Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1983 ‘In This Case,’ part of his trilogy of ‘skull’ paintings, is expected to fetch around US$50 million during the virtual auctions. — Picture courtesy of Christie’sNEW YORK, May 12 — Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting In this Case sold for US$93.1 million (RM384 million) in an auction yesterday at Christie’s in New York, the second-highest price paid for a work by the late artist.

The 1983 painting, which depicts a skull on a red background, sold for US$81 million, but with fees and commissions the final price came to US$93.1 million, well above the estimate of US$50 million.

It was another skull, Untitled, that set the record for the most expensive by Basquiat (1960-1988), which went for US$110.5 million in May 2017 at Sotheby’s in New York.

In This Case reprises two dominant themes in Basquiat’s work, anatomy and representation of African-American characters.

In a sign of Basquiat’s growing status in the art world, the same canvas was sold in November 2002 for just US$999,500, barely more than a hundredth of the price paid on Tuesday.

With the exception of New York-based Basquiat, African American painters have long been undervalued by collectors and underrepresented in museums.

In recent years, the market has started a process of re-evaluating many of them. Yesterday, Christie’s had presented several Black artists as part of its big spring sale.

A Nina Chanel Abney work sold for US$990,000, a Jordan Casteel went for US$687,500 and a Rashid Johnson fetched US$1.95 million.

A work by British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye was sold for US$1.95 million and a piece by Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui went under the hammer for US$1.95 million, all of them setting new records. — ETX Studio