This Day in Black History: Dec. 22, 1960
When it comes to prominent Black modernist artists, Jean-Michel Basquiat is perhaps the most revered.
The Haitian-Puerto Rican American artist was born on Dec. 22, 1960. Self-taught, his iconoclastic style captured the imagination of the art world.
At the height of his success, Basquiat’s personal life, however, was marred by drug abuse. His career was cut short when he died of a heroin overdose in 1988. Basquiat's work was always popular but after his death his fame soared, thanks in large part to lyrical praise from hip hop artists. In 1992, the Whitney Museum of American Art hosted a retrospective of Basquiat. In 2013, at an auction in New York, Basquiat’s painting Dustheads sold for a record $48.8 million. Four years later, a Jean Michel Basquiat painting sold for a record $110.5 million at the Sotheby's auction. At the time, it was one of only 10 other paintings to surpass the $100-mill mark.
In 2017, art dealer Jeffrey Deitch told The New York Times about Basquiat: “He’s now in the same league as Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso.”
Stephan James, known for his role in If Beale Street Could Talk, is developing a biopic about the painter with his production company, Bay Mills Studios, which is co-owned with fellow actor Shamier Anderson. They partnered with Boat Rocker Studios to produce the project,which is currently untitled. According to Variety, the project will highlight Basquiat’s rise, from an obscurity to a rock star Neo-expressionist painter in 1980s New York City. It will also chronicle Basquiat’s friendship with Andy Warhol.
(Photo: Lee Jaffe/Getty Images)
