Richard Corman, Jean-Michel Basquiat VI: A Portrait, 1984, 2018

Richard Corman

Jean-Michel Basquiat VI: A Portrait, 1984, 2018

Gelatin silver print 

Signed, titled, dated and numbered 4/30 in marker on the reverse

20 × 16 inches

Unframed

Hand signed, titled, dated and numbered in marker by Richard Corman on the reverse

Ships flat

This limited edition photograph is of Corman's iconic 1984 portrait of Basquiat, taken at the 57 Great Jones studio rented from Andy Warhol - a landmark building recently purchased by the actress Angelina Jolie.
One interesting aspect that people don't know about this photo shoot is that, since this was a fashion shoot for Italian Vogue, the magazine provided the blazer for Basquiat. As Corman would later explain,
" I shot it for L’Uomo Vogue, so style and fashion was a part of it. I was told to take the herringbone tweed jacket with me and to make sure he wore it. So, not only did he wear it, but he owned it. In the shoot, it became a part of him. You would never know that it was a prop, because it certainly never felt like a fashion shoot. It was a portrait of a complicated genius who was introverted, angry and extremely charismatic...
the other clothes he wore were his, and when we put the blazer on it just seemed right! ...He just owned it for that hour or two, he put it on, and he was almost unaware that he had it on; it just became a part of him. It was also because he was so unique. You didn’t know if he was happy or sad or angry. He was introspective. It became kind of a shell, I almost felt it protected him..."

Trained under Richard Avedon, the photographer Richard Corman has been one of the most celebrated portrait photographers of the last thirty years. Rolling Stone refers to his photographs as “iconic” and documentarian Ken Burns says Corman’s versatile body of work is an “artistic vision dedicated to the highest aspirations of human endeavor... the photographs record in big moments and small, among the famous and ordinary, the gifted and challenged, larger truths relevant to all of us.”
Corman’s 1984 photo session with the 23-year old Jean-Michel Basquiat at Basquiat’s Great Jones St. studio produced wonderfully evocative images of the now legendary artist. As Corman explains:
“In 1984, I was asked to photograph Jean Michel Basquiat for L’Uomo Vogue. When I walked into the artist’s loft I was immediately engulfed by a wave of creative confusion. The room was a swirl of people, paint, canvas, color, and smoke. Off in the corner was Basquiat, submerged and almost invisible.
“I tried to be as prepared as possible for my shoot, but until I had walked into his studio, I was really entering the unknown. His space was packed with people — Jean-Michel attracted people for all kinds of reasons. He was charismatic, beautiful, a bit haunting and a genius in his own right. There was just a wonderfully crazy energy of smoke and people and music and painting. It was messy and cool in the best way. I decided to kind of isolate him in the photos from the chaos. For me, that’s what makes these pictures so interesting — the focus is on him, instead of the mad energy surrounding him.
“All I had with me was a twin lens Rolleiflex camera, one strobe, and a 4-foot-wide grey seamless paper. I hung it up, had him stand in front of it, and began taking pictures. I would say he was comfortable, uncomfortable, angry, curious, and intense. He just created his own space and energy, and I followed it... His hands, eyes, and body language were so expressive, and he revealed so much through his luminous presence..."

Literature: Richard Corman, Basquiat A Portrait, NJG Publishing 2019.

Bibliography
Richard Corman, Basquiat A Portrait, NJG Publishing 2019.