Warhol and Basquiat In Focus: Works from the Permanent Collection
June 7 – September 20, 2021
In a large reinstallation of the museum’s fourth-floor gallery, Warhol and Basquiat In Focus: Works from the Permanent Collection presents for the first time the museum’s near-entire holdings of artworks and ephemera related to Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988), the groundbreaking young painter who became a close friend and collaborator to Warhol in the 1980s. This presentation features photographs, paintings, sculptures, and archival material left behind in Warhol’s studio after his death in 1987, chronicling the short but vibrant friendship and working relationship the artists shared from 1982 to 1986.
The installation showcases the mutual trust, shared inspirations, and political concerns of Warhol and Basquiat’s collaborative works in the 1980s. The display includes Ten Punching Bags (The Last Supper), a monumental sculpture that probes issues of Catholic guilt and the impact of the AIDS epidemic. Untitled Collaboration Sculpture, created with Italian painter Francisco Clemente, references the murder of artist Michael Stewart, police brutality, and America’s history of racial injustice. Also featured are Warhol and Basquiat’s collaborative paintings, which debuted to mixed reviews but reveal the balance they achieved between their disparate styles: Warhol’s advertisement logos and Basquiat’s neo-expressionist strokes and original mark-making. Through this new interpretation of their shared work, the installation reveals that it was, in the end, Basquiat, a young protégée, who gave Warhol’s late career a rebirth.
The installation also speaks to an era of socio-political upheaval and loss in the 1980s, as a dynamic arts community grappled with the early days of the AIDS crisis and unchecked police violence. Forty years later these themes still resonate, mirroring the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and renewed calls for racial justice in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Antwon Rose, and so many other Black Americans.
This installation is curated by Jessica Beck, Milton Fine curator of art. Digital talks with Franklin Sirmans and Michael Hermann will be available at warhol.org.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper), 1985-1986
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
1998.1.791a-j
Virtual Tour
Jessica Beck, Milton Fine curator of art, offers a tour and insights into our “Warhol and Basquiat in Focus: Works from the Permanent Collection” rotation, on view June 7–September 20, 2021. Curated entirely with objects from The Warhol’s permanent collection, the exhibition presents a new perspective on the working relationship and friendship between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Curator's Insights
Jessica Beck and Michael Hermann
Beck and Hermann discuss the research and planning that went into production of his publication, sharing the discoveries that came from research in the archives at The Andy Warhol Museum. In their conversation, Beck and Hermann also take a close look at Warhol and Basquiat’s collaborative work “Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper)”, 1985-1986, the connections to the death of Michael Stewart and Basquiat’s “Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart)”, 1983 and the production of Warhol’s oxidation portrait of Basquiat in 1982.
Jessica Beck and Franklin Sirmans
Jessica Beck, Milton Fine curator of art, interviews, Franklin Sirmans, director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami about his longstanding interest, scholarship and curatorial work on Jean Michel-Basquiat. Beck and Sirmans discuss Basquiat’s legacy, the market frenzy around his work, his collaborations with Warhol, and the great influence that Basquiat had over Warhol’s late painting career.
Collection Close-Up
D.S. Kinsel and Quaishawn Whitlock
D.S. Kinsel is an award-winning artist, creative entrepreneur, and agitator based in Pittsburgh. He joins Quaishawn Whitlock, artist educator at The Warhol and frequent collaborator, for a dynamic conversation exploring Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artistic practice and legendary persona. They take a closer look at rarely exhibited objects from our collection, from tools and clothing Basquiat used in his studio to the poignant collaborative sculpture he created in response to the murder of Michael Stewart, a fellow Black artist, in 1984.
Petra Floyd and Sarah Huny Young
Sarah Huny Young is an award-winning visual artist and cultural producer based in Pittsburgh. She joins Petra Floyd, artist educator at The Warhol, for a critical conversation exploring Andy Warhol’s Polaroid photographs of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the groundbreaking young painter who became a close friend and collaborator to Warhol in the 1980s. Their conversation explores the complex relationship between Warhol and Basquiat, representations of the Black body, and the notion of truth-telling in art and artifacts.