STEPHEN DALY 20012670 5/13/21
I’m not a black artist, I am an artist. For the purpose of this essay, I shall be analysing the work of the late neo- expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat whose work focused on the dichotomies of wealth versus power, racial issues of black versus white and inner versus outer experience. This essay will argue Basquiat’s nuanced subversion of white power structures within the art world versus the critical response to his work he faced at the time as “primitive”, unstudied and artistically immature. I shall be focusing on the 1983 painting, “Untitled” (History of the Black People) within my discussion.
Figure 1 1983 Untitled (History of the Black people). Acrylic & oil paint on panel. 172.5cm x 358cm
In the 1983 painting “Untitled” Basquiat places the history of Africa and African America in parallel.1 Whereas Basquiat’s difficult content would wane under the scrutiny of his critics being dismissed as “slapdash pictorial formulas” 2 , utilizing a richer retrospective understanding of Basquiat’s interests and style. I wish to deconstruct the images on these panels offering a deeper insight into the coded messages scattered throughout the painting, conflating the histories of both Africa and African America and showing the true studied intricacy of the artist’s content. Within “Untitled” Basquiat juxtaposes the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to the 19th centuries with the ancient Egyptian slave trade3 whilst at the same time conflating the two. Throughout the painting are references of ancient Egypt but to enquire deeper into these symbols we find many double meanings of which I will discuss. In Spanish Basquiat has written “El Gran 1
Jordana Moore Saggese, Reading Basquiat: Exploring Ambivalence in American Art (The Regents of the University of California, 2014), p. 37. 2 Robert Hughes, ‘Requiem for a Featherweight’, The New Republic, 21 November 1988 <https://newrepublic.com/article/105858/hughes-basquiat-new-york-new-wave> [accessed 14 May 2021]. 3 Thomas Lewis, ‘Transatlantic Slave Trade’, Britannica.Com <https://www.britannica.com/topic/transatlanticslave-trade> [accessed 15 May 2021].
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STEPHEN DALY 20012670 5/13/21
I’m not a black artist, I am an artist. Espectaculo” in the centre of the painting meaning the grand spectacle which is most likely a dry jab at the shamefulness of this history. On the left of the painting the artist has painted two Nubian style mask faces and above the faces the words “NUBA” possibly referring to the Nubian peoples of southern Egypt/Northern Sudan, populations who are thought to have been enslaved in high numbers by the Ancient Egyptians taken during wars with peoples of the south4 .
Figure 2 Close up of hieroglyphics of Nubian slaves at sun temple, Abu Simbel, Egypt. Copyright Adam Crowley 1996
There are several curved or “sickle” shaped boats on the river Nile in the painting seemingly moving from the left panel to the right, in which a black figure awaits with the French words “SLAVE” and “ESCLAVE” the French word meaning slave written upon the torso and crossed out5. Possibly referencing the capture of Nubian prisoners and their transit along the river Nile with an allegorical image of their fate as slaves awaiting them upon reaching the shores of the ancient Egyptian cities of Thebes or Memphis. A secondary signification within the painting referencing the transatlantic slave trade is present via the artists coded double meanings of icons and symbols. On the left panel the artist writes the Spanish word “MUJER” meaning mother in English, implying a leaving of the “motherland” Africa, as the sickle shaped boats make their way across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas. The word “SICKLE” is repeated many times around a bright yellow sickle shaped boat in the central panel furthering Basquiat’s negotiation between the Africa and the African America relating the sickle shaped boats to the sickle agricultural tool first found in Egypt but also used throughout the United
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editorial team, ‘Nubia and the Noba People’, Black History Month, 2021 <https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/pre-colonial-history/nubia-and-the-noba-people/> [accessed 16 May 2021]. 5 Saggese, p. 37.
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STEPHEN DALY 20012670 5/13/21
I’m not a black artist, I am an artist. States for harvesting grain,6 a “direct reference to the slave trade in the United Stated and the slave labour under the plantation system”7
Figure 3 Seagoing ship of the eastern invaders (Sickle shaped boat). From Wadi Atwani., Southern Egypt, Upper Egypt. Courtesy Brentjes B. (1969) African Rock Art
In the left panel the artist includes the word “SALT’ with the first letter of the word crossed out. A possible triple entendre, with the word salt referring to the ancient African salt trade considering that salt was a major precious commodity which was traded quite heavily at the time.8 In making this correlation between the salt trade of ancient Africa and the transatlantic slave trade the artist further implies the reduction of African lives into mere commodities. The artist also implies further the connection between the United States and Africa through the shared place names of Memphis and Tennessee. 9 The connection of Memphis and Tennessee is also “underscored by an illustration caption that appeared in the Brooklyn Museum’s catalogue for the 1973 exhibition Akhenaten and Nefertiti, which reads in part: Acquired by Henry Salt, perhaps in the Memphis region, in 1826.”10 Referring to Henry Salt a British artist, archaeologist and diplomat who “excavated extensively in Egypt during the early 1800’s procuring a large number of antiquities for the British Museum and his own private collection”.11 Basquiat links issues of exploitation of the peoples of the African continent, the industrial world and art world, further highlighting the imperial or colonial power structures at play throughout the history of the African continent.
