Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat

Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
The Mayor Gallery, London
Private Collection
Sale: Christie's, London, Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 22 June 2006, Lot 56
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

London, The Mayor Gallery, Collaborations: Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1988-1989, no. 2, illustrated in colour
Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, Ménage à trois: Warhol, Basquiat, Clement, 2012

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the pink tones are deeper in the original. Condition: This work is in very good and original condition. Close inspection reveals some faint handling marks to the edges many of which appear to be inherent to the artists' method. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
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“If Warhol was the father of pop art, Basquiat was the father of contemporary art, an artist’s artist, who has influenced and still influences many who are active today.”

Christian Gether in: Exhibition Catalogue, Arken, Museum of Modern Art, Warhol & Basquiat, 2011, p. 6.


Unmistakably displaying the characteristic motifs of two of the twentieth century’s pre-eminent artistic figures, Dog, 1984 is a prime exemplification of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s and Andy Warhol’s celebrated corpus of Collaborations, displaying a creative tension and a stimulating composition that is evocative of the relationship that Warhol and Basquiat shared

.Devised by Zurich-based gallerist Bruno Bischofberger, the collaboration between Basquiat and Warhol brought together two artists from different generations; Warhol, already world famous and Basquiat the rising star of the 1980’s, to shape an iconic union. It was in 1983 that Bischofberger, initiated the idea that Warhol collaborated with some of his younger artists he represented and Warhol agreed to work with Basquiat (along with Francesco Clemente). Where Warhol had previously remained indifferent to Basquiat’s admiration for him, dismissing him  as a yet to be determined talent, it was at this point that Warhol's respect for Basquiat solidified, and their friendship flourished, indeed Warhol’s acceptance of the collaboration can be owed in part his openness to various disciplines, methods and media.

Though the raw mental material was similar, their artistic styles could not have been more different. The child-like freedom with which Basquiat harmonised a multitude of visual citations is in stark contrast, yet wholly complementary, of the mechanically flat and formulaic process of Warhol, the tension between shared content and polarisation, both tonally and stylistically, made for a dynamic rapport, both on and off the canvas. Keith Haring was quick to note the profound harmony between Basquiat and Warhol: "A successful collaboration is always the result of a successful relationship... I'm not sure if [it] was a deliberate, planned strategy or if it simply `happened' ... the collaborations were seemingly effortless. It was a physical conversation happening in paint instead of words. The sense of humor, the snide remarks, the profound realizations, the simple chitchat all happened with paint and brushes" (Keith Haring, "Painting the Third Man'', 1988 reprinted in: Exhibition Catalogue, Milwaukee Art Museum, Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, 2009, p. 205).

As was typical in all the Collaborations between Warhol and Basquiat, the present work was executed at Andy’s Studio at 860 Broadway, Warhol was the first to lay down his images distinctively hand-painting readymade graphic imagery. Then, once the graphics were blocked, Basquiat responded, reacted, modified by filing in other parts of the canvas with his signature swathes of colour, childlike scrawl and totemic heads. Describing their collaboration in a 1985 interview, Basquiat remarks; "He would put something very concrete or recognisable, like a newspaper headline or a product logo, and then I would try and deface it , and then I would try and get him to work some more on it. I would try to get him to do at least two things, you know [laughing]? He likes to do just one hit and then have me do all the work after that" (The artist cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, Basel, Foundation Beyeler, Basquiat, 2010, p. 47).

The chaos of the present composition expresses both the manic excitement of youth and the cumulative experience of age; the flat blood-red graphic motif of the dog laid-down by Warhol looms large and stands imperiously in the centre of the canvas against a thick golden grounf that engulfs the presence of a second hound.  Basquiat surrounds Warhol’s contribution with glaring eyes, those of a scuba diver and of mask-like heads and totemic figures that stare intently out of the plane transfixing the viewer with their gaze. The idiosyncratic child-like writing of Basquiat, rapidly scribbled across the canvas with oil stick, exemplifies Basquiat’s masterful use of abstract language, text, word-play and poetry that were ubiquitous in his street art and remain constituents of his most highly regarded paintings.

Basquiat's powerful imagery, poetic symbolism, and youthful frenzy reinvigorated Warhol and provides Dog, 1984 with a visual potency,  derivative from a union so complete that the result almost appears to be painted by a third party. As Warhol noted in 1984, "I did a Dog painting at five of 6:00. I had a picture and I used a tracing machine that projects the image on the wall and I put the paper where the image is and I trace. I drew it first and then I painted it like Jean-Michel. I think those paintings we’re doing together are better when you can’t tell who did which parts" (Andy Warhol, ‘Monday 16 April, 1984’, Pat Hackett, Ed., The Andy Warhol Diaries, London 1989, p. 787).