The Dallas Museum of Art's New Basquiat Acquisition Goes on Display

Sam F is the first and only work by Jean-Michel Basquiat to be acquired by the DMA.

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Cover photo: Installation view of Sam F, by Jean-Michel Basquiat, at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, United States (2021). Photo by DannyWithLove.

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Sam F, 1985, oil on door, by Jean-Michel Basquiat, at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, United States (2021). Photo by DannyWithLove.

Jean-Michel Basquiat painted Sam F in 1985 for his friends, art collectors Sam and Helga Feldman, during his stay in Dallas. He was in town to attend the DMA’s opening reception of Primitivism in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, an exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Puerto Rican mother and a Haitian father. He was fluent in English, Spanish, and French. After he was hit by a car as a child, Basquiat became obsessed with the medical textbook Gray’s Anatomy, gifted to him by his mother.

From 1978, Basquiat partnered with friend Al Diaz to paint graffiti across New York, under the tag SAMO (a pseudonym inspired by the phrase “same old shit”). He met Pop artist Andy Warhol and their relationship propelled Basquiat into fame. Basquiat seamlessly combined Black culture — especially music — and art history in his work.

Sam F is a wonderful example of Basquiat’s neo-expressionist style, including his painterly strokes, dynamic color choices, and poetic musings. Dressed in a suit with a red tie, Mr. Feldman is the titular figure of the work, painted directly onto his apartment neighbors’ door. Mr. Feldman was relegated to a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy. Basquiat cleverly shortened his original SAMO tag to SAM, in tribute to the subject.

Jean-Michel Basquiat on the cover of The New York Times Magazine (1985). Via 1stDibs.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (center) at the opening of Primitivism in 20th Century Art, at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, United States (1985). Via Art & Seek.

Earlier that same year, in February of 1985, Basquiat was featured on the cover of The New York Times Magazine; he was at the height of his career. Tragically, Basquiat died in 1988 at the age of 27. His heroin addiction escalated after Warhol’s death in 1987, resulting in an overdose just over a year later. “He was afraid his work wouldn’t be seen until he was dead,” lamented Manhattan gallery owner Tony Shafrazi.

Sam F was first displayed at the Dallas Museum of Art in 1993, five years after Basquiat’s passing, in the exhibition Dallas Collects Jean-Michel Basquiat, showcasing private works owned by Dallas residents.

The DMA’s acquisition of Sam F makes the museum one of few major institutions to own a Basquiat work, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The vast majority of Basquiat pieces reside in private hands, as museums “missed” the opportunity in the 1980s, before prices skyrocketed for the late artist.

Installation view of the exhibit Dallas Collects Jean-Michel Basquiat, at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, United States (1993). Via UNT Texas History.

Anna Katherine Brodbeck, senior curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum, said in a statement, “This painting fills a significant gap in our collection and allows us the opportunity to share with audiences the groundbreaking contributions of Black and Latinx artists to the art world in the 1980s.”

In 2017, Basquiat became the most expensive American artist ever sold at auction upon the sale of his 1982 painting Untitled to Japanese billionaire collector Yusaku Maezawa. Purchased for $110.5, Basquiat’s Untitled is in a pantheon of just ten works to ever exceed $100 million.

Japanese billionaire collector Yusaku Maezawa posing with his record-setting purchase: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 painting Untitled (2017). Via Instagram.

Installation view of the blockbuster exhibit Jean-Michel Basquiat, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France (2018). Photo by DannyWithLove.

A 2019 blockbuster Basquiat retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris was called “nearly impossible to stage again” as, according to curator Dieter Buchhart, “People are much less generous in lending, because now the value [of a Basquiat] is so high.”

As explained Mary Boone, whose SoHo gallery represented Basquiat for four years, “Art became speculative. Collecting became speculative. And a lot of people who became involved were very much into making money. This is the climate into which Jean Michel was introduced to the art scene.”

This is precisely why Sam F is so special. The work was clearly treasured by the Feldmans as a beloved portrait rather than an investment commodity. Sam Feldman passed away in 2001 and the DMA was given the title to Sam F in 2019, taking physical possession of the work upon the death of his wife Helga in March of this year.

“While Sam had a knack for finding great artists – often well before they were recognized by the market – Helga was the one who was inevitably drawn to the best painting in the room,” reminisced family friend Todd Hosfelt upon Mrs. Feldman’s passing.

Nicole LeBlanc, another family friend, wrote, “Anyone who knows Helga was aware of her incredible modern art collection, crowned by her Basquiats, of course. She was a devoted patron of living artists, using her resources to commission and purchase works that someday others might enjoy.”

Sam and Helga Feldman pose by their Basquiat painting, at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, United States (circa 1993). By an unknown photographer (possibly Todd Hosfelt) and via Dignity Memorial.