175
Keith Haring
Subway Drawing
- Estimate
- £15,000 - 20,000‡
£85,000
Lot Details
chalk and silver marker on paper
113.7 x 74.9 cm (44 3/4 x 29 1/2 in.)
Signed, dedicated and dated 'FOR MARILYN - K. HARING 85' along the lower right edge.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
The present lot, Subway Drawing, 1982-84, was originally installed at the 23rd Street subway station in New York City in the early 1980’s. In 1985 Keith Haring visited his friend Steve Rubell, co-owner of the New York’s infamous nightclub, Studio 54, at his Punk rock club Palladium. Rubell asked Haring to dedicate the present lot owned by his secretary Marilyn, resulting in the inscription along the lower edge of the composition which reads 'FOR MARILYN – K. HARING 85.'
Provenance
Exhibited
Keith Haring
American | B. 1958 D. 1990Haring's art and life typified youthful exuberance and fearlessness. While seemingly playful and transparent, Haring dealt with weighty subjects such as death, sex and war, enabling subtle and multiple interpretations.
Throughout his tragically brief career, Haring refined a visual language of symbols, which he called icons, the origins of which began with his trademark linear style scrawled in white chalk on the black unused advertising spaces in subway stations. Haring developed and disseminated these icons far and wide, in his vibrant and dynamic style, from public murals and paintings to t-shirts and Swatch watches. His art bridged high and low, erasing the distinctions between rarefied art, political activism and popular culture.
Browse ArtistThroughout his tragically brief career, Haring refined a visual language of symbols, which he called icons, the origins of which began with his trademark linear style scrawled in white chalk on the black unused advertising spaces in subway stations. Haring developed and disseminated these icons far and wide, in his vibrant and dynamic style, from public murals and paintings to t-shirts and Swatch watches. His art bridged high and low, erasing the distinctions between rarefied art, political activism and popular culture.