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Saggese, p. 37. Jack Eidt, ‘Jean-Michel Basquiat: Poverty and Power, Scrawled on Walls’, Wilderutopia, 2017 <https://www.wilderutopia.com/performance/visual-art/jean-michel-basquiat-poverty-and-power-scrawledon-walls/> [accessed 12 May 2021]. 8 Mark Cartwright, ‘The Salt Trade of Ancient West Africa’, World History, 2019 <https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1342/the-salt-trade-of-ancient-west-africa/> [accessed 17 May 2021]. 9 Saggese, p. 38. 10 Saggese, p. 38. 11 Southwark Heritage, ‘Henry Salt’, Southwark Heritage <http://heritage.southwark.gov.uk/people/1834/henrysalt;jsessionid=A303C2E44BD12A947F95885529B70214> [accessed 14 May 2021]. 7
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STEPHEN DALY 20012670 5/13/21
I’m not a black artist, I am an artist.
Figure 4 Henry Salt Painter, Diplomat and Archaeologist 14/06/1780-30/10/1827”
“The art world, which is full of liberal left-wing types, was feeling that they needed to make a bow in that direction. The disadvantaged, minorities and so on. His contribution to art is so miniscule as to be practically nil.”,12 “a novelty folk act”13, “primitivism”14, the white art world critics were trying to abjure the artist of his intelligence and reduce his artistic worth to mere beneficence. A devoted student of history, anthropology, biology and art, Jean-Michel’s response to these criticisms was a furtive and nuanced “attack on racism”. The artist camouflaging his context of the evils of western imperialism behind his “evident use of codes and symbols” 15 , covertly parading a shameful history of exploitation and violence to his predominately rich white audience. Just like Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” books Basquiat’s contrasts of narration and imagery serve to magnify the horror of the history16, through the artist’s “regressive style”17 of child-like forms and with his reduction of line to its most primary of etchings he guides the open minded viewer of “The History of the Black People” through the deep-seated racial history of the Imperial nations and their “Scramble for Africa” and in doing so assimilates and subverts the reviewers criticisms, holding a mirror to the racist vitriol of the blue chip white art world critic, calling “attention to the failure of whites to recognise their own
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Tamra Davis, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Arthouse Films, 2010) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GZDEzchusE&ab_channel=CreatimeDise%C3%B1oGr%C3%A1fico> [accessed 14 May 2021]. 13 Stephen Hager, Art After Midnight: The East Village Scene (St Martins Press, 1986), p. 3. 14 Lily Wei, ‘Jean-Michel Basquiat: Brooklyn Museum and Cheim & Read’, Artnews, 2005, p. 186. 15 Olivia Laing, ‘Race, Power, Money – the Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat’, The Guardian, 2017 <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/08/race-power-money-the-art-of-jean-michelbasquiat> [accessed 12 May 2021]. 16 Richard Marshal, Jean Michel Basquiat (Harry N. Abrams, 1992), p. 65. 17 Marshal, p. 65.
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STEPHEN DALY 20012670 5/13/21
I’m not a black artist, I am an artist. participation in maintaining an ideology of white domination”.18 I’ll conclude this essay with two quotations, one from the artist himself voicing his frustration at the art worlds constant dismissal of his place within the art world, the other a post-humous quotation from a fellow artist and friend expressing his hope Jean-Michel’s contribution, a fight to the end in a white world was understood. “They’re just racist, most of these people, so they have this image of me: wild man runningyou know, wild monkey man, whatever the fuck they think”-Jean-Michel Basquiat.19 “Perhaps his antics helped to show the art world its own face. Maybe they even learned something”. -Keith Haring20
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Rachel Smith, ‘Riding with Death: Basquiat’s Re-Possession of Aristotle’, 2013 <https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1003.431&rep=rep1&type=pdf> [accessed 14 May 2021]. 19 Becky Johnston and Tamra Davis, ‘Becky Johnston and Tamra Davis Interview Basquiat’, Basquiat.Cloud, 1985 <http://www.basquiat.cloud/becky-johnston-and-tamra-davis-interview-basquiat/> [accessed 9 May 2021]. 20 Keith Haring, ‘Remembering Basquiat’, Vogue, November 1988.
