Jean-Michel Basquiat - Quiz
Jean Michel Basquiat
  • 1. What nationality was Jean-Michel Basquiat?
A) British
B) American
C) French
D) Italian
  • 2. In what year was Basquiat born?
A) 1970
B) 1950
C) 1960
D) 1980
  • 3. Which artistic movement was Basquiat associated with?
A) Cubism
B) Neo-expressionism
C) Surrealism
D) Minimalism
  • 4. What was Basquiat's graffiti artist tag name?
A) KEITH HARING
B) SAMO
C) STERLING RUBY
D) BANKSY
  • 5. What was Basquiat's father's profession?
A) Musician
B) Accountant
C) Architect
D) Painter
  • 6. At what age did Basquiat first exhibit his artwork in a public exhibition?
A) 21
B) 13
C) 25
D) 17
  • 7. Which artist was a close friend of Basquiat and also tragically died young?
A) Jasper Johns
B) Keith Haring
C) Cy Twombly
D) Robert Rauschenberg
  • 8. Which museum held a major retrospective of Basquiat's work in 1992?
A) Tate Modern
B) Whitney Museum of American Art
C) The Louvre
D) Guggenheim Museum
  • 9. In what year did Basquiat achieve international fame?
A) 2005
B) 1982
C) 1990
D) 1975
  • 10. Which famous artist did Basquiat collaborate with on paintings in the 1980s?
A) Jackson Pollock
B) Andy Warhol
C) Pablo Picasso
D) Vincent van Gogh
  • 11. In which city was Jean-Michel Basquiat born?
A) Chicago
B) New York City
C) Los Angeles
D) Miami
  • 12. At what age did Basquiat become the youngest artist to take part in Documenta in Kassel, Germany?
A) 25
B) 21
C) 18
D) 30
  • 13. What themes did Basquiat's art often focus on?
A) Portraits of celebrities
B) Wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience
C) Nature and landscapes
D) Abstract patterns
  • 14. In what year did an Untitled painting by Basquiat sell for $110.5 million?
A) 1999
B) 2008
C) 2017
D) 2020
  • 15. What was the name of the book Jean-Michel Basquiat and Marc Prozzo created when he was seven?
A) The Art of Graffiti
B) The Adventures of SAMO
C) A children's book written by Basquiat at age seven and illustrated by Prozzo
D) Basquiat's Diary
  • 16. What injury did Basquiat sustain in 1968?
A) Burns
B) Broken arm and several internal injuries requiring a splenectomy
C) Concussion
D) Fractured leg
  • 17. Which languages was Basquiat fluent in by the age of 11?
A) French, Spanish, and English
B) German, Italian, and Russian
C) Japanese, Chinese, and Korean
D) Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish
  • 18. Where did Basquiat's family move to in 1974?
A) Miramar, Puerto Rico
B) Los Angeles, California
C) Houston, Texas
D) Miami, Florida
  • 19. What school did Basquiat attend after moving back to Brooklyn in 1976?
A) Edward R. Murrow High School
B) Brooklyn Technical High School
C) Stuyvesant High School
D) Queens High School for the Sciences
  • 20. What alternative high school did Basquiat enroll in?
A) Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School
B) Stuyvesant High School
C) City-As-School
D) High School of Art and Design
  • 21. What was the original meaning behind the acronym 'SAMO'?
A) Save Art, Make Ourselves Known
B) 'Same old shit'
C) Street Art Movement Organization
D) Society of American Modernists
  • 22. Which publication featured an article about the SAMO graffiti in December 1978?
A) Artforum
B) Rolling Stone
C) The Village Voice
D) High Times
  • 23. On which television show did Basquiat appear in 1979, hosted by Glenn O'Brien?
A) Late Night with David Letterman
B) The Tonight Show
C) TV Party
D) Saturday Night Live
  • 24. Which band did Basquiat and Michael Holman found in April 1979?
A) Gray
B) The Ramones
C) Test Pattern
D) The Clash
  • 25. Where did Basquiat live with his girlfriend Alexis Adler during the late 1970s?
A) East Village
B) Lower Manhattan
C) Greenwich Village
D) Harlem
  • 26. What type of diagrams did Basquiat often copy from Alexis Adler's textbooks?
A) Mathematical equations
B) Anatomical diagrams
C) Biological cell diagrams
D) Chemical compound diagrams
  • 27. Where did Basquiat sell his postcards in SoHo?
A) Hurrah
B) Max's Kansas City
C) W.P.A. restaurant
D) CBGB
  • 28. What was the title of the postcard sold to Andy Warhol?
