Jean-Michel Basquiat: Photographs by Lee Jaffe

This series of photographs by Lee Jaffe are of renowned artist Jean-Michel Basquiat creating an artwork in St. Moritz, Switzerland during their travels together in 1983.

Jaffe’s close friendship with Basquiat allowed him to have a rare view into the artist’s creative practice. The photographs follow Basquiat’s fluid artistic process as he develops the work from initial ideas to layered composition. True to Basquiat’s frequent use of found objects as the support for his painting practice, he makes this artwork on a large couch cushion rather than a canvas. To explore more examples of artists working with found objects, see the museum’s permanent collection display in the Steve Chase Wing on this floor.

Jaffe poetically describes his experience photographing Basquiat: “As the day progressed from late morning to late afternoon, the softly descending summer Alpine light mingled with the lyrical flow of Jean creating—tube direct to canvas, brush and oil stick, fingers and hand immersed in paint applied directly to the surface, penetrating deep into the unlikely fabric, his body fusing with the emerging figure, stark and explosive, defiant and devious, uncompromising.”

Lee Jaffe is a cross-disciplinary visual artist, musician, and producer who has collaborated with artists and musicians including Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Hélio Oiticica, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Vito Acconci. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was well-known for his expressive paintings featuring gestural marks and graffiti-like inscriptions, which made him one of the most celebrated artists of the late twentieth century.

All photographs on the Chase Ramp are by Lee Jaffe (American, born 1950), selected from a portfolio of fifteen photographs. Gift of Winter and Fred Hoffman.

Curated by Alex Fialho, Curator of Collections