary.
blue and green. Interestingly, unlike almost every other head, face or With a champ like Liston, things had to be dreary. Then someone
skull, there are no teeth rendered. The brown face is also outlined with color—someone with dash—brought fight fans running with
in blue. cash. This brash, young boxer is something to see. And the heavy-
weight championship is his destiny. This kid fights great. He’s got
Basquiat’s trademark autograph crown is painted in white and also il- speed and endurance. But if you sign to fight him, increase your in-
lustrated with orange crayon. The entire “face” is rendered on a back- surance. This kid’s got a left. This kid’s got a right. If he hits you once,
ground of black, grays and blues laid down almost like the Abstract you’re asleep for the night. And as you lie on the floor while the ref
Expressionists, by whom, according to Basquiat, he was influenced. counts 10, you pray that you won’t have to fight me again. For I am
However, Basquiat has oddly said, “If you want to talk about influ- the man this poem is about, the next champ of the world, there isn’t
ence, man, then you’ve got to realize that influence is influence. It’s a doubt. If Cassius says a cow can lay an egg, don’t ask how. Grease
simply someone’s idea going through my new mind.” Well, to most that skillet. He is the greatest. When I say two, there’s never a third.
people this is exactly what influence is. Betting against me is completely absurd. When Cassius says a mouse
can outrun a horse, don’t ask how. Put your money where your mouse
There is a black and white shape in the upper-right outlined in blue, is. I am the greatest.”8
and it suggests the outline of a facial profile. This is balanced in blue
in the lower-left corner with another of Basquiat’s autobiographical As already discussed in these entries, Basquiat revered and looked
autographs, the copyright sign (©) that he had been using continu- up to not only Black athletes, but most specifically Black baseball
ously since his SAMO© tagging days. Interestingly, this incised © players and Black boxers. The inclusion of these written lines with an
is created with his finger, and he has left a partial fingerprint in the African American face with a crown is Basquiat’s evolving brand. No
same blue on the edge of the cardboard just three inches above the doubt this is how he felt about himself as well as other Black “heroes”
copyright sign. who he “crowned” in the tradition of how street graffiti artists paid
respects. Basquiat borrowed this device with its street tradition of
Probably most interesting is the written words in the lower-right. using the crown to establish rankings and power among graffiti peers.
Basquiat does what he usually does by writing and then painting over According to Steven Powers, graffiti (the origins of the word come
the words, but in this case he left enough visible for us to know what from Italian, but extend back to ancient history and mean to “scratch”
it says. It appears as: “WORLD FAMOUS. ALL TIME CHAMPION or “scribble”) artists who admired the work and words of other such
OF THE WORLD. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW.” This alludes to many artists tagged it themselves, often with a three-pointed crown next
things. This is Basquiat’s adaptation of Muhammad Ali’s famous to the work to show their respect, essentially “kinging” them, thus
saying “I am the greatest!” making them the “king” of the wall or the “king” of the subway car.9
In an interview in 2006, Fab 5 Freddy talked about this and explained:

“That was a standard in the graff world. If you were a king, you would
crown yourself. It was common as part of the street graffiti vocabu-
lary to put a crown over your name—specifically if your tag was on
a particular train the most. You were essentially designated the king
of that line.”10

8  https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/326903-this-is-the-legend-of-cassius-clay-
the-most-beautiful; Cassius Clay’s 1963 poem “I Am The Greatest” https://www.npr.
org/2016/06/10/481590365/remembering-muhammad-ali-through-his-poem-i-am-the-greatest
9 Stephen Powers, The Art of Getting Over: Graffiti at the Millennium, 1st ed. (New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1999), p. 10.
10  “Rapping with Fab 5 Freddy,“ in Jean-Michel Basquiat 1981: The Studio of the Street, eds.
Jeffrey Deitch, Franklin Sermins, Nicola Vassell (Milan: Edizioni Charta, 2007), p. 120.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Self-Portrait or Crown Face II), 1982, Matte acrylic, wax
crayon and paint stick on corrugated cardboard, 9 ¾ x 10 ¾ inches, MJL Family Trust, LLC,
128 c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 129
Understanding this phenomenon, this work is a portrait of someone Freddie Mercury’s lyrics are more than fitting for Basquiat. It is the
or something, though we believe this to be a self-portrait with recog- story of his life, and he may be reminding us through this writing,
nition of himself to others. Basquiat famously told his father when he which he did not obscure beyond recognition, but rather made sure
was young that he was not going to be just an artist, but “a famous artist.” we could read it and his imagery. This word and image juxtaposition
in this painting conveys a powerful message that Basquiat is making
Regarding his words “ALL TIME CHAMPION OF THE WORLD”: about himself, to himself and to the world. All of this is laid out on
Another popular source that Basquiat undoubtedly knew, as dis- a small piece of painted cardboard with a powerful autobiographical
cussed before, is the song by the rock band Queen. Written by lead statement, just as his rocket is taking off in the art world in 1982.
singer Freddie Mercury and first released on their 1977 album “News
of the World,” “We are the Champions” is one of Queen’s most
popular songs and one of rock’s most recognizable anthems.

“I’ve paid my dues

Time after time
I’ve done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I’ve made a few
I’ve had my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I’ve come through
And we mean to go on and on and on and on
We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
’Cause we are the champions of the World
I’ve taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it’s been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before
The human race
And I ain’t gonna lose
And we mean to go on and on and on and on
We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
’Cause we are the champions of the World
We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
’Cause we are the champions of the World”

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Self-Portrait or Crown Face II) (detail), 1982, Matte acrylic,
wax crayon and paint stick on corrugated cardboard, 9 ¾ x 10 ¾ inches, MJL Family Trust,
1 30 LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 1 31
UNTITLED
(CROWN FACE)

In Untitled (Crown Face), a single squarish face in frontal view fills

most of the board. The background is predominantly white. The
face has two eyes: one rounded green eye appears to be open, while
the other, almond-shaped and blue green, appears closed. The face
is adorned by a three-point crown contoured in a peachy-pink wax
crayon and subsequently filled in with a muddy grayish-white paint.
The paint has been scored while still wet (presumably with the
handle of the brush). This is a practice known in the art world as
sgraffito, which is usually used to reveal the underlayer or pattern-
ing. Here, it emphasizes the shape of the crown and the vigorous and
highly gestural way it was designed.

Peachy-pink crayon lines atop the crown seem to evoke the glint of
a precious or sacred object. A long purplish vertical line in the lower
half of the board and the middle of the face defines the nose. This
line may be connected to an under grid visible to the left of the face,
the top of the eyes and to the top of the mouth. Colorful teeth com-
plete the portrait at the bottom of the piece, alternating in a regular
pattern, in shades of green, blue, yellow and pink—colors that are
also found in other areas of the painting. The teeth are finished with a
double strikethrough in black marker, giving the appearance of a grin
or perhaps delineating lips. To the right of the painting, an orange
line connected to three shorter lines fanning at the top resembles an
arm with a three-fingered hand raised.

This is a rather simple, yet typical Basquiat portrait of a crowned

character. The face represented with two differing eyes suggests the
notion of looking outside (with the open eye) and looking inside—
or introspectively—(with the closed eye). They may also evoke the
sensation/the idea of “sleeping with one eye open” to remain alert
and cautious in an environment evoking mistrust and fear, and they
may be connected to the fact that Basquiat had to remain streetwise
while sleeping on the streets and park benches of New York City as a
youth. It is also plausible that the eyes hint at the artist’s vulnerability
in an unforgivable art world where the artist may have felt he could
trust no one and had to remain on his guard. Two other pieces in this
collection—Self-portrait or Black Skull with a Crown inscribed with the
word Milk and Crown Face II—have differing eyes.

Crown Face embodies the best of Basquiat in his 1982 breakout works.
After examining the Mumford Collection, Diego Cortez, arguably the
most authoritative Basquiat connoisseur, remarked: “Strong graphic
work with a central iconic figure is an excellent example of Basquiat’s
work from that period.”

