1. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, 6.99, 1985, Acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 297 x 410 cm, Nicola Erni Collection, Photo: © Retro Pedrini Photography, © The estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New-York. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by ADAGP, Paris, 2023
Basquiat - Warhol and vice-versa
While the Fondation Louis Vuitton is still a young art institution in Paris and in Europe, in 2018 they presented an exhibition dedicated to the work of the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (at the time, the exhibition was presented with another show of Egon Schiele).
Nowadays, Jean-Michel is going back to Paris with its artist friend and collaborator Andy Warhol to present to the public their iconic painting, made together in a few years in the late 1980s.
Introduction to the concept of the exhibition
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2. Exhibition view of "Basquiat x Warhol, Painting Four Hands", Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, © The estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New-York. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by ADAGP, Paris, © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage.
The exhibition "Basquiat x Warhol. Painting 4 Hand" present to the public the collaboration between Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) and Andy Warhol (1928-1987), and how, together, between 1984 and 1985 they created 160 paintings together in tandem, including the largest works produced during their respective careers.
And while the show is curated by numerous specialist of both artists such as Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer, in partnership with Olivier Michelon (curator at the Fondation Louis Vuitton), the show present a selection of this collaboration with more than 80 paintings jointly signed by the two artists.
Beside these solid central axes, the exhibition also presents the artistic scene of the time with works by Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Kenny Scharf, and numerous archival materials.
Storytelling
At the end of the 1970s, the art world of New York City was already booming, between the actual generation of artists such as the Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, and the new and upcoming generation such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who at the age of 20 was already fascinated by Andy Warhol and the way in which he had transformed the relationship between art and popular culture.
During their first meeting on October 4, 1982, something magical happens. Andy Warhol will say after this meeting: "Down to meet Bruno Bischofberger. He brought Jean-Michel Basquiat with him. (…) And so had lunch for them and then I took a Polaroid and he went home and within two hours a painting was back, still wet, of him and me together.”.
This quote from Andy Warhol presents the painting “Dos Cabezas” painted by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982 after the first meeting between the two stars. In this double portrait, Basquiat represent himself and Warhol in a tight frame. And while the picture was made in less than an hour in the atelier of the artist using as a reference a polaroid photograph, “Dos Cabezas” came to be through Bruno Bischofberger, the art dealer.
After this meeting, and while the Swiss gallerist Bruno Bischofberger was in New York City, the gallerist was existed by the idea of collaboration between artists, suggested to Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Andy Warhol, which will start in fall 1983. After the first 15 works with this trio, the work were produced following the principle of a conversation: the canvases were transported from one studio to another, with each artist’s style remaining visible.
And after fifteen works, Clemente decided to quite the conversation and collaboration, but Basquiat and Warhol continued the project and create more or less 160 works in the next two years.
In the spring of 1984, while Andy Warhol was moving "His factory" from 860 Broadway to 33rd Street, his old studio was left empty, this it was used for the creation of the works made with Basquiat during the next 24 months. Every afternoon, they came together to create, together, with their four hands, which most of the time was started by Andy Warhol with his impassive silkscreen, and later the gestural motifs of Basquiat.
“Andy would start one (painting) and put something very recognizable on it, or a product logo, and I would sort of deface it. Then I would try to get him to work some more on it, I would try to get him to do at least two things” explained Basquiat.
“I drew it first and then I painted it like Jean-Michel. I think those paintings we’re doing together are better when you can’t tell who did which parts” noted Warhol.
In this studio, they created most of their biggest works, sometimes eight to ten meters long, such as "Clair" and "African Masks", which are reminiscent of decorative architectural details. They also created work by series, such as Dogs, Still life, the logo of General Electric, etc.
In the spring of 1985, both artists told the gallerist Bruno Bischofberger that they made numerous collaborations on their own initiative and they want to exhibit them somewhere. They agreed to exhibit a selection of them at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Lower Manhattan, and to promote it they asked Klaus Nomi to take the photo for the poster, which is used again by the Fondation Louis Vuitton for its promotion.
What they had in common during this artistic relation was not the word they lived in, the world of tragedies where police violence and racism intersect with mass consumerism, popular culture, and pop imagery. All of those images will serve as the basis of the dialogue between the two artists, instituted by Bruno Bischofberger with the model of the Surrealist’s exquisite corpse in mind.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Fondation Louis Vuitton
Date: 5.04.2023 – 28.8.2023
Curators: Suzanne Pagé, Dieter Buchhart, Anna Karina Hofbauer, Antonio Rosa de Pauli, Olivier Michelon, Capucine Poncet, Bruno Bischofberger, Silvia Sokalski, Nicole Kaltenback and Sven Gehrke
Ticket: Available on the website of the Fondation Louis Vuitton OR at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Fondation Louis Vuitton
Fondation Louis Vuitton
8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi
Bois de Boulogne
75116 Paris