Charles The First

Medium: 21 color screen-print on Saunders 410 Hot Press Watercolor paper
Year: 1982/2004
Sheet: 61×48 inches (154.9 x 121.9 cm)
Edition: 85
Artist’s Proofs: 15 AP
Hors Commerce: 20 HC
Publisher: David DeSanctis Contemporary Art, Inc., Los Angeles

Signed in pencil on the verso by Gerard Basquiat, Administrator of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well stamps of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat and DeSanctis Carr Fine Art.

Charles the First pays homage to jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, whose nickname was “Bird” a leading figure in the development of bebop. Basquiat’s love of bebop fueled his art, he referenced jazz musicians and recordings in no less than thirty of his paintings… The crown in the upper left corner of the canvas refer to the crowning of talented performers such as Duke Ellington or Count Bassie, it does not only refer to Thor, but also connects cartoons, graffiti, and jazz culture and becomes shorthand for a challenge to social, historical, and artistic hierarchies.

In conjunction with the crown, Basquiat wrote on the bottom left of the canvas “MOST YOUNG KINGS GET THEIR HEADS CUT OFF,” with the word young crossed out as a statement about what happens when you achieve a certain position. People want to take your head, your crown, your title.

Auction Results

Christie’s New-York: 14 March 2024
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 107,100

AFTER JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Charles the First, from Portfolio II, 2004
Screenprint in colors on Saunders paper
Numbered 24⁄85 (there were also fifteen artist’s proofs)
With Gerard Basquiat’s signature in pencil, the artist’s estate stamps and dated ‘10.19.04’ on the reverse

Sotheby’s London: 26 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 60,960 / USD 74,151

AFTER JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960 – 1988)
Charles the First, from Portfolio II, 2004
Screen-print in colors on Saunders Hot Press watercolour paper
Numbered in pencil 26/85 and with the stamped Certificate of Authenticity signed in pencil and dated verso by Gerard Basquiat, the executor of the Jean-Michel Basquiat Estate

Artcurial: 8 June 2023
Estimated: EUR 40,000 – 60,000
EUR 70,848 / USD 76,369

AFTER JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
Charles the First, 1982 / 2004
Screen-print in colors on Saunders Hot Press watercolor paper
Justified “HC 7 / 20”
Signed and dated on the reverse by Gerard Basquiat

Sotheby’s London: 17 March 2021
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 55,000
GBP 47,880 / USD 66,915

AFTER JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
Charles the First from Portfolio II, 2004
Screenprint in colors
Numbered A. P. 8/15
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 85
With the Estate stamp verso, signed in pencil and dated by Gerard Basquiat

Christie’s New-York: 22 October 2019
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 81,250

AFTER JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
Charles the First, 2004
Screenprint in colors
Numbered 54/85
With Gerard Basquiat’s signature in pencil, the artist’s estate stamps and dated ‘10.19.04’ on the reverse