History of the Black People - Jean-Michel Basquiat
Archival giclée
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Description
A powerful 1983 triptych by Jean-Michel Basquiat, exploring themes of history, identity, and the African diaspora through raw, expressive mark-making.
History of the Black People (1983) is a triptych that demonstrates Jean-Michel Basquiat's approach to historical narrative and visual language. The work functions as a collage of cultural references, combining text, symbols, and figures to address themes of African diaspora, slavery, and the commodification of history. Basquiat employs a raw, immediate aesthetic that draws from street art, graffiti, and the traditions of modern expressionism.
The composition is divided into three distinct panels, yet it maintains a cohesive visual flow through the use of recurring motifs and a shared palette. The artist incorporates specific references, such as the word 'SICKLE' and mentions of Memphis, to ground the work in the realities of agricultural labour and the American South. The figures are rendered with a skeletal, mask-like quality, a signature element of Basquiat's style that evokes both ancestral memory and the dehumanising effects of historical trauma.
Text plays a functional role in the piece, acting as both a visual element and a carrier of meaning. By crossing out certain words, Basquiat draws attention to the act of erasure within historical records. The work does not offer a linear account of events. Instead, it presents a fragmented, multi-layered perspective that invites the viewer to engage with the complexities of the subject matter. The use of oilstick provides a tactile, energetic quality to the lines, contrasting with the flatter areas of acrylic paint. This combination of materials creates a sense of urgency and spontaneity, reflecting the artist's rapid working process. The work remains a significant example of how Basquiat utilised his platform to interrogate power structures and cultural identity through a highly personal and recognisable visual vocabulary.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
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Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
History of the Black People - Jean-Michel Basquiat
Artist Biography
Jean Michel Basquiat
He had no formal art training. He dropped out of school at seventeen and slept on park benches and friends' floors. He sold hand-painted postcards and t-shirts. He gate-crashed a restaurant where the critic Henry Geldzahler was eating with Andy Warhol and handed them a postcard. Warhol bought one. The art world opened.
By twenty-one he was showing in galleries. By twenty-two he was the youngest artist ever invited to Documenta in Kassel. The paintings are dense, layered, furious: text fragments, anatomical drawings, crown symbols, crossed-out words, references to Black history, jazz, boxing, anatomy textbooks, and street signage. They look unplanned but they are not. The crossed-out words are deliberate. He wanted you to read them, then register the erasure.
He and Warhol collaborated on a series of paintings in 1984 and 1985. The relationship was complicated by the art market's tendency to treat Basquiat as Warhol's protege rather than his peer, and by the fact that Warhol, older and more established, got better reviews for the joint work. Basquiat pulled away.
He died of a heroin overdose in 1988, at twenty-seven. His paintings now sell for over 100 million dollars. He would have found that both satisfying and absurd.
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