A) SAMO© AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO GOD
B) MAN MADE
C) The State of the Outlaw Art
D) Stupid Games, Bad Ideas
  • 29. What was the name of Basquiat's clothing line created at A's?
A) "TEST PATTERN"
B) "SAMO"
C) "MAN MADE"
D) "GRAY"
  • 30. Which boutique carried Basquiat's clothing line in November 1979?
A) The Limelight Storefront
B) Maxfield Parrish Gallery
C) Annina Nosei Gallery
D) Patricia Field's upscale boutique
  • 31. In which year did Jean-Michel Basquiat participate in The Times Square Show?
A) 1982
B) 1979
C) 1981
D) 1980
  • 32. Who mentioned Basquiat in an article titled 'Report from Times Square'?
A) Sandro Chia
B) Jeffrey Deitch
C) Rene Ricard
D) Diego Cortez
  • 33. Which magazine published Rene Ricard's article 'The Radiant Child'?
A) Vogue
B) Art in America
C) Rolling Stone
D) Artforum
  • 34. What was the title of Basquiat's first painting sold to Debbie Harry?
A) Cadillac Moon
B) Radiant Child
C) Rapture
D) Downtown 81
  • 35. Who financially supported Jean-Michel Basquiat during his early career?
A) Annina Nosei
B) Suzanne Mallouk
C) Debbie Harry
D) Emilio Mazzoli
  • 36. Which gallery did Annina Nosei invite Basquiat to join?
A) P.S.1
B) Fashion Moda
C) Gallery in Modena
D) Her own gallery
  • 37. Where was Basquiat's first American one-man show held?
A) Collaborative Projects Incorporated
B) Annina Nosei Gallery
C) P.S.1
D) Modena gallery
  • 38. What was the reason Basquiat gave for canceling his second Italian exhibition?
A) Disagreement with the curator
B) Lack of interest from the public
C) Poor sales at previous exhibitions
D) He felt exploited due to tight deadlines.
  • 39. Who recommended Basquiat's work to Italian dealer Emilio Mazzoli?
A) Annina Nosei
B) Jeffrey Deitch
C) Rene Ricard
D) Sandro Chia
  • 40. In which music video did Basquiat appear as a disc jockey?
A) 'Downtown 81'
B) 'Radiant Child'
C) 'Cadillac Moon'
D) Blondie's 'Rapture'
  • 41. What was the record high for Basquiat's annual auction sales in 2021?
A) $115 million
B) $439.6 million
C) $20.1 million
D) $110.5 million
  • 42. How many of Basquiat's works did Emilio Mazzoli purchase in 1981?
A) Twenty
B) Fifteen
C) Ten
D) Five
  • 43. Which jazz musician was particularly a hero for Basquiat?
A) Charlie Parker
B) Miles Davis
C) Louis Armstrong
D) John Coltrane
  • 44. Who did Basquiat befriend in Paris during his exhibition?
A) Francesco Clemente
B) Keith Haring
C) Ivorian artist Ouattara Watts
D) Glenn O'Brien
  • 45. What was the name of the imprint under which Jean-Michel Basquiat pressed the limited edition 'Beat Bop' record?
A) Whitney Biennial
B) Interview
C) Gemini G.E.L.
D) Tartown Inc.
  • 46. What is a major theme in Basquiat's Slave Auction (1982) and Jim Crow (1986)?
A) African-American history
B) The Industrial Revolution
C) Space exploration
D) Medieval European battles
  • 47. Which book significantly influenced Jean-Michel Basquiat's depictions of human anatomy?
A) Gray's Anatomy
B) Anatomy for Artists
C) The Anatomy of the Human Body
D) Human Physiology
  • 48. By what percentage did Basquiat's annual auction sales fall in 2022?
A) 50%
B) 25%
C) 75%
D) 100%
  • 49. In what year did the authentication committee announce its dissolution?
A) 2023
B) 2016
C) 2012
D) 2008
  • 50. In which year did Basquiat's first public showing of paintings and drawings occur at MoMA PS1?
A) 1981
B) 1979
C) 1985
D) 1983
  • 51. How many drawings did Jean-Michel Basquiat produce during his career?
A) Less than 1,000
B) Around 1,500
C) Around 600
D) Over 2,000
  • 52. Who organized a show of Jean-Michel Basquiat's work at her friend's New York apartment in April 1983?
A) Paige Powell
B) Madonna
C) Jennifer Goode
D) Lee Jaffe
  • 53. Who curated the exhibition Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure?
