The Superhero Portfolio
A portfolio of four hand pulled limited edition screen-prints
Medium: Hand-pulled screen-print in colors
Year: 1982-87/2022
Size: 40×40 inches
Edition: 85
Artist’s Proofs: 20
Publisher: Flatiron Editions New-York
Stamped and signed by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, the artist’s sisters and administrators of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
On 1 June 2022, The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat announced the release of a new portfolio of four hand-pulled screen-prints, Riddle Me This, A Panel of Experts, Piano Lesson, and Flash In Naples (1982-87/2022), published by Flatiron Editions. The portfolio was available exclusively through Pace Prints, online for a price of USD 200,000.
The portfolio, in an edition of 85, is curated from works created between 1982-87, themed around the influence of comics in Basquiat’s work. The artist’s renditions of super hero images and pop culture icons appear throughout the works, including a bat logo, two characters fist-fighting, and a super hero-like figure accompanied by the word “KRAK” (in classic comic book onomatopoeic style). Such images and themes are repeated throughout his œuvre.
As a young child Basquiat had aspired to be a cartoonist and incorporated cartoon-like figures in some of his early drawings. The mature works in this portfolio are prime examples of this influence, also containing several archetypal Basquiat stylistic concepts: the organization of seemingly disparate ideas, the sequencing of images, concepts and texts, deep interest in art and popular culture, and the creation of slogans, repeated and crossed out text and enigmatic references to strength and power. The posthumous release is stamped and signed by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, the artist’s sisters and administrators of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Flash in Naples
A Panel of Experts
Riddle Me This
Piano Lesson
Auction Results
Phillips New-York: 16 April 2025
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 250,000
USD 190,500
Superhero Portfolio, 1982-87/2022
Signed and dated ‘6/22/2022’ by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux in pencil
(the artist’s sisters and administrators of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat)
On a stamped Certificate of Authenticity on the reverse
Sotheby’s New-York: 15 April 2025
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 250,000
USD 190,500
AFTER JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960 – 1988)
Superhero Portfolio, 1982-87/2022
The complete portfolio of four hand-pulled limited edition screenprints on wove paper
Accompanied by the colophon
Each inscribed in pencil PP 4/5
Each signed in pencil and dated on the versos on the estate stamp by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, Administrators of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
This portfolio is one of four printer’s proof sets aside from the numbered edition of 85
Heritage Auctions: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 250,000
USD 143,750
AFTER JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
Riddle Me This, Batman; A panel of Experts; Piano Lesson; Flash in Naples, 2022
Four screenprints in colors on Saunders Waterford paper
Each editioned 7/85
Signed on verso by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, administrators of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat