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Created in 1987, just a year prior to his death and following the passing of Andy Warhol, Untitled (Devil's Head) is a visceral exploration of Basquiat’s late-career iconography. The original painting is a cornerstone of contemporary art history, having been a centerpiece of the Tommy Hilfiger Collection and featured in distinguished auctions at Sotheby’s and Phillips. Its cultural significance was further amplified in 2015 when it was selected by global icon Drake for his curated Sotheby’s exhibition, "I Like It Like This," where he paired the visual intensity of the "Devil's Head" with the acoustic rhythms of modern Hip-Hop (specifically Makonnen's "Rumor"), bridging the gap between Basquiat's jazz roots and contemporary street culture.
Theoretical and Stylistic Analysis
In this composition, Basquiat offers two mirrored skulls in black, white, and blazing red, creating a haunting asymmetric balance. The work exhibits a sophisticated dialogue with Pablo Picasso’s structural distortions and the "mask-like" features of African art. Furthermore, the stylized anatomical precision—evidenced in the rendering of teeth and nasal cavities—harkens back to the Gray’s Anatomy influences of his youth. Much like the works of Francis Bacon, there is a profound psychological pulse here; the skulls operate at the unique intersection of abstraction and figuration, set against a lustrous metallic background that recalls the spiritual weight of Byzantine mosaics and Renaissance compositions.
The Late Period and Iconography
By 1987, Basquiat rejected the frenetic background noise of his earlier years in favor of "sublime reflection." As Phoebe Hoban explains, Basquiat’s late subjects often represent a sense of "presence expressed as absence," where figures become skeletons and skulls—a metaphor for a "deep hole in the soul." The high-profile curation by Drake and the provenance of Tommy Hilfiger underscore the work's status as a quintessential representation of the New York art scene’s intersection with global cultural power.
Print History and Technical Excellence
Produced under the supervision of master printer Rupert Jasen Smith on Lenox Museum Board, this 4/100 edition preserves the raw, active brushwork and the intense contrast of the 1987 original. The fidelity of the pigments and the precision of the plate-signed signature ensure its standing as a museum-grade archival piece within the Artquia Vault.
