Basquiat, Lichtenstein, and Haring Works Lead Doyle’s Prints & Multiples / ’80S NYC Auction

Back of the Neck, a hand-colored screenprint by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 – 1988), is a key lot in the upcoming Prints & Multiples / ’80S NYC Auction, offered by Doyle. Basquiat created and signed the print in 1983 on Stonehenge heavyweight paper. It was published by New City Editions, Los Angeles. Before Basquiat’s paintings became auction favorites, they were rejected by many museums and auction houses in the 1980s. His art focused on dichotomies such as wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience. In the available work, Basquiat marries abstraction and figuration with contemporary critique. 

Other notable lots in this auction include works by Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997) and Keith Haring (1958 – 1990). Jean Basquiat and Keith Haring were friends. Like Basquiat, Haring emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. A 1988 framed color screenprint on Lenox Museum board, signed by Haring, is available in the sale. Haring included sexual allusions that turned into social activism by using the images to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness. Roy Lichtenstein’s print titled Road Before the Forest is available in this sale. It is a color lithograph, woodcut and screen-print on Arches 88 paper, signed, dated, and numbered in 1985. This lithograph is from his landscape series, printed and published by Gemini G.E.L. Los Angeles. The sale offers 240 books, manuscripts, photography, and more. View the complete catalog of the Prints & Multiples / ’80S NYC auction on Doyle’s website to place a bid.