Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Red Warrior) - Sotheby's - Hong Kong Contemporary Art Evening Sale - October 9, 2021
An estimate of 150-200 million HKD (19.2 million to 25.7 million dollars)
This October, in Hong Kong, Sotheby's will offer a painting from Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Warrior" series amid the ongoing global craze for his work. On October 9, 1982's Untitled (Red Warrior), for the first time, will be auctioned at a contemporary art evening auction. An estimated HKD 150–200 million ($19,2 million–25,7 million) is expected at auction. A chiseled red-figure wields a sword in the six-and-a-half-foot-wide work It's one of a number of "Warrior" pieces that are still in private collections today. The same year, Christie's Hong Kong sold another "Warrior" work for HKD 323.6 million (about $41.7 million).
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Red Warrior) - Sotheby's - Hong Kong Contemporary Art Evening Sale - October 9, 2021
The painting was included in the exhibition "Picasso, Bacon & Basquiat"
In 1989, a year after Basquiat died, the Vrej Baghoomian Gallery in New York displayed Untitled (Red Warrior) as part of a Basquiat exhibition. The painting was included in the Tony Shafrazi Gallery's "Picasso, Bacon & Basquiat" exhibition in New York in 2004. Alex Branczik, chairman of modern and contemporary art at Sotheby's Asia, described Basquiat as "the ultimate warrior" who "took on the establishment" and "defiantly placed himself at the center of his canvases and of the new order he single-handedly created". Now a global phenomenon, he captures the imagination of our entire generation, not just the world's top collectors.
In 1982, when he was 22, Basquiat produced some of his most sought-after works. Sotheby's sold $50.8 million in May for Versus Medici (1982), an image of a black man surrounded by scrawled phrases. When Untitled (Red Warrior) goes up for auction at Sotheby's next month, it will be up against works by Joan Mitchell and Adrian Ghenie as well as works by Roy Lichtenstein and Nicolas Party. There will also be works by Chinese contemporary artists such as Liu Wei and Yue Minjun.
Jean Dubreil
