Jean-Michel Basquiat (American, 1960–1988)
Portfolio I, 1982–83/2001
Complete matched set of four screenprints:
Untitled (Ernok)
Untitled (Per Capita)
Untitled (Head)
Untitled (Rinso)
Screenprints in colors on Saunders 410 Hot Press watercolor paper
40 × 40 inches (101.6 × 101.6 cm), each
Edition of 85, plus proofs
Each signed on the verso by Gerard Basquiat, Administrator of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and bearing the stamps of the Estate and publisher.
Printed by Brand X Editions, New York
Published by DeSanctis Carr Fine Art, Los Angeles, 2001
Authorized by the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Provenance: Private Collection
Location: European Union
Price: Upon Request
About the Portfolio
Few bodies of graphic work capture Jean-Michel Basquiat’s extraordinary visual vocabulary as completely as Portfolio I.
This important portfolio brings together four of Basquiat’s most recognizable compositions—Ernok, Per Capita, Untitled (Head) and Rinso—in a complete matched set. Together, the works encompass many of the motifs that defined Basquiat’s brief but revolutionary career: the human head and body, crowns, fragmented language, anatomy, commerce, history, identity and the frenetic energy of New York in the early 1980s.
The imagery derives from paintings created in 1982 and 1983, arguably the most celebrated period of Basquiat’s career. These were the years in which the young artist developed the remarkable fusion of graffiti, drawing, painting, poetry, cultural criticism and art-historical reference that would make him one of the defining artists of his generation.
Particularly compelling is Untitled (Head), with its electrified skull-like visage—an image that embodies Basquiat’s fascination with anatomy, mortality and psychological intensity. Ernok presents the artist’s unmistakable figure and crown vocabulary, while Per Capita layers text, symbols and economic references into a dense meditation on wealth and power. Rinso incorporates the language of advertising and consumer culture into Basquiat’s distinctive system of words, symbols and erasures.
An Estate-Authorized Edition
Portfolio I was produced in New York in 2001 as an authorized edition under the auspices of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The four screenprints were hand-pulled at Brand X Editions between May and October 2001 and published by DeSanctis Carr Fine Art. The individual images required between nine and twenty-one colors, allowing the prints to reproduce the layered surfaces and explosive palette of Basquiat’s original compositions with remarkable visual intensity.
Each sheet measures an imposing 40 × 40 inches (101.6 × 101.6 cm).
This particular portfolio is especially desirable as a complete matched set numbered edition of 85. Each work bears the signature of Gerard Basquiat, then Administrator of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, on the verso, together with the appropriate Estate and publisher’s stamps.