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Crown Face), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard, 12
132 ½ x 7 ¾ in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 1 33
UNTITLED
(HIT THE BRAKES)

In Untitled (Hit the Brakes) and unlike other paintings in the Mumford There is a great chance that this painting is a self-portrait because we
Collection, a significant portion of the cardboard substrate is have reason to believe the “Yellow Man” is indeed a representation of
exposed and only partly covered in a thin white paint, which has been Basquiat himself. Suzanne Mallouk is quoted in Jennifer Clement’s
brushed intentionally and vigorously in broad strokes toward the book Widow Basquiat: “We watched D.W. Griffith’s Broken Blossoms
top-right and bottom-right corners as well as in three parallel verti- dozens of times and Jean could quote sections of it […]. The quote he
cal strokes at the bottom of the painting. The overall white shape is loved best was, ‘The yellow man holds a great dream to take the glo-
contoured in a single continuous line drawn in red marker, evoking rious message of peace to the barbarous Anglo-Saxons…’ I remember
an animal shape—an impression that is reinforced by the appearance he did a few paintings of the yellow man on some cardboard boxes.
of a large bear-looking face to the top-left of the painting, which has For a short time he called himself the Yellow Man and he called me
been drawn in the same red marker. At the end of each “paw” is a the Girl or Lucy, using a funny, formal language.”11
series of little Q shapes resembling claws. A cluster of red birds is on
the flank of the menacing beast; on its shoulder, three pine trees echo There is something rather poignant about Untitled (Hit the Brakes).
Basquiat’s familiar rendition of arrows with fletching. A cluster of It has been extensively documented that Basquiat was involved in a
unfinished A’s or upside-down V-shaped birds is drawn in a thinner car accident as a seven-year-old, having been run over by a car while
black pen. A single yellow figure brandishing an arrow stands in the playing on the street. The accident caused life-threatening internal
bottom-left quadrant of the piece. He is wearing what appears to be injuries to the boy, keeping him in the hospital for months. The idea
blue jeans and a brown belt. His chest and feet are bare. The Batman that this work could be a memory painting seems highly likely. The
emblem adorns his torso, like a tattoo or a logo on a shirt, and echoes central figure has been identified as a self-portrait in other visually
the larger blue Batman sign drawn in oilstick to the right of the work. similar paintings by Basquiat. That figure is adorned with the emblem
The eyes of the figure are bulging and bloodshot (with a series of six of one of his childhood icons and perhaps his protector: Batman. His
red streaks radiating from the pupil). On the head, a touch of neon superhero will protect him from danger in the form of an overwhelm-
pink has been placed above one eye—that color is not used anywhere ingly huge bear with sharp-looking teeth, a foreboding red stop sign
else in the painting and looks deeply intentional as if it were meant and the “BREAK / BREAK / HIT THE BRAKES!” sentence reinforc-
to evoke the presence of a bump, a wound or exposed flesh. The ing the sense of urgency. The “BLINKING” connotation may be a
figure’s mouth is agape with no visible teeth. His hair stands on his reference to a vehicle’s flashers, emergency lights (such as police or
head like dreadlocks. In his right hand, he is brandishing an arrow ambulance flashing beacon lights), or the light-emitting diodes on
with fletching pointed upward. This figure is almost identical to the medical equipment. The “Q” letters used to represent the bear claws
figure in Untitled (Self-Portrait with Arrow) in the Mumford Collection are a common sign in the Hobo Code, which means “Go this way,” and
and also bears a strong resemblance to Self-Portrait (Figure with an was “a common directional sign that indicated the right direction to
arrow), 1984, acrylic on oilstick on paper mounted on canvas. In all go when faced with a crossroads or intersection. By heading in the di-
three instances, an intentional mark has been made outside of the rection indicated by the line, [one] could save time and avoid danger.”
contoured lines between the legs, resembling a phallus. The “club- A couple of quotes from Basquiat’s Notebooks (2015) may also relate
foot” is similar in all instances, with one foot depicted with toes and to this accident: “HE PUTS A CHALK MARK ON HIS BACK AND
the other rounded. WATCHES HIM GET HIT BY A CAR FROM A SAFE DISTANCE”
and “CHALK MARKS CAUSE ACCIDENT.” The placement of the
A red STOP sign and the word EMERGENCY are visible in pentimen- Batman emblem on the figure’s torso, while connoting a beloved
to (an earlier drawing that has been painted over) as are four irregular childhood icon, could also mean invincibility and protection during
red squares resembling a pedestrian crossing and an underdrawing one of the most vulnerable moments of the artist’s life and could be
of a red cross with pointed arrows at the end of at least one branch. a way of counteracting and even reclaiming the huge scar left by the
There are also several circle-A’s (the sign for “anarchy”) present at accident on his upper body: the mark of having overcome significant
the top of the painting. Several phrases in blue marker and block trauma. The figure appears somewhat victorious with his raised fist
letters are legible. They read “IT’S BLINKING and BLINKING / brandishing an arrow pointed upward as a sign of victory, and while
BREAK / BREAK / HIT THE BRAKES!” in the middle of the piece, he does not come out of it unscathed, ultimately he has “slayed the
while in the bottom-left corner is a cluster of blue cartoon “dead” bear.” He has overcome.
faces. Dotted around the painting are also small scribbles in thin 11  Clement, 2014: 76
green marker pen of little arrows, words and what appears to be a
stylized dollar sign. To the right, a Batman icon in blue oilstick com-
pletes the piece. At the bottom, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s name appears
in full letters, topped by his signature crown; both are written in the
same black marker used to draw the figure. This is a telling detail as
both the crown, signature and figure are all icons of the artist himself.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Hit the Brakes), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard,
134 9 5/8 x 15 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 135
UNTITLED
(BASEBALL)

Three colors are predominant in Untitled (Baseball): red, white and The series of consecutive plus signs (+++) that accompany the words
blue, traditional American colors. American tradition is also repre- “SICK MAMA NO NO” appear in the Medicine section of Dreyfuss’
sented by the semblance of a flag at the top-right of the painting and Symbol Sourcebook 14 as a symbol commonly used in the medical field
the large baseball featured prominently at the bottom of the image. for a patient case that is “increased to moderately severe.” The jux-
An additional baseball accompanied by a basketball, both drawn in taposition of the plus signs with the words “SICK MAMA” may
brownish-red, are featured in the top part of the work, appearing be a reference to Basquiat’s mother: Matilda Andrades, a Puerto
inside a large three-point crown. The crown itself has been delineat- Rican woman diagnosed with severe depression and bipolar disor-
ed with two large arrows pointing down. Many other smaller crowns der, who was subsequently checked into a mental institution. There
appear in the painting, rendered in blue, red and even purple. is a second occurrence of the word “MAMA” underneath the first
one, this time obliterated in blue oilstick. There is also a reference
Several phrases are visible: Basquiat’s series of repeated A’s are omni- to Basquiat’s father with the word “POP” written in black pen and
present as well as his signature SAMO© in the center. Other major struck through with a single red line. The colors chosen to cross out
phrases include “MARKET PRICE” and “SAMO EAT,” where the his parents’ names seem rather significant, with blue being a calming
word “EAT” has been crossed off in red; and the word LION with and soothing color, evoking the slow disappearance of his mother
its letters stacked vertically, flanked with two stars of David. Perhaps due to mental illness, whereas the red can be interpreted as more
most importantly one of the clearest areas of the painting is a square definitive, somewhat aggressive obliteration of the father, Gerard
area of about four-by-four inches, which remains unencumbered in Basquiat, who has often been portrayed in Basquiat’s biographies as
an otherwise rather dense piece. Painted a light yellow, it contains the a strict and violent man who believed in the use of corporal punish-
unobscured words “SICK MAMA NO NO,” followed by the words ment and would beat his son regularly.
“MAMA” crossed out in blue and “POP” crossed out in red.
14 Dreyfuss, 1972: 113

Sports and especially Black athletes are a recurrent theme in

Basquiat’s work, with boxing and baseball being some of his great-
est sources of inspiration. Many of his works, such as Famous Negro
Athletes intended to provide visibility to Black people. Basquiat was
quoted by his friend Jennifer Clement as saying, “This is why I paint,
to get black men into museums.”12 As a result, several of his works
contain specific references to baseball player Hank Aaron. The word
AARON itself and the repeated letter A are also recurrent motifs in
many of Basquiat’s paintings and another specific reference to Hank
Aaron 13, while it has been mentioned by scholars that it could also
be a reference to painter Aaron Douglas, a prominent artist of the
Harlem Renaissance. Untitled (Baseball) holds a special place in the
Mumford Collection, since it may have been created specifically as
an homage to Thaddeus Mumford himself, who was a batboy for the
New York Yankees—the first African American batboy for the squad.
A reference to this work is also specifically made in the last line of the
poem written by Mumford and initialed by Basquiat, which reads: “a
baseball a bird a television our play a future bright,” making Untitled
(Baseball) one of the few pieces specifically mentioned in this import-
ant document.
12 Clement, 2014: 92
13 Saggese, 2014: 25

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Baseball), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard, 19 x
136 12 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 137
UNTITLED
(BLUE SKULL)

Untitled (Blue Skull) is composed of a single element: a skull, seen in

a three-quarter profile. The background is black and recalls a school
chalkboard, a touch of green is visible in pentimento in the lower-right
quadrant. To the top and the left edges, the cardboard substrate is
still visible. The skull has been delineated in light blue oilstick and
cyan, green and yellow paint. It has two defined oval-shaped eyes
and jaw composed of a set of sixteen double-stacked teeth in a four-
by-four slanted grid that leans to the left. Thirteen of the teeth are
filled in with black paint whereas the remaining three are painted
yellow; an additional grid drawn in light blue oilstick makes them
look like crosshairs. The stacking of the teeth and combination of
yellow and black paint is reminiscent of Basquiat’s skyscrapers in
another painting from the Mumford Collection: Untitled (Yellow and
Black Buildings).

