''Jim Crow'' is a painting created by American artist

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside Al ...

in 1986. In October 2017, the anti-segregation painting sold for $17.7 million at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

Post-War & Contemporary art auction in Paris, becoming the most expensive artwork by Basquiat sold in France.

Analysis

The artwork is titled after

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

, which enforced racial segregation in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. The phrase "JIM CROW" is painted at the top center of the painting. Directly below across the whitewashed wooden slats is an almost featureless face of a black figure with glowing red eyes. This head sits atop of a withered body, which dissolves into a skeletal arrangement of ribs and limbs. Behind the figure is the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, a natural barrier that divides the

eastern states The eastern states of Australia are the states and territories of Australia, states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland Australia, mainland states of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, New South Wales and Q ...

from the rest of the continental United States. As if to indicate the importance of this natural phenomenon, Basquiat spelled out "MISSISSIPPI" across the river in large golden letters. It is also written repeatedly over a dozen times throughout the painting in green. There are other rivers mentioned on the left of the figure such as the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

and

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, but the repetition of Mississippi emphasizes its importance in

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

. The state of Mississippi was particularly resistant to the struggle for

racial equality Racial equality is a situation in which people of all races and ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and political rights. In present-day Western society, ...

. Historian Charles Payne recounted that the state had the highest rate of

lynchings Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

, recording 539 between "the end of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

and the modern

civil rights era The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United S ...

." Although the state had fewer Jim Crow laws, historian Neil McMillen described Mississippi as the most "racially restrictive state" because the limits of freedom for

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

were defined almost the moment slaves were emancipated. "Where popular convention and white sensibilities governed virtually every phase of interracial contact, there was little cause legally to separate black from white," McMillen explained. "

White Supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

was based on oral or traditional discrimination without legal sanction. Negroes accepted these traditions as a way of life and as a method of survival."

Exhibitions

''Jim Crow'' has been exhibited at the following art institutions: * ''Jean-Michel Basquiat: Peinture, dessin, écriture'' at

Musée-Galerie de la Seita The Musée-Galerie de la Seita was a museum of tobacco-related objects located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris at 12, rue Surcouf, Paris, France. It opened in 1979 and closed in June 2000.Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

in New York, March 11–June 2005;

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...

, July–October 2005;

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

, November 2005–February 2006. * The painting is listed in the catalogue for the ''Basquiat and the Bayou'' exhibit at the

Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in the Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1999, and in Stephen Goldring Hall at 925 Camp Street since 2003. The building The Ogden consists of two main buildin ...

in New Orleans (October 2014–January 2015), but it wasn't included in the installation.

References

{{Jean-Michel Basquiat Paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat 1986 paintings Works about the Mississippi River Black people in art

Analysis

Exhibitions

See also

References