Created by
Weems, Carrie Mae, American, born 1953
Photograph by
Warhol, Andy, American, 1928 - 1987
Subject of
Basquiat, Jean-Michel, American, 1960 - 1988
Jack Shainman Gallery, American, founded 1984
Date
2014
Medium
ink on paper (fiber product) with glass , wood , metal and mat board
Dimensions
H x W x D: 39 × 30 15/16 × 2 1/16 in. (99 × 78.6 × 5.2 cm)
Description
A mixed media portrait titled Blue Notes (Basquiat): Who's Who or a Pair of Aces #1, by Carrie Mae Weems. The inkjet print features a blurred reproduction of Andy Warhol’s 1982 photographic portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat printed in muted blue-gray tones. Basquiat is shown in bust pose from the shoulders up. He is wearing a medium tone jacket over a lighter dress shirt with a dark tie. Basquiat’s proper left fingers are slightly curled and raised to his jaw line. Half of his short dreadlocks have been pulled up and tied into two thick pigtails on the top of his head and the rest of his dreadlocks are loose and sticking out at various angles around the bottom half of his head. At the center of the portrait, covering Basquiat’s eyes and forehead, is a screen printed solid red, rectangular block. The print has a thick white border and is mounted directly to the white back of a shallow, white shadow box frame.
Place made
New York, United States, North and Central America
Portfolio/Series
The Blue Notes Series
Classification
Photographs and Still Images
Type
portraits
inkjet prints
Topic
Art
Photography
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number
2023.117.5
Restrictions & Rights
© Carrie Mae Weems, Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Galerie Barbra Thumm, Berlin
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5df0ddc21-cd50-4138-acb9-b8a4c1b0bab0

Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. If you have more information about this object, please contact us at NMAAHCDigiTeam@si.edu

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