To the front of the skull an appendage delineated in light blue oilstick

resembles a penis, partially painted in orange and green. To the top-
left, two circle crosshairs with parallel lines are visible and to the left
are a series of unfinished A’s, similar to the ones in Untitled (Hit the
Brakes). A couple of red zigzag lines cross the brain area, like EKG
lines, and combine with the unfinished orange A’s and three jittery
blue lines at the curvature of the neck and base of the skull. They give
the skull a frenzied, befuddled look. It appears as if it is shaking or
shivering—from an electric shock or from being high on drugs.

The work is signed JEAN and topped with a crown, both drawn
in yellow pastel or oilstick, in the bottom-right corner. Curator
Diego Cortez, one of Basquiat’s first supporters and the man who
helped launch his career, was quoted in 1982 saying, “Jean-Michel
Basquiat […] constructs an intensity of line which reads like a poly-
graph, a brain-to-hand shake,” a quote particularly fitting to Untitled
(Blue Skull).

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Blue Skull), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard, 10 ¼
138 x 10 3/8 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 139
UNTITLED
(FACE WITH ORANGE HALO)

Untitled (Face with Orange Halo) is another example of a painting

focused on a single element: a large face that fills the board entirely.
This face is depicted in a frontal view and in such a gestural way that
one can follow each paint stroke from start to finish. The cardboard
substrate has been almost entirely painted white. Instead of the cus-
tomary crown, the face is topped by a halo in a spiral shape that curls
on itself. The colors used to delineate the face and halo are bright and
in harmonious tones of two complementary oranges, a warm yellow,
a shade of green which—when combined with the yellow—generates
a second lighter shade. There are also two shades of blue, barely dis-
cernible one from the other, yet one is in oilstick and one is in paint.

The face has two blue, oval-shaped, stacked eyes with pupils, a blue-
and-green button nose, a blue grinning mouth circled in orange as if
to evoke lips and an overdrawing in green paint marker, more angular
and with two squarish blocks near the eyes that resemble glasses or
help to define the eye sockets, one of which is left empty. The face
remains mostly white but seems bathed in a golden balmy light and is
being rained upon by a fringe of multicolor vertical lines. We are left
with the impression that the face may be that of an angel, a saint or
an individual being blessed and drenched in colors. While Basquiat’s
use of faces with bared teeth often suggests a threatening and aggres-
sive attitude in many of his paintings, the overall effect in this piece,
however, suggests a beaming smile, with the orange oval of the mouth
echoing the oval of the halo.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Face with Orange Halo), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on
140 cardboard, 10 x 7 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 141
UNTITLED
(DOG AND WOLF)

In Untitled (Dog and Wolf ), the artist has used the same yellow and Dog and wolf are also two words that can be read backwards, a trick
orange he used in Untitled (Face with Orange Halo), another smaller that Basquiat often used in his paintings such as in Dog Leg Study
piece from the Mumford Collection that happens to be of the exact (1982) where Basquiat has reversed the order of the letters of the
same dimensions (7 x 10 in.). The two paintings, indeed, have been word “dog” so that the work now reads “famous god leg study”. Here,
worked on simultaneously. Dog and Wolf is interesting in the sense thus, “DOG WOLF” can become “GOD FLOW,” perhaps an allusion
that it is one of the only mostly abstract pieces in the entire collec- similar to Basquiat’s use of the symbol of the crown to elevate himself
tion. There is no real central element, figure or main object to feast and Black men to the rank of kings, this time endowing them the
our eyes on. Instead, this piece’s main focus seems to be on the words status of a divinity, a god. Apart from the omnipresence of the words,
“DOG” and “WOLF,” which appear recurrently, almost as an obses- little can be said of the more abstracted background, which seems
sive chant, repeated over and over throughout the piece. to be mostly composed of brown and white paint applied in large,
almost stripy strokes. Added touches of yellow paint and orange oil-
The composition follows an almost-perfect diagonal, which splits the stick give an overall warmth to the background, while a large splatter
piece into two triangular halves from the upper-left corner to the bot- of blue—the same that was used to color in the lifeless face and one of
tom-right corner, with the upper half empty of words and signs and the boxed stars—sits unapologetically and unavoidably in the middle
the bottom half filled with the repeated words and additional phrases, of the piece, obliterating most of the previous layers. This may be an
such as “EARN STRIPES,” “SNAKES,” a series of three E’s, two allusion to an explosion or a clash of some sort, perhaps then indi-
boxed stars and a face lying on its side with a sinister-looking touch cating another possible outcome to Basquiat’s accident as a child (cf.
of red oilstick (blood) underneath it, as if it were left there, wounded Untitled (Hit the Brakes), with the figure, this time, lying on the ground
or dead. Altogether, the two words “WOLF” and “DOG” are repeated instead of standing victorious.
at least eight times each, possibly more, with instances that may have
been covered by additional paint. The juxtaposition of the two words
interestingly suggests two highly different animals: one considered
to be man’s most loyal companion, the other represents man’s pred-
ator. They are highly different in their behavior, perhaps, yet in their
appearance the two could easily be mistaken for each other. This is
what is suggested by the idiomatic French phrase entre chien et loup
(literally “between dog and wolf”), which Basquiat—raised in a trilin-
gual household—would have surely known. The expression describes
dusk/twilight as that hour between day and night when light starts to
fade and a dog and a wolf could be mistaken for each other. Friend
and foe indeed, this connotation seems highly relevant to an artist
who—after having lived on the streets—may have been deceived
more than once and would have had to constantly watch his back.
Dog and Wolf could very well be an analogy that would have also
applied to Basquiat navigating a treacherous art world.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Dog and Wolf), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard,
142 7 x 10 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 143
UNTITLED
(RED FACE AND YELLOW CROWN)

Untitled (Red Face and Yellow Crown) is another small piece composed
of roughly three sections. First, the painting has been split into two
halves by a single line in red oilstick. The bottom half seems divided
in another two sections, with the left composed of two sets of red
grids while the right has been washed over in white paint, leaving only
two small orange arrows visible in pentimento at the bottom, but ob-
scuring most of the underlayer. The effect of the white paint roughly
applied and scratched over an underlayer of colorful paint gives the
piece both a Richteresque feel and an unfinished look. “There are
several lives in Basquiat’s paintings. . . .The colors—faded, scratched,
covered over are superimposed—they reappear in transparency, as if
they were anterior lives.”15

The red grids may evoke buildings or cages (often a symbolizing im-
prisonment in Basquiat’s work), but one seems to also stand for the
mouth of a larger face whose eyes are visible in the upper half of the
painting: two concentric shapes, resembling “goggly” eyes without
pupils. The spectral head is topped by a rainbow shape with colorful
rays emanating from it, perhaps evoking a caricatural bald head with
a few hirsute hairs sprouting from it or the halo of a saint with rays.
A three-pointed golden yellow crown hovers to the right, contoured
in blue oilstick.

Despite the rather alarming ghostly face with its mouth gaping as if in
a scream, overall this piece seems somewhat satirical. The head is not
crowned, its hair is unkempt, and it has been reduced to its simplest
attributes: a caged mouth, two eyes. The colorful tones used to define
the hair or halo rays are almost comical and seem somehow uncon-
nected to the face as if perhaps they belonged to the face of a prior
drawing painted over in white. The crown, however, reigns, remote
and unattainable.

One wonders if this painting was an experiment where Basquiat was

“auditioning” different elements for future works. It lacks the rich
detail, variety of colors and implied and express messaging of its sib-
lings in the Mumford Collection. It may also be the case that the
work was not completed or Basquiat, with so much cardboard sub-
strate available, decided to move on to a fresh “canvas.” In any event,
Red Face and Yellow Crown points to the rich diversity of works in the
Mumford Collection.
15  Valérie Duponchelle, in “Basquiat L’Artiste Roi et sa Couronne d’Epines”, Le Figaro, May
30, 2010

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Red Face and Yellow Crown), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint
144 on cardboard, 11 ¾ x 9 1/8 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 14 5
UNTITLED
(EYEBALLS/EAT)

