Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks

by Jean-Michel Basquiat (Editor), Dieter Buchhart, Tricia Laughlin Bloom (Editor)

Accompanying a major traveling exhibition, this first-ever survey of the rarely seen notebooks of Basquiat features the artist's handwritten notes, poems, and drawings, along with related works on paper and large-scale paintings. With no formal training, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) succeeded in developing a new and expressive style to become one of the most influential artists in the postmodern revival of figurative during the 1980s. In a series of notebooks from the early to mid-1980s, never before exhibited, Basquiat combined text and images reflecting his engagement with the countercultures of graffiti and hip-hop in New York City, as well as pop culture and world events. Filled with handwritten texts, poems, pictograms, and drawings, many of them iconic images that recur throughout his artwork-teepees, crowns, skeleton-like silhouettes, and grimacing masks-and these notebooks reveal much about the artist's creative process and the importance of the written word in his aesthetic. With over 150 notebook pages and numerous drawings and paintings, this important book sheds new light on Basquiat's career and his critical place in contemporary art history.

Genres: Art

246 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2015

About the author

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. He gained popularity, first as a graffiti artist in New York City, and then as a successful 1980s-era Neo-expressionist artist. Basquiat's paintings continue to influence modern day artists and command high prices.

Reviews

[Nascha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a fan of all things Basquiat, so a closer look into his "mind" if you will is most interesting. I happened to go to a reading for another collection of his notebooks called the "Unknown Notebooks" and it was really interesting to see his friends talk about their time with him. What I have always found disturbing though, is their willingness to part with (read-sell) items that he gave them and/or left behind. I think because I hold on to things for sentimental value. But on the other hand, had they not sold their copies of his notebooks, we wouldn't be able to "see" them for ourselves. Good stuff.

[Jessica Yoder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful catalog and images of several paintings by Basquiat, with a main focus on his drawings and notebooks. New essays explore dimensions of his work not discussed in other exhibition catalogs and academic journals.

[Mills College Library]

700.4112 B316 2015

[dangerous at every speed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this while tr*mp got impeached for the second time lol
Great scans, some interesting commentary, I liked the fact it was multiple contributors, but this lead to some unnecessary and sometimes irritating repetition. They all, more or less, had the same take on Basquiat. Would’ve been nice for some variation.