[Online] Reveal: Post-War Masterpieces From Basquiat and Soulages

Description

Reveal is a new global initiative from Lévy Gorvy showcasing a series of exhibitions that focus on a single classic work from two artists.  They are paired with rich educational content about the context and interpretation of each work, immersing the gallery-goer into the artist’s world.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: Royalty, Heroism, and the Streets displays the artist’s iconic untitled artwork, shooting him to fame in 1982. The African-American artist started out as a graffiti artist, bringing the bold colours and assertive strokes from the streets to the crème de la crème of art galleries in New York. This painting portrays a lone Black figure as a hero, the vigour and confusion a reflection of the artist’s struggles as a young black man in a white-dominated art world and the shock of going from anonymity to international stardom within a year.

Soulages 1953, created by the French artist Pierre Soulages, was also painted in a developmental period for the artist, where he matured into his style and gained international recognition.  This piece of work illustrates the energetic and gestural style that he was moving into in the 1950s, relying heavily on his instincts and subconscious to get in touch with his inner experience.  The result is heavy, emphatic brushstrokes, abstractions of his imagination and impulses.

The works can be accessed virtually – Basquiat’s here, Soulages’ here.