Basquiat and the Slave Trade

Overview

• Lecture discusses Jean-Michel Basquiat and his painting addressing the transatlantic slave trade.
• Focuses on Basquiat’s biography, themes in the painting, symbols, and the work’s social and historical meanings.
• Emphasizes Black identity, historical memory, and contemporary resistance.

Artist Background

• Jean-Michel Basquiat: mixed-race American artist, born Brooklyn, December 22, 1960.
• Parents: Haitian father and Puerto Rican mother.
• Early career: used New York streets to express himself under the pseudonym “Samo.”
• Style: original, sometimes labeled naive or violent; associated with Neo-Expressionism.
• Rise: moved from underground street art to fame and prominence.

Historical Context: Transatlantic Slave Trade

• Began in the mid-15th century, established by Europeans to supply colonial plantation labor.
• European ports involved: Liverpool, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lisbon.
• African ports and sites mentioned: Gorée Island, Ouidah.
• Trade process: ships carried weapons, jewelry, goods to West Africa; captives were chained, branded, and treated as merchandise.
• Mortality: many died during the Middle Passage; over 42 million Africans deported and many perished from exhaustion and mistreatment.
• Economic motive: Europeans returned with raw materials bought cheaply, processed and sold at high prices.

Painting: Main Themes and Composition

• Central motif: slave ship painted in gold on a blue background.
  • Gold = power and money of slave traders.
  • Blue = the ocean and the Middle Passage.
• Left of ship: skull and crown of thorns
  • Reference to the Passion of Christ; symbolizes sacrifice and suffering.
• Left canvas (orange background): insect image
  • Reminds viewers of enslaved people’s dehumanized condition and suffering in cotton fields.
• Right canvas: scarecrow-like figures with yellowed paper faces
  • References advertising posters and slave auctions.
  • Depicts toothless faces and other distorted human features.
• Foreground figure: man in suit and top hat with raised arms
  • Symbolizes the auctioneer at slave sales.
  • Also references multiple Black figures and cultural icons (Baron Samedi, voodoo death).
  • Evokes jazz musicians of New Orleans and visual motifs like American football referee stripes.

Contemporary Anchoring and Cultural References

• Painting connects past suffering with present Black success and visibility.
• Central figure: Mean Joe Greene (American football player) shown in cotton fields.
• Lower right: reference to jazzman Charlie Parker.
• Auction scene reframed as an act of resistance against erasure.
• Basquiat integrates popular culture and historical symbols to critique and remember.

Key Terms and Definitions

• Neo-Expressionism: art movement emphasizing raw, emotive imagery and bold colors.
• Middle Passage: the transatlantic voyage transporting enslaved Africans to the Americas.
• Samo: Basquiat’s early pseudonym used for street artworks.
• Auctioneer (in painting): represents commodification of human beings during slave trade.
• Iconography: use of skulls, crowns of thorns, insects, and advertising motifs to convey suffering and commercialization.

Interpretation and Themes

• Basquiat’s Black identity is central and shapes the work’s meaning.
• The painting resists forgetting and challenges historical erasure of slavery.
• The work is political and emotional rather than conventionally beautiful.
• Intent: to provoke societal reflection and push toward tolerance and remembrance.
• Dual temporality: plunges into historical trauma while anchoring in contemporary Black culture and success.

Action Items / Study Tasks

• Re-examine specific symbols in the painting and link them to historical facts of the slave trade.
• Compare Basquiat’s use of popular culture to other Neo-Expressionist artists.
• Prepare short paragraph: how Basquiat turns commodification imagery into resistance.
• Identify other artworks that connect historical trauma with contemporary identity for class discussion.