Untitled (Eyeballs/Eat) is one of the richest paintings in the Mumford Like most of Basquiat’s paintings, a general interpretation of the
Collection. It is visually stimulating and chock-full of symbols, rich piece is somewhat problematic as the artist would have a tenden-
layers and compositional elements. The main element is a huge cy to reuse symbols and imagery randomly, as they would come to
eyeball positioned almost in the dead center of the piece. The ex- him—a practice similar to that of “sampling” in the musical world.
aggerated eye has been carefully and sophisticatedly painted with a We can, however, attest that the overall painting exudes a feeling of
range of blues, greens and gray, giving it an almost-lifelike appearance. angst, with the presence of a menacing blood-shedding beast and a
It is bulging, and its frenetic motion is implied by the yellow and red serpent: an icon associated with that of a traitor since biblical times.
lines radiating from it. It appears at first to have been dislodged from The other impression left by the painting is that of a state of deep
any apparent body or face, as if disembodied. Several other orbs of confusion, associated with hallucinatory visions, with the occurrence
differing sizes, resembling targets with their concentric circles, serve of jittery eyes and lens flares, evoking a momentary disorientation
as secondary eyes, but can also be interpreted as celestial bodies, such and dazzled stare, which perhaps refers to a drug-induced state.
as the sun or planets, or even a lens flare.
Eyeballs/Eat is a genuine triumph for Basquiat on many levels. The
Pareidolia, the human brain’s tendency to look for a familiar shape stunning symbology, along with the adroit choice and patterning of
(often a face) in an abstract image, applies when first looking at a variety of colors, draws us into the labyrinth of Basquiat’s imagina-
Eyeballs/Eat. One may immediately look at the two predominant orbs tion. Basquiat once said, “I wanted to make very direct paintings that
and consider them the eyes of a larger face and thus look underneath most people would feel the emotion behind when they saw them.”
for a mouth. In the painting, however, the mouth has been positioned This painting brilliantly communicates an ominous feeling of dread,
to the bottom-left. It is shaped like an architectural element, more anxiety on steroids.
specifically, a carefully drawn three-pointed gothic arch defining
the lip, which has been painstakingly filled in with rows of colored
pennant flags, alternating in white, yellow ochre and red—the same
colors used to draw the additional orbs and a checkered grid between
the eyes. The gaping mouth is black, revealing a cartoon-looking red
tongue topped by the word “EAT,” and two rows of four square teeth
and four sharp fangs with bloodied tips. A red-and-blue nose is visible
directly above the mouth. At the top of the lip, near the nose, a shape
resembles the head of a snake, which, when connected to the rows of
pennants underneath, finally emerges clearly from the painting and
reveals itself obviously as a brightly colored snake. Two three-point-
ed crowns complete this side of the panel. At the bottom, a series
of three snow-capped mountain peaks emerges. Their arrangement
recalls both the pointed fangs, the three-pointed crowns and the
triangle shapes (pennants) of the snake’s body. Above the mountain
range, a succession of red and blue arrows pointing up or down and a
cluster of familiar A’s fill the void between the eyes. A rather unusual
sight is the presence of a painted frame encapsulating the complete
image in a peachy-pink and yellow ochre color. Basquiat’s signature
SAMO© is visible in the bottom-right corner.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Eyeballs/Eat), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard,
146 22 x 26 3/8 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 147
UNTITLED
(INDUSTRY INSIDER)

Untitled (Industry Insider) is one of the crown jewels of the Mumford Other secondary phrases seem more random and evoke the custom-
Collection. The large panel features a massive head, a secondary ary sampling of Basquiat’s street poetry and painting practices, where
figure in the form of a skeleton and a TV as well as a plethora of the artist would hear slogans on the television or read words in mag-
phrases, grids and symbols. Three main colors are readily identifi- azines and reuse them in his work in a sort of stream of conscious-
able: the primary red, yellow and blue as well as the black value. This ness. As Jennifer Clement states, “He paints, pauses, picks up a book
color combination immediately calls to mind Piet Mondrian’s work or magazine and when he finds a word or sentence that he likes he
Composition in Red, Yellow and Blue, 1929, an oil and paper on canvas, paints it on the board or canvas.” (2014: 33) One can identify several
from the Dutch De Stijl movement. As a child Basquiat would often such phrases as “PLAN B”/ “$UCKS”/ “CHECKS BALANCES,”
frequent museums with his mother who enrolled him as a junior “STEAK IS FREE” / “FRIDAY,” “BECAUSE SHE SAID” and “SHE
member of the Brooklyn Museum of Art when he was only 6 years SAYS SAMO IS HERE” / “TURNED OFF,” applied layer over layer,
old. Furthermore, Basquiat came from a highly cultured trilingual like city walls that have been covered over and over with random
household, his father was an accountant and his mother exposed him messages, providing a polyphony or even a cacophony of messages.
to a wide range of cultural references early on, from books to art exhi- Basquiat has returned to his street artistry.
bitions. It is thus accepted that Basquiat would have known the work
of Mondrian. With this is in mind, the presence of a black grid with The skeleton with its rib cage exposed, in the upper-right corner,
red background in the lower-left is interesting. It represents a cage recalls Basquiat’s love of anatomy, which emerged after his mother
with a black bird in each “cell.” gifted him a copy of Henry Gray’s Anatomy during his months-long
hospital stay as a child. It may also represent Basquiat’s alter ego
On the opposite side of the face, by contrast, a cluster of white birds himself since the skeleton appears to be wearing a cast. As Dr. Jordana
on a blue background, is left free. This comparison could be inter- Moore Saggese recalls in her review: “He breaks an arm and sustains
preted as a discourse on race, with the Black man captive and isolat- internal injuries, which require the removal of his spleen. […] During
ed, endangered, while the white man is allowed to roam free. In the his stay, his mother brings him a copy of the medical textbook Gray’s
Hobo Code, the grid is the symbol for jail. In the larger scope of this Anatomy; it provides the seven-year-old Jean-Michel with a detailed
painting, one may speculate that perhaps the large face is meant to view of the human body—a subject that would appear frequently in
represent Thaddeus Mumford himself as a Black man who achieved his later works.”16 The skeleton is standing on top of a television set,
tremendous success in the then white-dominated film industry and much like a Hollywood trophy, like those awarded to Mumford by his
was thus able to mix with both crowds—here visibly represented in peers. Basquiat was a lifelong child of television.
between the two different clusters. The face itself offers a rich combi-
nation of various art references: from Cubism (with the deconstruct- A single tilted, three-point crown, painted in a light yellow on black,
ed face, partly represented in three-quarter view, with one eye and appears to the left of the piece, while a smaller, inconspicuous crown
the nose facing front, and the jaw in profile) and Mondrian’s varied has been carefully cut in the cardboard substrate, to the bottom-right
color planes (with the intentional addition of a peachy-pink, perhaps edge of the painting. That’s the magic of looking at Basquiat’s paint-
a nod to a fair skin color and Mumford’s ability to blend in with his ings: the constant discovery of seemingly unnoticeable elements,
white counterparts). The image of the television set may be another which are all independently meaningful and, when scrutinized, offer
nod to Mumford as a writer for the TV series M*A*S*H and many us a glimpse of the mind of a genius artist.
others and the film industry as a whole. Among the multitude of 16 Saggese, 2021: 329-30
phrases adorning the surface of the painting, one stands out: the par-
tially redacted “INDUSTRY INSIDER,” which reinforces the overall
interpretation that the piece may have been an homage to Mumford.

Detail of a crown cut in the cardboard substrate on the bottom-right of the painting (image Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Industry Insider), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on card-
148 is rotated to show the crown). © Lunardi Photography board, 56 x 36.5 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 149
UNTITLED
(SELF-PORTRAIT, SKULL)

The central black mass of paint has been manipulated by drawing into merized, “I remember getting up in the middle of the night and he
a “skull” which in many ways is a self-portrait according to Basquiat’s wouldn’t be in bed lying next to me; he’d be standing, painting, at
images of himself. The angle of the face is confusing and could be four in the morning, this close to the canvas, in a trance. I was blown
read in two ways, both as a three-quarter view. The concentric circle away by that, that he worked when he felt moved.”17 You can see in
eyes in white, red and green could be just that, with an exposed ear on this image of Madonna at the Barbican Exhibition in London in 2017,
our right side. This included a “T” shaped nose with both round and above her right shoulder you see one inscription ‘VENUS” that refers
square nostrils. The open mouth, which extends beyond the bounds to his long-time love Suzanne Mallouk and who he called such, and
of the face, with the grid of teeth is trademark Basquiat. This is a “MADONNA” who he “X-ed” out.
known tendency of Basquiat beginning in 1982. Inside the mouth,
the squiggly line and the “S” reoccurring in a line, could represent a “The relationship between them is now only a faint glimmer in the
tongue. The other way to read this skull/face, is that the exposed ear great annals of music and art. The outlandish photographs document
becomes and eye and the left eye as we view it, becomes the ear. this ephemeral love, which was ultimately enshrined in fame and
glory. Madonna loved Basquiat, but this devotion wavered under the
There are other colors that make up this painting including blue, pressures of his heroin addiction. Basquiat was at the epicenter of
green, red, orange and white, with some smudges of yellow. Also, the the social and artistic elite, since he took the consumerist pop model
black of the head is smudged outward towards the edges of the card- of the time and transformed it into a social commentary that lashed
board creating and interesting effect. There is a discernible white out against systems of racism and power structures. Madonna was a
crown atop the skull. step away from reaching stardom, and in the second year of their re-
lationship, she released her album, which launched her career as one
On our right side is the signature “JEAN” where the “E” has no spine. of the most influential pop figures in music. He introduced her to the
Just under this in white is the inscription “TRUMPET HORN” with highest artistic circles of the time, and Madonna became a new post-
a white arrow pointing downwards. This could be a reference to the modern muse that both enlightened and created in equal measure.
well-documented interest Basquiat had in jazz, mostly a black-domi- Fashion designers, artists, and other musicians gravitated towards
nated art/ music form. Beneath the arrow is the inscription in white her, towards Basquiat’s girlfriend, the future queen of pop.”18
the word, “NONE.” Just beneath this in red is the word, “EXEPT.”
Underneath this in red is the signature “JEAN” and a crown. Interestingly, there are several sets of Basquiat’s fingerprints
around the edges found on the exposed cardboard. More Basquiat
One of the most interesting things about this painting is the in- fingerprints and partial prints are found on many of the Mumford
scription in red at the top right of the work as we view it, “DOES IT Collection work both in the images themselves and around the
REALLY MATTER.” This could be a transcendental question, or a edges. This may be the first time this is noted and recorded in the
play off the lyrics of Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody, “Nothing really Basquiat literature.
matters, Anyone can see, Nothing really matters, Nothing really
matters to me, Any way the wind blows...” The lyrics of the song just
before this may provide a clue, “So you think you can stop me and spit
in my eye, So you think you can love me and leave me to die, Oh, baby,
can’t do this to me, baby...” While we are not exactly sure the exact
time in 1982 in Venice that Basquiat created the Mumford Collection 17  https://news.artnet.com/art-world/basquiat-took-back-madonna-paintings-277735
for Thaddeus Mumford, Jr., Basquiat and his girlfriend, Madonna, had 18 . https://culturacolectiva.com/en/art/the-love-story-of-madonna-and-basquiat.

