Richard Corman Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat: Monotype (hand signed twice), 2015

Richard Corman

Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat: Monotype (hand signed twice), 2015

Silkscreen monotype on 320 gram Coventry Rag paper with deckled edges

Signed twice: once in graphite pencil on the front, and signed and numbered 1/1 on the back

37 × 29 inches

Unframed

Signed twice: once in graphite pencil on the front, and signed and numbered 1/1 on the back - an absolutely unique and dazzling work.

This beautifully crafted, brilliantly designed color monotype was created by photographer Richard Corman, in collaboration with master printmaker Gary Lichtenstein. It is based on an iconic photograph that Richard Corman took of Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1984, for a photo shoot commissioned by Italian Vogue. The printer had to first deconstruct the photograph and contact sheets and then reconstruct them into a color silkscreen - creating a new original work. (The complex medium of silkscreen requires a master printer to take an image apart one color at a time and then put it back together again, one color at a time. This part of the process is called, "separation" and the number of separations depends on the number of colors. Each separation is printed or painted on mylar which is then exposed onto silkscreens. Silkscreen prints are made by hand with paint so a silkscreen print is never going to be an identical reproduction -- rather it is a reinterpretation.) Richard Corman, seeking to expand his body of work, chose silkscreen chiefly because of its color properties -- the vibrance, the beauty and the saturation that he knew he would be able to achieve. A true collaboration between the master photographer and printmaker!
The photograph and contact sheet of Basquiat, used as the basis of this silkscreened monotype, was based upon photographs taken by Richard Corman of Basquiat at his 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 insisted Corman provide 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..."