signed ‘Jean Michel Basquiat’ (on the reverse)
acrylic and oil paintstick on linen
76 x 94 in. (193 x 239 cm.)
The monumentally scaled painting Untitled (Boxer) is one of Basquiat’s most powerful images of a boxer, a champion of epic proportions, and a metaphorical self-portrait of Basquiat as a defiant fighter. The present work belongs to the important pantheon of boxers that Basquiat immortalized in his paintings, including pugilist legends such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Cassius Clay, Jersey Joe Walcott and Joe Louis. Basquiat read extensively about these athletes, and was very well informed about the details of their lives and achievements, which he translated into his painting.
Untitled (Boxer) exemplifies Basquiat’s unmistakable style, particularly his bravura handling of paint, spontaneous sense of line and inventive use of color, which made him an innovative heir to the mantle of Abstract Expressionism. Basquiat cited Franz Kline as one of his favorite artists, whose muscular brushwork is echoed in Basquiat’s vigorous swathes of paint. Likewise, the use of line in this work, marked by hesitations and erasure, expands upon Cy Twombly’s style, which Basquiat cited as a source of inspiration. Basquiat confidently built on the heritage of these painters, as well on a rich visual lexicon of African masks, Voudoun and Santria figurines from the Caribbean, Christian icons, and even cartoon imagery, synthesizing these diverse sources into a language that was distinctly his own.
