Name: Dog Leg Study
Brand: Jean-Michel Basquiat
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Jean-Michel Basquiat's Dog Leg Study (unsigned) is estimated to be worth between £22,000 and £35,000. This screenprint, created in 2019, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 26%. This work has an auction history of three total sales since its entry to the market on 3rd December 2020. The hammer price over the past 12 months has ranged from £9,559 in December 2020 to £13,960 in November 2021. The average return to the seller is currently £9,675. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 50.

Meaning & Analysis

Although reminiscent in title to Leg Of A Dog, the imagery of Dog Leg Study is markedly more volatile and discordant. Text referring to landmark moments of twentieth-century history, such as ‘US Troops end occupation 1936 Haiti’ brush up against robotoid depictions of body parts. The text reading ‘Negroes as portrayed in the thirties’ recall images by the artist which deal with Black representation in Hollywood cinema, such as Hollywood Africans In Front Of The Chinese Theatre With Footprints Of Movie Stars.

In this work, another riot of clashing symbols, drawings and text, the artist's strident and clashing mark-making emphasises startling paradoxes in society's treatment of animals. Images of dogs and canine body parts are displayed alongside sausages and other meat items, contrasting the notion of dogs as human-like with society's use of animals as food. Flashes of red on body parts, including a dismembered foot in the centre of the piece, present a gory point of contrast to the clinical monochromatism of the Anatomy series.