Irony of Negro Policeman

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Irony of Negro Policeman
Basquiat-irony-of-negro-policeman-1981.jpg
Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Year1981
MediumAcrylic and oilstick on wood
Movement Neo-expressionism
Dimensions122 cm× 183 cm(48 in× 72 in)
LocationPrivate collection

Irony of Negro Policeman is a painting created by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1981. It depicts a black figure as a police officer.

Contents

History

By 1981, Jean-Michel Basquiat made the transition from street artist to a gallery artist. [1] Basquiat joined the Anina Nosei Gallery in New York, and Nosei provided him with studio space in the basement of her gallery where he created some of his most important artworks such as Irony of a Negro Policeman. The painting sold for $12.6 million at a Phillips Contemporary Art auction in 2012. [2]

Analysis

The figure in the artwork—a black man dressed in a midnight blue police uniform—represents the totalitarian black mass. The hat that frames the head of the policeman resembles a cage, and represents what Basquiat believes are the constrained independent perceptions of African-Americans at the time, and how constrained the policeman's own perceptions were within white society. Basquiat drew upon his Haitian heritage by painting a hat that resembles the top hat associated with Baron Samedi of the Gede family of lwa, who embody the powers of death in Haitian Vodou. [1] Art historian Alayo Akinkugbe also characterized the top hat as a symbol of capitalism and the upper class. [3]

Race was one of the most important themes in Basquiat's oeuvre. He consistently placed the black figure at the center of his artwork because as he stated: "Black people are never really portrayed realistically in...I mean, not even portrayed in modern art enough." [4] However, by titling the artwork "IRONY OF NEGRO PLCEMN" next to the figure, Basquiat is suggesting irony in that the oppressed is wearing the uniform of the oppressor. Author Jana Evans Braziel noted: The elided vowels in the word "policeman" (painted onto the wood panel as "PLCEMN") suggest that the "Negro Policeman" is merely a placement: a position or cog within the machine; as a placement, there can also be a replacement: to the system, he is expendable. [1]

Irony of a Negro Policeman was painted the same year Basquiat created La Hara (1981), a menacing depiction of a white policeman. [5] However the contrast of intimidation are opposites. The black officer in Irony of a Negro Policeman is outlined in white with a mask-like face, symbolizing hypocrisy, whereas La Hara's cryptic message is conveyed with brutal-looking skeleton of a white officer. [6]

Eileen Knott of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts wrote that the "the very title of the painting urges blacks to consider the implications of black law enforcement in a white dominated society." [7]

South African philosopher Mogobe Ramose emphasized the nuance of the painting, writing that it was "no more a simplistic Afrocentric poster than Himes' detective novels are simply complicit or seditious." He suggested that Irony of Negro Policeman was a "challenge to the idea that there exists a non-complicit ground in which to stand." [8]

Exhibitions

Irony of a Negro Policeman has been exhibited at major art institutions worldwide, which include:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Braziel, Jana Evans (2008). "Trans-American Art on the Streets: Jean-Michel Basquiat's Black Canvas Bodies and Urban Vodou-Art in Manhattan". Artists, Performers, and Black Masculinity in the Haitian Diaspora. Indiana University Press. pp. 183–198. ISBN   978-0-253-21978-7. LCCN   2007051595. OCLC   177008074. OL   9357461W.
  2. ↑ Elliott, Hannah (June 28, 2012). "Warhol, Basquiat Set World Record At Phillips". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  3. ↑ Akinkugbe, Alayo (2025-07-10). Reframing Blackness: What’s Black about “History of Art”?. Random House. ISBN   978-1-5291-1947-3.
  4. ↑ Blair, Elizabeth (May 19, 2017). "Jean-Michel Basquiat Painting Sells For Record $110.5 Million". NPR. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  5. ↑ Buchhart, Dieter; Hesse, Fiona; Kono, Michiko; Moser, Regula; Paparoni, Demetrio; Saggese, Jordana Moore (2023-01-01). Basquiat: The Modena Paintings. Hatje Cantz Verlag. p. 36. ISBN   978-3-7757-5509-2.
  6. ↑ "Press: Phillips Presents Irony of Negro Policeman by Jean-Michel Basquiat". Phillips. June 8, 2012. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  7. ↑ Moe, Andrew (1993-11-21). "Is it hype or is it art?". The Montgomery Advertiser. pp.  9G 12G . Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  8. ↑ Ramose, Mogobe (2018-04-19). Contrasts and contests about philosophy. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-315-40472-1.
  9. ↑ "Brooklyn Museum: Basquiat". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  10. ↑ "Basquiat: A Major Retrospective - Museum of Contemporary Art, LA". Absolutearts. July 18, 2005. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  11. ↑ "Jean-Michel Basquiat at Fondation Beyeler". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  12. ↑ "Basquiat". Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  13. ↑ Mitter, Siddhartha (2019-07-30). "Behind Basquiat's 'Defacement': Reframing a Tragedy (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  14. ↑ "Exposition sur Jean-Michel Basquiat au Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario". L'Acadie Nouvelle (in French). 2014-07-26. p. 27. Retrieved 2025-07-19– via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Behind hype, Basquiat has something to say". The Toronto Star . 2015-02-07. p. 38. Retrieved 2025-07-19– via Newspapers.com.
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