a pretty ugly break up. They were both on the verge of much fame, as
Basquiat was coming into his own nationally and internationally. The
year 1982 was both his breakout year and his crescendo year. At the
same time, Madonna was working on the debut of her first album and
song, Everybody, which was released on October 6, 1982.

According to Madonna, “He wouldn’t stop doing heroin. He was an

amazing man and deeply talented, I loved him,” said Madonna on
the Howard Stern Show (via Art Market Monitor). “When I broke
up with him he made me give [the paintings he gave me] back to
him. And then he painted over them black.” Madonna was also mes-

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Self-portrait, Skull)

1982, Matte acrylic, oil paint, wax crayon and paint stick on corrugated cardboard, 12 x 12
150 inches, Basquiat Venice Collection Group 151
INTERVIEW
TRANSCRIPTS
Barbican Meets Diego Cortez at Basquiat Diego Cortez: Diego Cortez: Diego Cortez: ***Transcript of Diego Cortez interview on Diego Cortez:
Boom for Real What makes this work interesting is the in- Well, the piece out on the front- Well, his work from the very beginning was opening night of New York/New Wave. Yeah. I mean, I don’t think all of them are pro-
tensity of the line. And drawing was always very popular with the public. That’s the fessionals right now, but I mean I don’t really
Basquiat Boom for Real exhibition, Thursday, the underpinning of this work, like Twombly. Speaker 2: great thing about him is that [from] people New York/New Wave. Cortez mounted worry about the word. I haven’t worried about
September 21, 2017—Sunday, January 28, 2018, Even though they’re painters, drawing’s Shall we peek over there? who know nothing about art to the connois- the exhibition and “discovered” Jean-Michel the word professionals. I mean, what’s a pro-
Barbican Art Gallery the key element of the work that really prefig- seurs of art, they all like his work. He’s always Basquiat at MoMA PS 1 gallery in February fessional? I mean, were most of the musicians
ures the work. Other people are real painters. Diego Cortez: been well loved, from the get go. I mean, even 1981. who made most of the good music for the last
This is the transcript of the last interview They paint. That’s where ... Jean-Michel is ac- Shall we move over there? before, like when we were dancing together four years that comprise punk and new wave
Diego Cortez gave with regards to the re-en- tually more of a drawer. And it keeps that kind and being friends, everyone always loved him. professionals? No. Yes and no. The important
actment of the part of the Basquiat exhibition of innocence aspect, or the childish aspect Diego Cortez: All of his friends were very helpful, and every- Speaker 1: thing to me is still for at least 50% of it is build-
in NYC, titled New York/New Wave in 1981. that’s so popular with people, because it’s I just wanted to talk a little bit about this piece one realized that he was a kind of genius and On this tape, we’ll visit PS1, an alternate space ing a sociology of elements that kind of make
slightly not adult. because it was the title plate for the show, that something was going to happen with him. in the borough of Queens. Alternate spaces up a scene or depict the scene.
because we didn’t have fancy graphics like you I mean, otherwise he wouldn’t [appear] in specialize in showing the most recent develop-
Diego Cortez: Diego Cortez: have. These things are expensive. This was the movie, “Downtown 81.” I mean, it’s the ments in art and perhaps nothing is newer and Diego Cortez:
Well, my name is Diego Cortez. I’m a curator I was attracted to the intensity of line. And cheaper than that, the material... is that me? story of somebody who’s an artist who more contemporary than the exhibition we’ll Definitely some of the work in the show is
and I organized this exhibition, New York/ I thought that was something that ... I liked becomes famous. see today. New York/New Wave organized by not art, but some of the show is like very com-
New Wave in 1981, which this room is kind of Twombly at the time, I liked Rauschenberg, Speaker 2: Diego Cortez. mercial stuff. And some of it is very precious,
re-configuring New York /New Wave. That they were art Dubuffet. These are some of You might want to... Speaker 2: original art objects and some of it’s for repro-
was the title because it wasn’t really a show my favorite artists, and Jean-Michel was No. Marc Miller: duction only. But as a whole, I think it works.
about the artists, the visual arts. It was a show somewhat dealing with those artist’s ideas. Diego Cortez: It was back in 1975 that the terms punk and
about the detritus from the music scene of the I mean, Dubuffet in 1954, wrote a text called But you know that was my piece so I can touch Diego Cortez: new wave were first used to describe a new
time because the punk new wave scenes were Anticultural Positions. And it was about the it. And then in the other room, should we go Just kidding. youth culture that sprung up first in New York
kind of expiring at that moment. So it was Art Brut, or the folk art, idea as being of superi- over there? and shortly after in England. Punk culture
looking back on the last three or four years of or... That the so-called primitive has a superior is best known for its rock and roll music, but
what was going on. So that’s why I used the notion of art than the fine artist. So these are Diego Cortez: it has also produced a large amount of visual
tacky term New Wave. It wasn’t to copy, it was things that attract me to this kind of work. This piece was in the corridor of about twelve art. This has been especially true in New York
Jean-Luc Godard or something. of the major graffiti artists who did the big where the principal rock clubs have been
Diego Cortez: subway trains and things like that, like Fab Five located on the edges of Soho, the city’s visual
Diego Cortez: Later, when he became more sophisticated, and Haze and Daze, and all the people whose art district.
It’s great to see it. I’ve always liked the work. then you could say, that’s where his real break- names ended with A-Z-E. So this was his par-
I still like the work. The looks always great. throughs happen. Not in this work. You don’t ticipation in that corridor of graffiti. Jimmy Marc Miller:
The one thing I noticed about this early work see the real advancement until like 1982. But Best is actually me. That was my real name. It (singing)
that is different then ... because now I have I think his whole career, even though it was was James, Jimmy, Jim. And he used to call me
new theories about his work, which focuses real short, it was a very full evolution of move- Jim all the time. Everyone else called me Diego, Marc Miller:
on the idea that the background of his work ments and styles, the way a 45 year career by but he jokingly always called me Jim, and he But what constitutes punk art? The uninitiat-
is where the radical change is that makes him most people who live full lives, you see that dedicated some catalogs like that. I noticed ed looking at the nearly 1000 works by close
the important artist that he became, which is over a 45 year period. Here, you see it in seven this, the big Glenn painting down there, that’s to 150 artists that hang at PS1 are bound to be
that of the exploded collage, as opposed to the or eight years, but it’s a full career. I mean, he Glenn O’Brien . He did do some paintings of confused. It is a mixture of media and style
20th century’s use of contrived or configured made as many artworks as people who live, his friends, kind of homages to his friends. And with the differences being more obvious than
or constructed collage, man or woman made who work 45 years as an artist. But he just this one, he actually gave me out right after the the similarities.
collage. Whereas Jean-Michel kind of explodes worked very quickly and he was very intense. show. Boom, for real. I mean, these were all like
it, but you don’t see it in this work yet. And so he kind of packed it in, you know. SAMO graffiti texts, you know? Marc Miller:
How do you envision the future here for these
artists? Do you think that a lot of them are pro-
fessionals or--?

