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El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) by Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat

El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile), 1983

Acrylic and oilstick on canvas
172.7 x 358.1 cm (68 x 141 in)
Paintings
Unique artwork
LiveArt Estimate™
$******
Momentum 12M
6.1%
CAGR
**%
Last recorded sale at Christie's, New York (15 May 2023)
$******

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Past Sales
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ImageSale dateAuction houseLocationSale nameLot No.EstimatePrice SoldConditionTitle
May 15, 2023
Christie'sNew York21st Century Evening Sale6B
$****** - ******
El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)
Nov 9, 2005
Sotheby'sNew YorkContemporary Art - Evening Sale38
$****** - ******
El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)
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Artwork Description
Category

paintings

Dimensions

172.7 x 358.1 cm (68 x 141 in)

Materials

acrylic and oilstick on canvas

Signature

titled ‘EL GRAN ESPECTACULO' (upper center); signed, titled and dated '“THE NILE” 1983 Jean-Michel Basquiat' (on the reverse)

Provenance

Annina Nosei Gallery, New York

Enrico Navarra, Paris

Anon. sale; Sotheby's, New York, 9 November 2005, lot 38

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Paintings, Sculptures, Works on Paper and Drawings, November-December 1989 pp. 32-33 (illustrated).

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Houston, Menil Collection, Des Moines Art Center and Montgomery, Museum of Fine Arts, Jean-Michel Basquiat, October 1992-January 1994, pp. 23-24, 152 and 266 (illustrated and detail view illustrated; titled as Untitled [History of Black People] ).

Paris, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean-Michel Basquiat, April-June 1996.

Kaohsiung, Museum of Fine Arts and Taiwan, Taichung Museum, January-June 1997, pp. 52-53 (illustrated).

Seoul, Gallery Hyundai, Jean-Michel Basquiat, July-August 1997 pp. 48-49 (illustrated).

Vancouver, Art Beatus, Jean-Michel Basquiat, September-October 1997, pp. 34-35 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People] ).

Tokyo, Mitsukoshi Museum and Marugame Genichiro Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Jean-Michel Basquiat, October 1997-May 1998, pp. 18 and 50-51 (illustrated and detail view illustrated)

São Paulo, Pinacoteca, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Pinturas , June-September 1998, pp. 61-63 and 112 (illustrated and detail view illustrated).

Venice, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Basquiat a Venezia, June-October 1999, pp. 86-87 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People] ).

Rome, Chiostro del Bramante, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Dipinti , January-March 2002, pp. 86-87 (illustrated and illustrated on the exhibition poster; titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People] ).

Paris, Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Histoire d'une œuvre , June-October 2003, pp. 66-67 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People] ).

Cologne, Jablonka Galerie, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Paintings, October 2003-January 2004.

Mexico City, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Jean-Michel Basquiat , October-December 2004, pp. 46-47 (illustrated).

New York, Brooklyn Museum; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Basquiat , March 2005-February 2006, pp. 45, 52, 106, 135, 168, 170 and 177 (illustrated, detail view illustrated, and illustrated on the front and back covers of the Members Preview brochure; titled as The Nile ).

Literature

M. Enrici, J. M. Basquiat , Paris, 1989, pp. 72-73 (illustrated).

R. D. Marshall and J.-L. Prat, Jean-Michel Basquiat , Paris, 1996, 1st edition, vol. 1, pp. 130-131 (illustrated); 2 nd edition, vol. 1, pp. 180-181 and 395 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People] ).

Jean-Michel Basquiat , exh. cat., New York, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, 1999, pp. 194-195 and 319-320 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People ]).

A. Mazrui, C. Davies and I. Okpewho, eds., The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities, Bloomington, 1999, pp. 447-448, fig. 3 (illustrated and titled as Untitled [History of Black People] ).

Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Drawings , New York, 1999, p. 369 (detail view illustrated).

Terzoocchio , vol. 25, 1999.

R. D. Marshall and J.-L. Prat, Jean-Michel Basquiat , Paris, 2000, 3rd edition, vol. 1, pp. 174-175; vol. 2, pp. 162-163, no. 2 (illustrated and titled as titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People]).

Basquiat a Cuneo , exh. cat., Cuneo, Galleria d'Arte Il Prisma, 2001, p. 72 (detail view illustrated).

A. Marwick, The Arts in the West since 1945 , New York, 2002, p. 296 (titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People]).

G. Lock and D. Murray, eds., The Hearing Eye: Jazz & Blues Influences in African American Visual Art, New York, 2009, p. 257.

K. Mercer, ed., Exiles, Diasporas & Strangers, Cambridge, 2009, pp. 136-137 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People] ).

Galerie Enrico Navarra (ed.), Jean-Michel Basquiat: Append ix , Paris 2010, pp. 34 and 45 (installation view illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of Black People] ).

Basquiat , exh. cat., Basel, Fondation Beyeler, 2010, pp. 130-131, no. 137 (illustrated and titled as The Nile [El Gran Spectacle] ).

V. Duponchelle, "Basquiat, l'artiste roi et sa couronne d'épines," Le Figaro , 1 June 2010 (titled as The Nile [El Gran Espectaculo]).

C. Remeseira, ed., Hispanic New York: A Sourcebook , New York, 2010, p. 438 (titled as Untitled [History of Black People ]).

Basquiat and the Bayou, exh. cat., New Orleans, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, 2014, pp. 60-61, pl. 5 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectáculo [History of Black People] ).

C. M. Tatum, ed., Encyclopedia of Latino Culture , vol. 1, Santa Barbara, 2014, p. 217 (titled as The Nile ).

J. Saggese, Reading Basquiat: Exploring Ambivalence in American Art, New York, 2014, pp. 23, 36-38, 40, 47, 116, 138-139, and 107, pl. 14 (illustrated and titled as The Nile ).

Words are All We Have: Paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat , exh. cat., New York, Nahmad Contemporary, 2016, pp. 60-61, no. 8 (illustrated and titled as El Gran Espectaculo [History of black people] ).

R. Iskin, ed., Re-envisioning the Contemporary Art Canon: Perspectives in a Global World , New York, 2017, p. 67, no. 2.3 (illustrated and titled as The Nile ).

F. Hoffman, The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat , New York, 2017, pp. 49, 56, 58-59, 62, 122, 148, 206, 212 and 244 (illustrated and titled as The Nile ).

C.-M. Bernier, Stick to the Skin, Oakland, 2018, pp. 111-112, fig. 28 (illustrated and titled as [Untitled] History of Black People ).

Jean-Michel Basquiat , Paris, Fondation Louis Vuitton, 2018, pp. 22, 40, 42-43, no. 2 (illustrated and titled as The Nile ).

A. Vink, Postmodern Artists: Creators of a Cultural Movement , New York, 2019, p. 83 (titled as The Nile ).

J. Saggese, ed., The Jean-Michel Basquiat Reader, Oakland, 2021, pp. 159, 168-169, 272, 305-306 and 314, pl. 25 (illustrated and titled as The Nile [El Gran Espectaculo] ).

Description

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)

El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)

titled ‘EL GRAN ESPECTACULO' (upper center); signed, titled and dated '“THE NILE” 1983 Jean-Michel Basquiat' (on the reverse)

acrylic and oilstick on canvas mounted on wooden supports, in three parts

overall: 68 x 141 in. (172.7 x 358 cm.)

Executed in 1983.