Dieter Buchhart – författare

In 2018 the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, is hosting exhibitions on two of the greatest artists of the 20th century - Egon Schiele, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Both exhibitions have the same curator, and are taking place at the same time. The shows illustrate exactly what it is that linked the two artists: line, and the use of expressive force.

This, the catalogue of the Basquiat exhibition, labelled "the definitive exhibition" by its curator, brings together 120 of the artist's most important masterpieces, sourced from international museums and private collections. With the astonishing radicalness of his artistic practice, Basquiat renewed the concept of art with enduring impact. This Basquiat retrospective centres on the idea of Basquiat's unique energetic line, his use of words, symbols, and how he integrates collage in his paintings, sculptures, objects, and large-scale drawings.

The catalogue includes texts by great authors, including Paul Schimmel who tells of his meeting with Basquiat in California; Francesco Pellizzi who knew Basquiat well and has not written about him for a long time; and Okwui Enwezor who talks about the Afro American identity.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, New York City was financially and socially bankrupt, but the art and music scene was flourishing. During these years, the downtown New York music scene – no wave, hip-hop, disco funk and club culture – shaped Jean-Michel Basquiat as both a musician and an artist. This catalogue for a travelling exhibition explores how Basquiat’s painting has parallels in his music (sampling, cut-up, rapping), and takes a new look at his production as a writer and a poet in light of his connections with the then-emerging hip-hop culture. This beautifully illustrated exhibition catalogue of rarely seen photographs and images sheds new light on Basquiat as a musician, exploring how his art and music are related, and how they reflect on his identity as a Black artist in the United States, the downtown New York music scene, and contemporary culture.