15 2 15 3
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lips.com/article/42810482/got-the-time-matt- Smithsonian Institute. “Los Angeles Institute Contemporary Art (1974–77)‘Pacific Standard chives/la-xpm-1985-08-25-ca-24782-story.html
Mr. Pop Culture. “Pop Culture In Review dike-and-jean-michel-basquiat of Contemporary Art records, 1973-1988.” Time at the Getty.”. http://blogs.getty.edu/
for the Year 1982: Mr. Pop Culture.” Mr. Pop Archives of American Art. https://www.aaa. p a c i fi c st a n d a rd t i m e /ex p l o re - t h e - e ra / l o c a - Wojciechowski, Gene. “NFL STRIKE: 1982:
Culture | Exploring the World of Pop Culture, Roberts, Randall. “Appreciation: Matt Dike, si.edu/collections/los-angeles-institute- con- tions/the-los-angeles-institute-of-contempo- A History Lesson Not Learned.” Los Angeles
June 29, 2021. https://mrpopculture.com/ mercurial co-founder of rap label Delicious temporary-art-records-5495 rary-art-laica-1974%E2%80%9377/. Times, September 23, 1987. https://www.latimes.
pop-culture-in-review-for-the-year-1982/. Vinyl and collaborator on Beastie Boys’ ‘Paul’s com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-23-sp-6303-sto-
Boutique’.” Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2018. Smithsonian Institution. “Rosamund Felsen The Getty Research Institute. “Chronology ry.html
Muchnic, Suzanne. “The Galleries: La Cienega https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/ gallery records, 1978–2014.” Archives of American for Gallery 669 and Mizuno Gallery.” Mizuno
Area.” Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1983, page la- et-ms-matt- dike- obituary-20180313-story. Art. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/ Gallery records, 1955-2005, bulk 1966-1988. Wolfe, Shira. “Lost (and Found) Artist
116. html rosamund-felsen-gallery-records-16203 http://archives.getty.edu:30008/getty_images/ Series: James Van Der Zee.” Artland
digitalresources/2010m84_mizuno_chron.pdf Magazine. https://magazine.artland.com/
Muchnic, Suzanne. “Institute at a Crossroads: Roberto Juarez in discus- Soleau, Teresa. “Finding aid for the Mizuno lost-and-found-artist-series-james-van-der-zee/
Artists Have Their Say on LAICA.” Los Angeles sion with the author, June 2021. Gallery records, 1955-2005, bulk 1966-1988.” The Getty Research Institute. “Margo Leavin
Times, February 27, 1985. https://www.latimes. Online Archive of California. The Getty Gallery records.” Online Archive of California. Wulfe, Steve. “The Oscars of 1982.”
com/archives/la-xpm-1985-02-27-ca-8974-story. Rodrigues, Laurie. “‘SAMO© as an Escape Research Institute, Special Collections. https:// The Getty Research Institute, Special Entertainment Weekly, updated January 26, 2007.
html Clause’: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Engagement oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0c6033v5/ Collections. https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ https://ew.com/article/2007/01/26/oscars-1982/
with a Commodified American Africanism.” entire_text/ ark:/13030/c8g44x4q/admin/
Muchnic, Suzanne. “Betty Asher; Collector of Journal of American Studies, May 2011, Vol. 45, Wulffson, Jennifer. “The Adorable Patricia
Contemporary Art.” Los Angeles Times, May No. 2 (May 2011), pp. 227-243 Sooney, Pia. “What Happened in 1982?” The Getty Research Institute. “Patricia Faure Faure, 1928-2008.” X-Tra, Fall 2009, vol. 12,
14, 1994. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la- LikeTotally80s.com, August 27, 2006. http://www. Gallery Records, 1952-2006, Bulk 1970-2006.” no. 1. https://www.x-traonline.org/article/
xpm-1994-05-14-mn-57412-story.html Saggese, Jordana Moore, ed. The Jean-Michel liketotally80s.com/2007/08/80s-capsules-1982/ Collection Inventories and Finding Aids. the-adorable-patricia-faure-1928-2008
Basquiat Reader: Writings, Interviews, and http://archives2.getty.edu:8082/xtf/iew?do -
Nilson, Lisbet. “New Photography Gallery Critical Responses. Oakland: University of Spooner, James. “Punk and No Wave.” In Time cId=ead%2F2010.M.13%2F2010.M.13.xml.
Focuses on Both Classic and Contemporary California Press, 2021. Decorated: The Musical Influences of Jean-Michel
Work.” Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1991. https:// Basquiat. Part 2 of 3. The Broad, 2021. https:// “For the Record.” Los Angeles Times, February
www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-07- Saggese, Jordana Moore. Reading Basquiat: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7f5ZaiUZgo 5, 1998, p. 96.
ca-2930-story.html Exploring Ambivalence in American Art. Berkeley
and Los Angeles: University of California Press, Spooner, James, and Ed Patuto. “James Spooner The Woman’s Building. “The Woman’s
Norklun, Kathi. Review of Janus Gallery exhibi- 2021. and Ed Patuto on the Lasting Influence of Jean Building, a brief history”. http://thewomans-
tion Drawings/Vision: New York. LA Weekly, July Michel [sic] Basquiat.” Autre, January 28, 2021. building.org/history.html.
22, 1982, page 97. Salomon Emquies in discussion with the https://autre.love/interviewsmain/2021/1/27/
author, June 2021. james-spooner-and-ed-patuto-on-the-lasting- Thompson, Robert Farris. Flash of the Spirit:
Nosnitsky, Andrew. “Basquiat’s ‘Beat Bop’: influence-of-jean-michel-basquiat African and Afro-American Art. New York:
An Oral History of One of the Most Valuable Schimmel, Paul, and Lisa Gabrielle Mark, eds. Vintage Books, 1984.
Hip-Hop Records of All Time.” Spin.com, Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974– Stern, Karl. “1982 - Your complete When It Was
November 14, 2013. https://www.spin. 1981. New York: Prestel Publishing, 2011. Cool Guide to the year 1982 in pop-culture, UCLA Hammer Museum. “Dale Brockman
com/2013/11/beat-bop-basquiat-k-rob-rammell- music, and more.” WhenItWasCool.com, https:// Davis.” Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles,
zee-freak-freak/ Schnabel, Julian. Basquiat. 1996. www.whenitwascool.com/1982-guide-to-when- 1960–1980 digital archive. https://hammer.ucla.
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Official Data Foundation.“CPI Inflation Scott, Allen J. And Edward Soja, eds. The City:
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Peabody, Rebecca, Andrew Perchuk, Glenn University of California Press, 1996. Time.” Marie Claire, April 24, 2018. https://
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2021. Shulman, David, dir. Basquiat: Rage to Riches. power.org/museum/Historical_Timeline_of_
2017. Los_Angeles.html

156 15 7
CHECKLIST
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Acme Toy Co.) Untitled (Crown Face) Untitled (Self-Portrait, Skull) Untitled (Red Face and Rat Monster) Untitled (Self Portrait with Arrow)
1982 1982 1982 1982 1982
Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Matte acrylic, wax crayon and paint stick on Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard
54 x 36 in. 12 ½ x 7 ¾ in. corrugated cardboard 10 ¼ x 19 ¾ in. 12 x 7 in.
MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, 25 ½ x 20 ¾ in. MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma,
Manager Manager Basquiat Venice Collection Group Manager Manager

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Baseball) Untitled (Dog and Wolf) Untitled (Industry Insider) Untitled (Red Face and Yellow Crown) Untitled (Self-portrait with Cowboy Hat and
1982 1982 1982 1982 Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Suit)
Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard 1982
19 3/8 x 12 ½ in. 7 x 10 in. 56 x 36.5 in. 11 ¾ x 9 1/8 in. Matte acrylic, oil paint, wax crayon and paint stick
MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, on corrugated cardboard
Manager Manager Manager Manager 12 x 12 in.
Basquiat Venice Collection Group
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Blue Skull) Untitled (Eyeballs / Eat) Untitled (Mystery Creature / Bat) Untitled (Reptile with Claws and a Crown / Monster Jean-Michel Basquiat
1982 1982 On reverse of Untitled (Reptile with Claws and a King) Untitled (Three Birds, a Car, and a Television)
Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Crown / Monster King) 1982 1982
10 ¼ x 10 3/8 in. 22 x 26 3/8 in. 1982 Matte acrylic, wax crayon, paint stick, marker, and Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard
MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Matte acrylic with wax crayon and paint stick on incisions in the paint, on corrugated cardboard 19 ¼ x 15 in.
Manager Manager corrugated cardboard 14 ½ x 14 in. MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma,
14 ½ x 14 in. Basquiat Venice Collection Group Manager
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Basquiat Venice Collection Group
Untitled (Boxer) Untitled (Face with Orange Halo) Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
1982 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled (Self-Portrait or Black Skull with a Crown Untitled (Two Blue Cars), 1982
Matte acrylic, wax crayon and paint stick on Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Untitled (One More King /Czar) inscribed with the word Milk) Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard
corrugated cardboard 10 x 7 in. 1982 1982 5 ¾ x 17 ½ in.
25 ¾ x 20 ¾ in. MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Matte acrylic, wax crayon and paint stick on Matte acrylic, wax crayon and paint stick on MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma,
Basquiat Venice Collection Group Manager corrugated cardboard corrugated cardboard Manager
10 ¼ x 10 in. 12 ¾ x 8 ¾ in.
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Basquiat Venice Collection Group MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Cat and Firetruck) Untitled (Head With Halo) Manager Untitled (Yellow and Black Buildings)
1982 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat 1982
Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard Untitled (Receipt / Poem) Jean-Michel Basquiat Oilstick and acrylic on cardboard
21 x 25 ¾ in. 12 ¾ x 8 1/8 in. 1982 Untitled (Self-Portrait or Crown Face II) 8 ½ x 11 1/8 in.
MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Oilstick and typewritten text on perforated 1982 MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma,
Manager Manager computer paper (continuous feed) Matte acrylic, wax crayon and paint stick on Manager
11 x 7 5/8 in. corrugated cardboard
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, 9 ¾ x 10 ½ in.
Untitled (Colorful Face or Skull) Untitled (Hit the Brakes) Manager MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma,
1982 1982 Manager
Matte acrylic, oil paint, wax crayon and paint stick Oilstick and acrylic paint on cardboard
on corrugated cardboard 9 5/8 x 15 in.
11 x 8 ½ in. MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma,
Basquiat Venice Collection Group Manager

