Dos Cabezas
| Dos Cabezas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Jean-Michel Basquiat |
| Year | 1982 |
| Medium | Acrylic and oilstick on canvas with wood supports |
| Movement | Neo-expressionism |
| Dimensions | 151.8 cm × 154 cm (59.75 in × 60.5 in) |
| Location |
|
Dos Cabezas (Spanish: [ˈdos kaˈβesas]; transl. "Two Heads") is a 1982 painting by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The double portrait resulted from Basquiat's first formal meeting with his idol, Pop artist Andy Warhol.
Background
In 1979, Jean-Michel Basquiat, then a street artist working under the moniker SAMO, approached Pop artist Andy Warhol, who was dining with curator Henry Geldzahler at a SoHo restaurant, and sold him a postcard.[1] According to Warhol's studio assistant Ronnie Cutrone, Basquiat attempted to visit Warhol's studio, the Factory, but was denied entry.[2] In 1982, Basquiat told Art in America: "I was also selling handmade postcards, and handpainted Abstract Expressionist sweatshirts, to make money. I even went to Interview magazine and bugged Andy Warhol, you know, to find out how to get closer to it."[3] Warhol purchased a few of the sweatshirts.[4] "I just wanted to meet him, he was an art hero of mine," Basquiat later recalled.[5][6]
Gallerist Bruno Bischofberger became Basquiat's art dealer and organized a one-man show in his Zurich gallery in September 1982.[7] Bischofberger, who also represented Warhol, arranged a lunch meeting between the two artists on October 4, 1982.[8][9] Warhol documented the meeting in a diary entry, which was posthumously published in The Andy Warhol Diaries (1989):
Down to meet Bruno Bischofberger (cab $7.50). He brought Jean-Michel Basquiat with him. He's the kid who used the name "Samo" when he used to sit on the sidewalk in Greenwich Village and paint T-shirts, and I'd give him $10 here and there…He was just one of those kids who drove me crazy. He's black but some people say he's Puerto Rican so I don't know. And then Bruno discovered him and now he’s on Easy Street. He's got a great loft on Christie Street. He was a middle-class Brooklyn kid—I mean, he went to college and things—and he was trying to be like that, painting in the Greenwich Village. And so had lunch for them and then I took a Polaroid and he went home and within two hours a painting was back, still wet, of him and me together. And I mean, just getting to Christie Street must have taken an hour. He told me his assistant painted it.[4]
Warhol subsequently used a Polaroid he took of Basquiat the day of their lunch meeting to create the silkscreen portrait Jean-Michel Basquiat (1982) using his ''piss painting'' technique.[10]
Description
The painting Dos Cabezas, meaning "two heads" in Spanish, is based on the self-portrait Warhol took with Basquiat.[11] The artwork ignited a friendship between them which led to a collaboration on numerous paintings between 1983 and 1985.[11]
Exhibitions
Dos Cabezas has been exhibited at the following art institutions:
- Jean-Michel Basquiat at Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, October 1992–February 1993; The Menil Collection in Houston, March–May 1993; Des Moines Art Center in Iowa, May–August 1993; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama, November 1993–January 1994.[12]
- Basquiat at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, March–June 2005; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, July–October 2005; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 2005–February 2006.[12]
- Basquiat: Boom for Real at the Barbican in London, September 2017–January 2018.[13]
- Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Brant Foundation Study Center in the East Village, March–May 2019.[14]
Art market
In November 2010, Dos Cabezas sold for $7 million at Christie's in New York.[15]
See also
References
- ↑ Brumfitt, Stuart (September 19, 2017). "New York Inspiration | Tales from Teen Basquiat's Best Friend". Amuse. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
- ↑ Bockris, Victor (1997). Warhol. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 450–451. ISBN 978-0-306-80795-4.
- ↑ Gablik, Suzi (October 1982). "Report from New York: The Graffiti Question". Art in America. 70 (9): 35–36.
- 1 2 Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York, NY: Warner Books. pp. 462–463. ISBN 978-0-446-51426-2.
- ↑ McGuigan, Cathleen (1985-02-10). "NEW ART, NEW MONEY". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-17.
- ↑ The New York Times Guide to the Arts of the 20th Century: 1900-1929. Taylor & Francis. 2002. p. 2547. ISBN 978-1-57958-290-6.
- ↑ Hoban, Phoebe (1998). Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art. Internet Archive. New York : Viking. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-670-85477-6.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) - ↑ Faughnan, Ally (May 28, 2019). "The best, worst, and weirdest parts of Warhol and Basquiat's friendship". Dazed. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
- ↑ "Collabs origin | Galerie Bruno Bischofberger". GALERIE BRUNO BISCHOFBERGER (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-10.
- ↑ McGreevy, Nora. "Why Andy Warhol Peed on This Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
- 1 2 "Warhol and Basquiat". Phillips. July 13, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
- 1 2 "Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dos Cabezas". Christie's. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
- ↑ "Boom for Real: Basquiat comes to London". Christie's. October 1, 2017. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ↑ Wolf, Michael (April 12, 2019). "Warhol at the Whitney, Basquiat at the Brant and Their Collaboration". Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ↑ Vogel, Carol (November 10, 2010). "Lichtenstein Tops Warhol in Auction at Christie's". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