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I’m not a black artist, I am an artist. Bibliography: Becker, Noah, ‘JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT Commented On Your Status’, The Brooklyn Rail, 2013 <https://brooklynrail.org/2013/05/artseen/jean-michel-basquiat-commented-on-yourstatus> [accessed 9 May 2021] Brentjes, Burchard, African Rock Art, 1st edn (J M Dent & Sons Limited, 1969) Cartwright, Mark, ‘The Salt Trade of Ancient West Africa’, World History, 2019 <https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1342/the-salt-trade-of-ancient-west-africa/> [accessed 17 May 2021] Children of History editors, ‘Slavery in Ancient Civilizations: Egypt’, Children in History, 2010 <https://www.histclo.com/act/work/slave/anc/saegypt.html#:~:text=Slavery%20in%20Mesopotamia&text=Early%20Egypt%20was%20strongl y%20influenced,differences%20from%20culture%20to%20culture.&text=They%20were%20 not%20slaves%2C%20but,rights%20and%20lived%20restricted%20lives.> [accessed 15 May 2021] Davis, Tamra, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Arthouse Films, 2010) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GZDEzchusE&ab_channel=CreatimeDise%C3%B1oGr %C3%A1fico> [accessed 14 May 2021] editorial team, ‘Nubia and the Noba People’, Black History Month, 2021 <https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/pre-colonial-history/nubia-and-thenoba-people/> [accessed 16 May 2021] Eidt, Jack, ‘Jean-Michel Basquiat: Poverty and Power, Scrawled on Walls’, Wilderutopia, 2017 <https://www.wilderutopia.com/performance/visual-art/jean-michel-basquiat-poverty-andpower-scrawled-on-walls/> [accessed 12 May 2021] H Miller, Marc, ‘Basquiat: An Interview’, Vimeo, 1983 <https://vimeo.com/143818583> [accessed 16 May 2021] Hager, Stephen, Art After Midnight: The East Village Scene (St Martins Press, 1986) Haring, Keith, ‘Remembering Basquiat’, Vogue, November 1988 History.com editors, ‘Nefertiti’, History, 2010 <https://www.history.com/topics/ancienthistory/nefertiti#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20mysterious,outright%20after%20he r%20husband's%20death.> [accessed 14 May 2021] Hughes, Robert, ‘Requiem for a Featherweight’, The New Republic, 21 November 1988 <https://newrepublic.com/article/105858/hughes-basquiat-new-york-new-wave> [accessed 14 May 2021] Johnston, Becky, and Tamra Davis, ‘Becky Johnston and Tamra Davis Interview Basquiat’, Basquiat.Cloud, 1985 <http://www.basquiat.cloud/becky-johnston-and-tamra-davisinterview-basquiat/> [accessed 9 May 2021] Laing, Olivia, ‘Race, Power, Money – the Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat’, The Guardian, 2017 <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/08/race-power-money-the-art-ofjean-michel-basquiat> [accessed 12 May 2021] Lewis, Thomas, ‘Transatlantic Slave Trade’, Britannica.Com <https://www.britannica.com/topic/transatlantic-slave-trade> [accessed 15 May 2021] Marshal, Richard, Jean Michel Basquiat (Harry N. Abrams, 1992)
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I’m not a black artist, I am an artist. Metcalf, Stephen, ‘The Enigma of the Man Behind the $110 Million Painting’, The Atlantic, 2018 <https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/jean-michel-basquiat-artist-orcelebrity/561728/> [accessed 14 May 2021] O’Linder, Douglas, ‘The Trial of Socrates’, Famous-Trials.Com <https://www.famoustrials.com/socrates/833-home> [accessed 14 May 2021] Raynor, Vivien, ‘Art:Basquiat, Warhol’, The New York Times, 1985 <https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/20/arts/art-basquiat-warhol.html> [accessed 10 May 2021] Saggese, Jordana Moore, Reading Basquiat: Exploring Ambivalence in American Art (The Regents of the University of California, 2014) Sloan, Aisha Sabatini, ‘On Basquiat, the Black Body, and a Strange Sensation in My Neck’, The Paris Review, 2017 <https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/10/26/basquiat-black-bodystrange-sensation-neck/> [accessed 17 May 2021] Smith, Rachel, ‘Riding with Death: Basquiat’s Re-Possession of Aristotle’, 2013 <https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1003.431&rep=rep1&type=pd f> [accessed 14 May 2021] Southwark Heritage, ‘Henry Salt’, Southwark Heritage <http://heritage.southwark.gov.uk/people/1834/henrysalt;jsessionid=A303C2E44BD12A947F95885529B70214> [accessed 14 May 2021] Stanley, ‘THE CULTURE AND THE ARTIST: A REVIEW OF TEN WORKS OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT.’, The Life of Stan, 2017 W. Hurst, Jeffrey, ‘Medicina Antiqua UCL’, Ucl.Ac.Uk <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgajpd/medicina%20antiqua/sa_hemlock.html> [accessed 14 May 2021] Wei, Lily, ‘Jean-Michel Basquiat: Brooklyn Museum and Cheim & Read’, Artnews, 2005
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