Jeanette Montgomery
Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat
DateNovember 1984
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 9 1/8 × 9 in. (23.2 × 22.9 cm)
Sheet: 13 15/16 × 10 7/8 in. (35.4 × 27.7 cm)
Credit LineThe Sonia and Kaye Marvins Portrait Collection, museum purchase funded by Sonia and Kaye Marvins
Object number86.132
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Special Collections
Object Type
Description

Primarily a still-life photographer,
Jeannette Montgomery utilizes similar precepts of composition and design to
formulate her portraits.
Elements of light and dark, substance and
shadow are balanced carefully within the boundaries of her images. Only rarely
does she use flash equipment, preferring instead to photograph with ambient
light or, as in this portrait, ordinary lamplight that has been indirectly
positioned.





Jean-Michel Basquiat was a young
painter whose rapid ascent from the streets of New York City as the graffiti
artist, Samo, into the international art scene astounded even the most
unflappable observers. Commissioned to take his portrait in the midst of this
rise to stardom, Montgomery was challenged by his watchfulness and reticence.
She
was allowed only thirty minutes in which to
complete the sitting. Nevertheless, she has realized a portrait that eloquently
describes a man who lived in the shadows for most of his life and preferred to
remain so, guarded and distant. Basquiat died in 1988 of a drug overdose.




Provenance[Staley-Wise Gallery, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1986.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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