nPosted on December 22, 2019
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Key Points
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nIn a 2017 auction, one painting sold for 110.5 million dollars!
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nThat’s a record high for any American artist’s work sold at auction. And who, you might wonder, was so highly desirable that collectors would pay THAT much for a painting?
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nYou might guess that it would be Jackson Pollock, famous for his scattery spatters.
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nOr maybe James Whistler, famous for a portrait of his mother, or maybe Grant Wood, whose farmer partners are often seen or referenced or copied / parodied.
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nOr Georgia O’Keefe, famous for her flower close-ups.
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nNope! Don’t get me wrong, these artists’ works are worth millions – and their most famous works are probably considered priceless. Like, whatever museum or gallery or person has possession of them, there is NO amount of money that would tempt them to sell.
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| Photo by William Coupon |
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nBut the record setting artist, who was born in New York City on this date in 1960, was graffiti and street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
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n(!)
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nWait – how do you sell graffiti in an auction???
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nOf course, a graffiti artist / street artist might sometimes paint on something other than walls and fences – she or he might sometimes even paint on traditional canvasses or – gasp! – paper. Basquiat did a lot of paintings that could be exhibited and sold. Even when he first started, he hand-painted postcards and T-shirts that he sold to passers-by on the street. A very famous artist, Andy Warhol, bought one of his postcards!
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| The record-breaking painting, like many of Basquiat’s works, is untitled. Pictured her with the painting is the buyer. |
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nBasquiat was so good, he was approached by art movers and shakers, and he had his first solo exhibition in 1981, when he was just 21 years old. At that point, he became an established artist and made a lot of connections in the art world – and his art was exhibited all over the world! – but then Basquiat tragically died of a drug overdose in 1988.
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nHere are some of his other works:
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nBasquiat’s record-breaking sale broke a few other records, as well:
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nHighest price for any black artist in the world. (Basquiat’s father was from Haiti, and his mother was of Puerto Rican descent.)
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nFirst art piece created since 1980 to break the $100 million mark.
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nAlso on this date:
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World War II Anniversaries
World War II Anniversariesn
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nBirthday of Colo the Gorilla
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nAnniversary of the discovery of an asteroid
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nAnniversary of the formation of the U.S. Golf Association
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nNational Haiku Poetry Day
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nAnniversary of first string of Christmas lights
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nFirst day of winter in Hong Kong
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Birthday of First Lady, and highway beautification sponsor, Lady Bird Johnson
Birthday of First Lady, and highway beautification sponsor, Lady Bird Johnsonn
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nBirthday of Russian mathematicians Evgraf Fedorov, Dmitri Egorov, and Vladimir Fock
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nFirst night of Hanukkah
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nPlan ahead:
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Check out my Pinterest pages on:
Check out my Pinterest pages on:
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nHistorical anniversaries in December
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nAnd here are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJanuary birthdays
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