158 159
IMAGE CREDITS
All photographs from the Basquiat Venice (Page 118): Hans Hofmann, Combinable Wall
Collection Group and MJL Family Trust, I and II, 1961. © UC Berkeley, Berkeley Art
LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager are Museum and Pacific Film Archive
courtesy of © Lunardi Photography.
(Pages 120 & 134): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Self
Portrait, 1982. © The Estate of Jean-Michel
Basquiat

(Inside cover): Photo by Beth Phillips, Courtesy

(Page 122): Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Bond,
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger AG, Männedorf-
the Earle or Stanhope (1982), and Prayer (1984).
Zurich, Switzerland.
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

(Page 98 & 135): The Hobo Code

(Page 122): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Grillo, 1984.
(https://owlcation.com/humanities/
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
All-things-HOBO -signs-and-symbols)
(Page 127): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled
(Page 100): Lon Chaney as a werewolf. Undated
(Charles Darwin), 1983, and Liberty, 1983.
still from The Wolf Man movie. © Bettmann,
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Getty Images, January 1, 1941.
(Page 127 & 148): Henry Dreyfuss, Symbol
(Page 102): Movie still from Dumbo, 1941. ©
Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to
Disney
International Graphic Symbols, 1972.

(Page 102): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tenor, 1985.

(Page 136): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Famous Negro
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Athletes, 1981. © The Estate of Jean-Michel
Basquiat
(Page 104): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tokyo, 1983
© Yutaka Sakano, courtesy Galerie Patrick
(Page 136): Thad Mumford as a bat boy
Gutknecht
© Variety https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/
thad-mumford- dead- dies-african-american-
(Page 104): Leonardo da Vinci’s Design for a
writer-mash-1202942657/
Flying Machine, 1488. Public Domain
(Page 142): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dog Leg Study,
(Page 106): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1983.
1982. © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
(Page 148): Piet Mondrian, Composition in Red,
(Page 108): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cadillac Moon,
Yellow and Blue, 1929. © Kunsthaus Zürich
1981. © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
(Page 150): Madonna visits the Basquiat exhibi-
(Page 110): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (The
tion at the Barbican © instagram.com/Madonna
Boxer), 1982, Untitled, 1982, and The Ring, 1981.
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
(Page 150): Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat and
Madonna, 1982. © Maripol
(Page 112): Jean-Michel Basquiat, Native
Carrying some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari,
(Back cover): Artwork by (c) KOBRA, Mount
1982, and Untitled, 1981. © The Estate of Jean-
Rushmore – 10th Avenue and 22nd Street, NYC
Michel Basquiat
(Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring and
Jean-Michel Basquiat)
(Page 114): Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1987. ©
William Coupon

