Eleanor Nairne

The legend of Jean-Michel Basquiat is as strong as ever. Synonymous with New York in the 1980s, the artist first appeared in the late 1970s under the tag name SAMO, spraying caustic comments and fragmented poems on the walls of the city. He appeared as part of a thriving underground scene of visual arts and graffiti, hip hop, post-punk, and DIY filmmaking, which met in a booming art world. As a painter with a strong personal voice, Basquiat soon broke into the established milieu, exhibiting in galleries around the world.Basquiat's expressive style was based on raw figures and integrated words and phrases. His work is inspired by a pantheon of luminaries from jazz, boxing, and basketball, with references to arcane history and the politics of street life-so when asked about his subject matter, Basquiat answered "royalty, heroism and the streets." In 1983 he started collaborating with the most famous of art stars, Andy Warhol, and in 1985 was on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. When Basquiat died at the age of 27, he had become one of the most successful artists of his time.This book allows an unprecedented insight into Basquiat's art, with pristine reproductions of his most seminal paintings, drawings, and notebook sketches. In large-scale format, the book offers vivid proximity to the artist's intricate marks and scribbled words, further illuminated by texts from writer and curator Carlo McCormick, a contemporary of Basquiat's on the New York scene, and curator and art historian Eleanor Nairne. Richly illustrated year-by-year chapter breaks follow the artist's life and quote from his own statements and contemporary reviews to provide both personal background and historical context.

Basquiat first came to prominence when he collaborated with Al Diaz to spray-paint enigmatic statements under the pseudonym SAMO (c). From there he went on to work with others on collages, Xerox art, postcards, performances, and music before establishing his reputation as one of the most important painters of his generation. This book places his collaborations in a wider art historical context and looks at his career through the lens of performance. Six thematic chapters offer compelling research, with essays from poet Christian Campbell on SAMO (c); curator Carlo McCormick on New York/New Wave; writer Glenn O'Brien on the downtown scene; academic Jordana Moore Saggese on Basquiat's relationship to film and television; and music scholar Francesco Martinelli on Basquiat's obsession with jazz. This insightful survey also features rare archival material and extensive illustrations, demonstrating how Basquiat's legacy remains more powerful and relevant than ever today.

The legend of Jean-Michel Basquiat is as strong as ever. Synonymous with 1980s New York, the artist first appeared in the late 1970s under the tag SAMO, spraying caustic comments and fragmented poems on the walls of the city. He appeared as part of a thriving underground scene of visual arts and graffiti, hip hop, post-punk, and DIY filmmaking, which met in a booming art world. As a painter with a strong personal voice, Basquiat soon broke into the established milieu, exhibiting in galleries around the world. Basquiat's expressive style was based on raw figures and integrated words and phrases. His work is inspired by a pantheon of luminaries from jazz, boxing, and basketball, with references to arcane history and the politics of street life-so when asked about his subject matter, Basquiat answered "royalty, heroism and the streets." In 1983 he started collaborating with the most famous of art stars, Andy Warhol, and in 1985 was on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. When Basquiat died at the age of 27, he had become one of the most successful artists of his time. First published in an XXL edition, this unprecedented insight into Basquiat's art is now available in a compact, accessible volume in celebration of TASCHEN's 40th anniversary. With pristine reproductions of his most seminal paintings, drawings, and notebook sketches, it offers vivid proximity to Basquiat's intricate marks and scribbled words, further illuminated by an introduction to the artist from editor Hans Werner Holzwarth, as well as an essay on his themes and artistic development from curator and art historian Eleanor Nairne. Richly illustrated year-by-year chapter breaks follow the artist's life and quote from his own statements and contemporary reviews to provide both personal background and historical context. About the series TASCHEN turns 40 this year! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. In 2020, we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program-now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production.

A new monograph on the life and work of an outstanding abstract expressionist painter, now emerging as one of the most important women artists of the 20th century. This monograph accompanies the first European retrospective of the work of Lee Krasner (1908-1984). One of the original abstract expressionists, Krasner's importance has for too long been eclipsed by her marriage to Jackson Pollock. In fact, his death in 1956 marked her renaissance as an artist. Over the course of more than five decades, Krasner continually scrutinized and reinvented her practice, giving her work formidable energy and impact. Her accomplishments began to be recognized toward the end of her life and in 1984 she became one of the few women artists to be given a solo exhibition at MoMA. As Krasner quipped about her belated recognition: `I was a woman, Jewish, a widow, a damn good painter, thank you, and a little too independent'. This volume features an outstanding selection of her most important paintings, collages and drawings, contextualized by photography from the post-war period, an illustrated chronology, and includes an unpublished interview with her biographer Gail Levin. Tracing her evolution as an artist - from her earliest self-portraits to the acclaimed `little image' series, from her 1950s collages to epic painterly canvases - this book offers a vivid impression of one of the most tenacious women artists of the 20th century, whose work and life feels more relevant than ever today.