Basquiat X Warhol at Fondation Louis Vuitton

Coming up on the heels of the massive success of the Jean Michel Basquiat exhibition in 2018, Fondation Louis Vuitton continues its exploration of the most explosive painter of his generation with a new show Basquiat X Warhol: Painting Four Hands. 

I'd been trying to get to the exhibition for months, and finally last Friday, after a tour client cancelled at the last minute, I went to see it. I had a 5:30pm ticket, and surprisingly, there were no people on the ticket line, and I breezed right through. 

The exhibition brings together the collaboration of two artists who defined pop art in the late 20^th century, separated by a generation. Basquiat, who was creating a new expression of modern art in New York City at age 25, met Warhol in 1985. They were introduced to each other by art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, and together they forged a close friendship, pooling their prolific talents for the next two years, creating a series of over 160 paintings. 

The mostly large paintings are a perfect and seamless representation of both artists and the painting that best captures this (see below) is a still life featuring an Americana of food products, including Hellmman’s mayonnaise, Mott’s applesauce, and Planter’s peanuts. It shows the classic Warhol technique of idolizing American iconic brands with the painterly hand of Basquiat. 

Also included in the exhibition is collaborations with other artists of the time, including Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Kenny Scharf, and photographer Michael Halsband, giving the exhibit a context for the thriving downtown arts scene in the early to mid-1980s in New York City.

Until August 28, 2023

Fondation Louis Vuitton

https://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en/events/basquiat-x-warhol-painting-4-hands

 

Comments

[Kerri Kimball]

Hi Richard! Great post! I'll be in Paris from Aug 23-28 to see this exhibit and do some shopping : ) Would love to connect with you for one of your wonderful city tours. Hard to believe we haven't seen each other since Marie and I visited eons ago.