A) Franklin Sirmans
B) Rene Ricard
C) Marc Mayer
D) Basquiat's family
  • 54. Who found Jean-Michel Basquiat unresponsive?
A) Glenn O'Brien
B) His girlfriend Kelle Inman
C) Paige Powell
D) Keith Haring
  • 55. Which art historian situates Basquiat's anatomical screen prints as an assertion of vulnerability?
A) Olivier Berggruen
B) Kellie Jones
C) Pablo Picasso
D) Fred Hoffman
  • 56. What was the highest amount paid for an original work of Basquiat's before 2002?
A) $10 million
B) $5.5 million
C) $3.3 million
D) $20 million
  • 57. What was the title of the exhibition that caused a rift in Jean-Michel Basquiat's friendship with Andy Warhol?
A) Taxi, 45th/Broadway
B) Paintings
C) Olympics (1984)
D) Zenith
  • 58. Which fashion designer's runway did Jean-Michel Basquiat walk for in 1985?
A) Gagosian
B) Armani
C) Comme des Garçons
D) Boone
  • 59. Which art critic wrote that Basquiat experienced a good taste of fame in his last years?
A) Robert Hughes
B) Hilton Kramer
C) Bonnie Rosenberg
D) Franklin Sirmans
  • 60. In which year did Basquiat appear on the cover of The New York Times Magazine?
A) 1984
B) 1985
C) 1987
D) 1986
  • 61. Where did Jean-Michel Basquiat move into a loft owned by Andy Warhol in August 1983?
A) Venice Beach, California
B) Market Street studio space
C) Salzburg, Austria
D) 57 Great Jones Street, NoHo
  • 62. Who compared Basquiat's work to the emergence of hip-hop?
A) Rene Ricard
B) David Bowie
C) Niru Ratnam
D) Franklin Sirmans
  • 63. Which painting by Basquiat references Charlie Parker?
A) Horn Players (1983)
B) King Zulu (1986)
C) Charles the First (1982)
D) Untitled (Axe/Rene) (1984)
  • 64. What was the sale price of Untitled (Head) (1982) in June 2020?
A) $15.2 million
B) $10.8 million
C) $20.9 million
D) $41.8 million
  • 65. Which artist was a collector of Basquiat's works?
A) Andy Warhol
B) David Bowie
C) Robert Hughes
D) Franklin Sirmans
  • 66. What was the title of the collaborative work Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol created for the 1984 Summer Olympics?
A) Zenith
B) Olympics (1984)
C) Paintings
D) Taxi, 45th/Broadway
  • 67. What was the sale price of Self-Portrait as a Heel (Part Two) (1982) at Sotheby's in 2023?
A) $48.3 million
B) $67.1 million
C) $46.5 million
D) $42 million
  • 68. What was the cost of obtaining an opinion from Basquiat's authentication committee?
A) $50
B) $500
C) $100
D) $200
  • 69. Who purchased Basquiat's first painting in 1981?
A) Gallerist Emilio Mazzoli
B) Drummer Lars Ulrich
C) Singer Debbie Harry
D) Mary Boone
  • 70. What was the title of Rene Ricard's article that brought Basquiat to the attention of the art world?
A) The Radiant Artist
B) Radiant Child
C) Basquiat: The Rising Star
D) Child Prodigy
  • 71. Who sued the Basquiat authentication committee in 2008?
A) Gerard De Geer
B) Basquiat's sisters
C) Guido Orsi
D) Tony Shafrazi
  • 72. What was the title of the painting Jean-Michel Basquiat created after his first meeting with Andy Warhol?
A) A Panel of Experts
B) Hollywood Africans
C) Equals Pi
D) Dos Cabezas
  • 73. Who purchased Untitled (1982) for $57.3 million at Christie's in 2017?
A) American businessman Ken Griffin
B) Drummer Lars Ulrich
C) Gallerist Emilio Mazzoli
D) Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa
  • 74. What did Basquiat design for André Heller's Luna Luna amusement park?
A) A roller coaster
B) A carousel
C) A bumper car attraction
D) A Ferris wheel
  • 75. Where is Jean-Michel Basquiat buried?
A) Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery
B) Cabrini Medical Center
C) Hamburg
D) Manhattan's Central Park
  • 76. What did Basquiat paint on during this period?
A) Leather jackets
B) Objects found in the streets
C) Canvas only
D) Blank walls
  • 77. Basquiat reclaims blackness from what process?
