Anatomy, Anterior View
Anatomy, Anterior View
Signed Print
Jean-Michel Basquiat
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76 x 55cm, Edition of 18, Screenprint
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Meaning & Analysis
Anterior View is a drawing of the anatomy of an arm depicted from behind. We can see labels for the scapula, humerus, head of the radius, trochlea, radius and phalanges. The clinical character and compositional sparseness of the print clashes with the popular vision of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s riotous and colourful graffiti-like images. The childlike rendering of the body parts underlines the artist’s attestation that “I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child”.
The lines used to indicate different bones, whilst emblematic of the drawings’ diagrammatic quality, echoes the extensive use of arrows and abstract lines in the artist’s body of work, such as in Ascent.
Even though Basquiat labels each body part which he draws in this x-ray-like image, there are traces of omissions and erroneous strokes, with an ‘a’ being omitted from ‘phalanges’ and an errant line beside the ‘radius’ annotation. This is the merest suggestion of the lexical experimentation and textual rupture which features heavily in Basquiat’s canvases.
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.