160
ENDNOTES
1 Chris Sieroty, “Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to close Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1982, page 99. 57 https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/ 99 https://lalouver.com/exhibition.cfm?tExhibition_id=100 138 https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-13-
Spago,” United Press International, February 12, 2001, 28 Hunter Drohojowska, “Schnabel and Basquiat: Explosions inside-pitch/hank-aaron-frank-robinson-elected-1982 100 https://www.mcall.com/sports/ ca-basquiat13-story.html
https://www.upi.com/Archives/2001/02/12/Celebrity-chef- and Chaos,” LA Weekly, April 29, 1982, page 19. 58 L.A. Weekly, Galleries, January 21, 1982, 79 mc-nws-holmes-cooney-rematch-charity-20200130-tntvutoo- 139 https://oac.cdlib.org/
Wolfgang-Puck-to-close-Spago/5956981954000/ 29 “Interview by Becky Johnston and Tamra Davis, Beverly 59 https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertain- presnkhuc3wxnypkkm-story.html search?style=oac4;titlesAZ=c;idT=UCb117304402
2 Gasoline Prices Monthly & Annual Averages, http://www. Hills, California, 1985,” in The Jean-Michel Basquiat Reader: ment/2019/01/23/ozzy-osbourne-bit-head-off-bat-years-ago- 101 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 140 Hoban, 137
laalmanac.com/energy/en12.php Writings, Interviews, and Critical Responses, ed. Jordana some-reason-now-toy-commemorates-it/ 102 https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fast/ 141 https://www.biography.com/news/
3 Wulfe, Steve. “The Oscars of 1982.” Entertainment Moore Saggese (Oakland: University of California Press, 60 http://www.liketotally80s. ZshJAQAAIAAJ?hl=en maya-lin-vietnam-veterans-memorial
Weekly, updated January 26, 2007. https://ew.com/ 2021): 54 com/2007/08/80s-capsules-1982/#sports 103 https://studiomuseum.org/sites/default/files/Studio%20 142 https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/
article/2007/01/26/oscars-1982/ 30 Hal Foster, “Between Modernism and the Media,” (1982; 61 L.A. Weekly, University and Community Galleries, January Museum%20Fact%20Sheet_1.pdf nfl-strike-ends-57-days-1982-article-1.2365947
4 The Lazy Journalist, “1982-83 Ratings History,” The TV Originally published in Art in America, Summer 1982 edition, 28, 1982, 80 104 https://www.documenta.de/en/retrospective/ 143 https://liveforlivemusic.com/features/
Ratings Guide, Thursday, August 15, 1991, http://www. reprinted in Recodings [sic]: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics, 62 https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/1982 documenta_7 michael-jackson-releases-thriller-day-back-1982/
thetvratingsguide.com/2020/03/written-asking-where- 1985, Second edition: Seattle: Bay Press, 1987), 33-58. 63 https://www.vulture.com/2015/05/lettermans-first-late- 105 http://gallery.98bowery.com/2018/blumhelman-gal- 144 Saggese Reader, 342
cheers-is-by.html 31 Suzanne Muchnic, “The Galleries: La Cienega Area,” Los night-episode-was-great.html lery-basquiat-haring-salle-drawings-folded-card-1982/ 145 https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/post-
5 James Blanco in discussion with the author, June 2021. Angeles Times, March 11, 1983, page 116. 64 L.A. Weekly, Downtown, February 11, 1982, 82 106 https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8qz28q5/ ings/2012/12/120212ArtificialHeart30YearsLater.php
6 Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los 32 Robert L. Pincus, “Galleries,” Review of Janus Gallery 65 https://lalouver.com/exhibition.cfm?tExhibition_id, 93 entire_text/ 146 https://lalouver.com/exhibition.cfm?tExhibition_id=66
Angeles (1990, Kindle edition: Verso, September 17, 2006), exhibition Drawings/Vision: New York, Los Angeles Times, 66 https://www.biography.com/musician/thelonious-monk 107 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 147 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982
loc. 140 of 9605. July 16, 1982, page 115. 67 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 108 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 148 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982
7 “Chronology,” in Basquiat: Boom for Real, ed. Dieter 33 Kathi Norklun, Review of Janus Gallery exhibition 68 https://welcometolace.org/lace/jim-morris-drawings/ 109 https://lalouver.com/exhibition.cfm?tExhibition_id=101 149 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982
Buchhart and Eleanor Naire with Lotte Johnson (2017, Drawings/Vision: New York, LA Weekly, July 22, 1982, page 69 https://www.infoplease.com/people/b/john-belushi 110 https://welcometolace.org/lace/bruce-and-norman-yon- 150 https://www.wired.com/2012/12/dec-26-1982-times-
Paperback edition: New York: Prestel Publishing 2020): 97. 70 Saggese reader, 377 emoto-green-card-an-american-romance/ top-man-the-personal-computer/#:~:text=1982%3A%20
272–273. 34 This show is also mentioned in the Basquiat exhi- 71 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 111 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 The%20personal%20computer%20is,has%20bestowed%20
8 “Chronology,” in Basquiat: Boom for Real, ed. Dieter bition history hosted by Vito Schnabel Gallery, al- 72 L.A. Times, Calendar, March 14, 1982, 362 112 Robert L. Pincus, “Galleries,” Review of Janus Gallery ex- annually%20since%201927.
Buchhart and Eleanor Naire with Lotte Johnson (2017, though it is listed as having taken place at “Jauns” [sic] 73 https://movieweb.com/tv/cagney-lacey/ hibition Drawings/Vision: New York, Los Angeles Times, July
Paperback edition: New York: Prestel Publishing 2020): 273. Gallery in New York. See: https://www.vitoschnabel. 74 https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1982 16, 1982, page 115. Kathi Norklun, Review of Janus Gallery
9 Phoebe Hoban, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art (1998, com/attachment/en/55cd07616aa72cc608d19704/ 75 L.A. Times, “’82 Writers Guild Awardees Named,” April 1, exhibition Drawings/Vision: New York, LA Weekly, July 22,
Kindle edition: Open Road Media, May 17, 2016): 162. TextOneColumnWithFile/578e86538cdb50cf3b9bfc57 1982, 132 1982, page 97.
10 Sarah Cascone, “Madonna Says Jean-Michel Basquiat 35 Derek Blasberg, “Spotlight: Basquiat,” Gagosian Quarterly, 76 https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0612588/awards 113 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982
Took Back and Destroyed Paintings He Gave Her,” Artnet, Fall 2017 issue, https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2017/09/01/ 77 https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8g44x4q/ 114 https://www.queenconcerts.com/live/
March 16, 2015, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ gamechanger-basquiat/ dsc/?dsc.position=2501 queen/1982-hotspaceus.html
basquiat-took-back-madonna-paintings-277735 36 Peter Relic in discussion with the author, June 2021. 78 https://www.phillips.com/detail/jeanmichel-basquiat/ 115 https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/
11 Madonna, “#tbt #art #magic #JMB #babies 37 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. NY010718/15 class-of-1982
#dreaming,” Instagram photo, December 38 James Blanco in discussion with the author, June 2021. 79 Wilson, William. “N.Y. Subway Graffiti: All Aboard for L.A.” 116 L.A. Times, Calendar, August 1, 1982, 305
6, 2018, https://www.instagram.com/p/ 39 Fred Hoffman, “Jean-Michel Basquiat in Venice,” Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1982, page 99. 117 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982
BrDvgLfBRpb/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading HUMANITY Magazine, December 14, 2015, https:// 80 Hunter Drohojowska, “Schnabel and Basquiat: Explosions 118 Interview with Emquies conducted by author
12 Rania Aniftos, “Madonna Posts Throwback Photo With mag.citizensofhumanity.com/blog/2015/12/14/ and Chaos,” LA Weekly, April 29, 1982, page 19. 119 http://www.bboycult.com/2014/07/ramellzee-tox-
Ex-Boyfriend Jean-Michel Basquiat,” Billboard, December 6, jean-michel-basquiat-in-venice/ 81 https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8qz28q5/ ic-c1-and-basquiat-rhythm.html
2018, https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8489113/ 40 “M*A*S*H (1972–1983) Awards,” IMDB. https://www. entire_text/ 120 L.A. Times, Openings, September 9, 1982, 114.
madonna-throwback-photo-jean-michel-basquiat imdb.com/title/tt0068098/awards 82 http://gallery.98bowery.com/2020/new-york-road-run- 121 L.A. Weekly, Galleries, September 16, 1982, 83.
13 Gene Sizemore, quoted in Hoban, p. 87. 41 “Thad Mumford: Awards,” IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/ ners-club-running-82-basquiat-haring-de-kooning-katz-etc- 122 https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/
14 Fred Hoffman, The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, https:// name/nm0612588/awards card-1982/ send?accession=ohiou1217965257&disposition=inline
fredhoffmanfineart.com/landingpage 42 Tamra Davis in conversation with the author, June 2021. 83 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ 123 https://www.queenconcerts.com/live/
15 Peter Relic, “Got the Time: Matt Dike & Jean-Michel 43 Phoebe Hoban, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art (1998, sally-ride-first-american-woman-in-space queen/1982-hotspaceus.html
Basquiat,” To Repel Ghosts: The Collection of Matt Dike Kindle edition: Open Road Media, May 17, 2016): 16-17. 84 https://www.hockey-reference.com/playoffs/1982-new- 124 https://www.emmys.com/awards/
(Phillips, 2019), https://www.phillips.com/article/42810482/ 44 Tamra Davis in conversation with the author, June 2021. york-islanders-vs-vancouver-canucks-stanley-cup-final.html nominees-winners/1982
got-the-time-matt-dike-and-jean-michel-basquiat 45 Stephen Metcalf, “The Enigma of the Man Behind the 85 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 125 https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0612588/awards
16 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. $110 Million Painting,” The Atlantic, July/August 2018 issue, 86 https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8g44x4q/ 126 https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/
17 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/ dsc/?dsc.position=2501 nfl-strike-ends-57-days-1982-article-1.2365947
18 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. jean-michel-basquiat-artist-or-celebrity/561728/ 87 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 127 https://genius.com/albums/Janet-jackson/Janet-jackson
19 Phoebe Hoban, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art (1998, 46 Tamra Davis in conversation with the author, June 2021. 88 Pincus, Robert L. “50 U.S. Artists in Documenta 7.” Los 128 L.A. Weekly, Galleries, September 30, 1982, 83
Kindle edition: Open Road Media, May 17, 2016): 126. 47 James Blanco in conversation with the author, June 2021. Angeles Times, May 23, 1982, 378 129 https://www.mentalfloss.com/
20 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. 48 Tamra Davis in conversation with the author, June 2021. 89 L.A. Times, Calendar, May 23, 1982, 374. article/56133/30-things-you-might-not-know-about-cheers
21 Peter Relic, “Got the Time: Matt Dike & Jean-Michel 49 Eleanor Naire, “Basquiat’s Books,” in Basquiat: Boom 90 https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/1982- 130 https://totally80s.com/article/october-1982-madon-
Basquiat,” To Repel Ghosts: The Collection of Matt Dike for Real, ed. Dieter Buchhart and Eleanor Naire, with nba-finals-lakers-vs-76ers.html na-releases-debut-single-everybody#:~:text=Dance%20
(Phillips, 2019), https://www.phillips.com/article/42810482/ Lotte Johnson (2017, Paperback edition: New York: Prestel 91 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 and%20sing%2C%20get%20up,6%2C%201982.
got-the-time-matt-dike-and-jean-michel-basquiat Publishing, 2020): 191. 92 Saggese reader, 339 131 http://www.tonyshafrazigallery.com/index.
22 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. 50 Jordana Moore Saggese, Reading Basquiat: Exploring 93 https://totally80s.com/article/ php?mode=artists&object_id=14&view=ae
23 Salomon Emquies in discussion with the author, June Ambivalence in American Art (Berkeley and Los Angeles: june-1982-moon-unit-and-frank-zappa-release-valley-girl 132 https://www.baseball-reference.com/
2021. University of California Press, 2021): 25. 94 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982 postseason/1982_WS.shtml
24 Phoebe Hoban, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art (1998, 51 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. 95 https://www.jancargallery.com/show.php?num=272 133 L.A. Weekly, Galleries, October 21, 1982, 98
Kindle edition: Open Road Media, May 17, 2016): 124. 52 Tamra Davis in discussion with the author, June 2021. 96 http://gallery.98bowery.com/2018/marlborough-gal- 134 https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1982
25 “Chronology,” in Basquiat: Boom for Real, ed. Dieter 53 Peter Relic in discussion with the author, June 2021. lery-diego-cortez-basquiat-haring-schnabel-the-pres- 135 Saggese Reader, 341
Buchhart and Eleanor Naire with Lotte Johnson (2017, 54 https://www.upi.com/Archives/2001/02/12/Celebrity- sure-to-paint-exhibition-catalogue-1982/ 136 https://www.thecurrent.org/
Paperback edition: New York: Prestel Publishing 2020): 272. chef-Wolfgang-Puck-to-close-Spago/5956981954000/ 97 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/09/obituaries/satch- feature/2019/11/27/1999-era-timeline
26 Salomon Emquies in conversation with the author, June 55 https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8s75p41/ el-page-black-pitching-star-is-dead-at-75.html 137 http://gallery.98bowery.com/2020/squat-theater-ico-
2021. 56 https://welcometolace.org/lace/ 98 https://welcometolace.org/lace/ noklast-panzerism-versus-tricnology-jean-michel-basqui-
27 William Wilson, “N.Y. Subway Graffiti: All Aboard for L.A.,” paul-mccarthy-humanoid/ sunday-paintings-lari-pittman/ at-rammellzee-stephen-torton-1982/

Following: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Hit the Brakes), 1982, Oilstick and acrylic paint on
162 cardboard, 9 5/8 x 15 in., MJL Family Trust, LLC, c/o Mr. Richard LiPuma, Manager 163
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Basquiat is immortalized on the Mount Rushmore of the four great artists of the 1980s by Brazilian mural artist Kobra.
This is a monument found on 10th Ave on the Lower West Side of Manhattan. Our Basquiat exhibition Heroes &
Monsters will be shared by us via our longtime international partners, L’Associazione Culturale MetaMorfosi, based in
Rome Italy, on an Italian world premiere debut in the ancient fine arts cities of Rome, Milan, and Naples.