Jean-Michel Basquiat’s favourite books
The artistic inspirations of Jean-Michel Basquiat were found in some of the least expected places. The iconic painter took plenty of cues from the urban sprawl of New York City, the economic disparities of the 1980s, and the contrast of cultures between blacks and upper-crust white elites of the art world. His scattered approach made his work physically stand out, but his philosophical visions gave them a timeless quality.
Famously, Basquiat used the human form as an abstract medium that could be just about anything. From disembodied heads to wild interpretations of bodies, Basquiat had a particular fascination with how anatomy could be manipulated and reconfigured. It all stemmed from when Basquiat was hit by a car as a child. While laid up in the hospital, his mother brought him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, the medical reference book that soon sparked Basquiat’s love of the human form.
But Gray’s Anatomy wasn’t the only book that Basquiat kept close. From the wry humour of Mark Twain’s collected works to the legendary white whale tale of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, Basquiat kept a full and varied personal library across his relatively short life.
Basquiat had a particular fondness for William S. Burroughs, the Beat Generation author who made postmodern surrealism mainstream. “He’s my favourite living author. Definitely,” Basquiat raved about Burroughs. “I think it’s really close to what Mark Twain writes, as far as the point of view. It’s pretty similar, I think.”
It wasn’t just fiction that Basquiat found himself drawn to. As a parallel figure, Basquiat was fascinated with the life of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. Another New York figure who spearheaded the evolution of art while battling drug addiction and eventually died young. Both Parker and Basquiat died from heroin overdoses, which makes Basquiat’s recommendation of Ross Russell’s biography Bird Lives! The High Life and Hard Times of Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker all the more tragic.
Basquiat also had a few art-specific recommendations. His love of Robert Farris Thompson’s Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy undoubtedly found its way into Basquiat’s own work. “[Flash of the Spirit is] probably the best book I ever read on African art,” Basquiat later claimed.
See a full list of Basquiat’s favourite books down below.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s books of choice:
- Gray’s Anatomy by Susan Standring
- Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson
- History of Art by H. W. Janson
- African Rock Art by Burchard Brentjes
- The Complete Notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci
- Symbol Sourcebook by Henry Dreyfuss
- Artistic Anatomy by Paul Richer
- Bird Lives! The High Life and Hard Times of Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker by Ross Russell
- Black Beauty, White Heat: A Pictorial History of Classic Jazz by Frank Driggs & Harris Lewine
- Junky by William S. Burroughs
- The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
