Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

The Love Affair Between Collector and Troubled Artist

April 25, 2014 by Marion Maneker

Schorrs with Basquiats

Vanity Fair gives the Acquavella show of Basquiat drawings collected by Lenore and Herbert Schorr who used to drive into Manhattan and chauffer Jean-Michel around town on errands because he couldn’t get a cab to pick him up:

Their love affair with the artist started in 1981, after he had decided to reject his famous (among graffiti writers) tag as Samo© (which stood for “same old shit”) and become Jean-Michel Basquiat, an artist in the so-called legit art world. Thanks to a dynamic group of shows put on by various collectives, word got out about his prodigious gifts, and the first bite from a gallery came from Annina Nosei, a dealer with sharp antennae for talent. She offered him an exchange: he could use the basement of her ground-floor gallery as a studio, and she would sell the work. (Looking back, the zoo-like aspects of the deal are even more blatant. What about “a room of his own,” with some light?)

One day the Schorrs showed up. Nosei schlepped some Basquiat canvases up from the basement. The couple was curious but not convinced. Nosei said she wanted them to see one other work that she’d been saving for herself. Code for: Here comes the sales pitch, the Schorrs recall, laughing. But the painting, Poison Oasis, 1981, won them over, and so did the hauntingly beautiful young man who suddenly appeared. He remained in their lives until heroin stopped his heart, in 1988.

Collectors Lenore and Herbert Schorr Remember Jean-Michel Basquiat | Vanity Fair.

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Can Moss Help Street Art Buck the Trend?Can Moss Help Street Art Buck the Trend?
  • ArtInfo’s ABMB 2012 SalesArtInfo’s ABMB 2012 Sales
  • The Lehman and Neuberger Berman CollectionsThe Lehman and Neuberger Berman Collections
  • Hugh Grant: Accidental Art SharpHugh Grant: Accidental Art Sharp
  • Loic Gouzer Follows in Philippe Ségalot’s FootstepsLoic Gouzer Follows in Philippe Ségalot’s Footsteps
  • Following Mood of Market, Sotheby’s Brings Marina Picasso’s Ceramics & Works on Paper to LondonFollowing Mood of Market, Sotheby’s Brings Marina Picasso’s Ceramics & Works on Paper to London

Filed Under: Artists

About Marion Maneker

LiveArt

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor
 

Loading Comments...