Back Of The Neck
Back Of The Neck
Signed Print
Jean-Michel Basquiat
£240,000-£370,000Value Indicator
$500,000-$770,000 Value Indicator
$440,000-$680,000 Value Indicator
¥2,320,000-¥3,570,000 Value Indicator
€280,000-€430,000 Value Indicator
$2,530,000-$3,900,000 Value Indicator
¥46,940,000-¥72,360,000 Value Indicator
$320,000-$500,000 Value Indicator
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127 x 257cm, Edition of 24, Screenprint
Medium: Screenprint
Edition size: 24
Year: 1983
Size: H 127cm x W 257cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
Last Auction: February 2024
Value Trend:
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Meaning & Analysis
The vibrant Back Of The Neck features large, warped impressions of a muscular body in stark colours against the piece’s black background. In opposition to the isolated, labelled images of body parts in the Anatomy series, Back Of The Neck compresses different parts of the body together, such as the fusing of a neck and an arm in an uncomfortable union, each disproportionately drawn.
Back Of The Neck features a particularly ironic use of the copyright sign, heightening Basquiat’s always subversive use of the symbol. On this subject, Leonard Emmerling notes: “Far more ambiguous than the crown is the copyright sign, which in its direct function touches upon ownership and the valuation thereof. Painted on the walls of other people’s buildings, it not only demonstrated SAMO’s authorship but generally questioned the idea of legality itself, like all sprayed tags turning anonymity into an open profession and claiming a formal legal protection for an activity that in reality remained illegal”.
There is perhaps nothing more ludicrous than a copyright sign attached to the human form itself. Less humorous, however, is the suggestion of a dehumanised, commodified body implied by the imposition of the copyright sign in this context.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's unique visual style has dominated the Urban Art scene, securing his status as one of the most successful African-American street artists of the 20th Century. Addressing themes of race, identity and culture within his expressive works, his distinctive painterly style and use of child-like iconography changed the course of art history forever. Artworks such as Undiscovered Genius place controversial subjects at the forefront of his narrative. Despite his tragically premature death at the age of 27, Basquiat's impact on the art scene is exemplified through the increase of his market value in the years since.