A) "Aesthetic colonization"
B) Cultural appropriation
C) Economic exploitation
D) Political marginalization
  • 78. Which artist's work did Jean-Michel Basquiat take considerable interest in while visiting Gemini G.E.L.?
A) Robert Rauschenberg
B) George Condo
C) Andy Warhol
D) Madonna
  • 79. What was the sale price of Sugar Ray Robinson (1982) at Christie's in 2022?
A) $46.5 million
B) $42 million
C) $67.1 million
D) $32.6 million
  • 80. Who got to know Basquiat well as the editor of Artforum?
A) Keith Haring
B) Francesco Clemente
C) Ingrid Sischy
D) Paige Powell
  • 81. Which spiritual tradition's symbolism is alluded to by the skulls in Basquiat's paintings such as Red Skull and Untitled?
A) Christian iconography
B) Islamic art
C) Haitian Vodou
D) Buddhist philosophy
  • 82. Which piece by Basquiat juxtaposes evolutionary science with themes of marginality?
A) Irony of Negro Policeman
B) Dustheads
C) Untitled (Charles Darwin)
D) Hollywood Africans
  • 83. Which art dealer became Jean-Michel Basquiat's worldwide representative after he left the Annina Nosei Gallery?
A) Fay Gold
B) Mary Boone
C) Bruno Bischofberger
D) Larry Gagosian
  • 84. What was the name of the nightclub where Jean-Michel Basquiat sometimes worked as a DJ?
A) Palladium
B) Area
C) Tail o' the Pup
D) Whisky a Go Go
  • 85. What does Basquiat's depiction of the black body resist?
A) Abstract forms
B) Traditional portraiture
C) Surrealist techniques
D) Reductive racial representations
  • 86. What was the name of Jean-Michel Basquiat's girlfriend who he claimed would become famous?
A) Madonna
B) Paige Powell
C) Lee Jaffe
D) Jennifer Goode
  • 87. How much did singer Debbie Harry pay for Basquiat's first painting?
A) $10,000
B) $3.3 million
C) $200
D) $5,000
  • 88. Who sold Profit I (1982) at Christie's in 2002?
A) Gallerist Emilio Mazzoli
B) Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa
C) Drummer Lars Ulrich
D) Singer Debbie Harry
  • 89. Which app announced the sale of an untitled drawing on paper for $10.8 million in 2020?
A) Fair Warning
B) Christie's App
C) Sotheby's App
D) Phillips App
  • 90. Which nightclub did Jean-Michel Basquiat paint murals for?
A) Tail o' the Pup
B) Whisky a Go Go
C) Area
D) Palladium
  • 91. For how much did Yusaku Maezawa sell Untitled (1982) at Phillips in 2022?
A) $20.9 million
B) $85 million
C) $110.5 million
D) $57.3 million
  • 92. What year were three paintings displayed as Basquiats at the FIAC revealed to be fakes?
A) 2002
B) 2014
C) 2007
D) 1994
  • 93. What was the sale price of Crowns (Peso Neto) (1981) at Sotheby's in 2025?
A) $48.3 million
B) $67.1 million
C) $46.5 million
D) $42 million
  • 94. Who photographed Basquiat at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery?
A) Allen Ginsberg
B) Keith Haring
C) Glenn O'Brien
D) Francesco Clemente
  • 95. What cultural elements are suggested by the heads in Basquiat's works like Untitled (Two Heads on Gold) and Philistines?
A) Japanese samurai helmets
B) : European classical art
C) American pop culture
D) African masks, suggesting a cultural reclamation
  • 96. Who read a poem by Langston Hughes at Basquiat's memorial?
A) His friend Fab 5 Freddy
B) David Shapiro
C) Ingrid Sischy
D) John Lurie
  • 97. Basquiat's relationship with which culture enriches his aesthetic of blackness?
A) Opera
B) Hip-hop culture
C) Jazz
D) Classical music
  • 98. Which city did Jean-Michel Basquiat visit for an exhibition organized by Bruno Bischofberger in October 1986?
A) Abidjan, Ivory Coast
B) Atlanta, Georgia
C) Paris, France
D) Salzburg, Austria
  • 99. In which city did Jean-Michel Basquiat have his last exhibition on the West Coast in January 1986?
A) Paris
B) Atlanta, Georgia
C) New York City
D) Los Angeles
  • 100. Where was the public memorial for Basquiat held?
A) Yvon Lambert Gallery
B) Cabrini Medical Center
C) Saint Peter's Church
D) Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel
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