Widow Basquiat
A Love Story
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The beautifully written, deeply affecting story of Jean-Michel Basquiat's partner, her past, and their life together
An NPR Best Book of the Year Selection
New York City in the 1980s was a mesmerizing, wild place. A hotbed for hip hop, underground culture, and unmatched creative energy, it spawned some of the most significant art of the 20th century. It was where Jean-Michel Basquiat became an avant-garde street artist and painter, swiftly achieving worldwide fame. During the years before his death at the age of 27, he shared his life with his lover and muse, Suzanne Mallouk.
A runaway from an unhappy home in Canada, Suzanne first met Jean-Michel in a bar on the Lower East Side in 1980. Thus began a tumultuous and passionate relationship that deeply influenced one of the most exceptional artists of our time.
In emotionally resonant prose, award-winning author Jennifer Clement tells the story of the passion that swept Suzanne and Jean-Michel into a short-lived, unforgettable affair. A poetic interpretation like no other, Widow Basquiat is an expression of the unrelenting power of addiction, obsession and love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clement (Prayers for the Stolen) creates a stunningly lyrical portrait of Suzanne Mallouk, the longtime girlfriend of painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, that is original, insightful, and engrossing. Narrating Suzanne's childhood in Canada and her troubled relationship with the avant-garde street artist up until his death, the brief passages alternate between Clement's poetic voice and Mallouk's plainspoken accounts. The author, who was a close friend of both Mallouk and Basquiat, eventually emerges as a secondary character in the narrative a confidante to Mallouk. Clement crafts her story with intimacy but leaves it free of sentimentality or moralizing. When Basquiat died, Clement writes, "Suzanne covers her mouth with her hands... There are no teeth inside her words." At another time, Mallouk "was able to sleep for seven days and her body fell beneath her when she tried to walk." The book benefits from this favoring of poetic truth over realism. While filled with pop culture anecdotes art fans might seek Andy Warhol and Rene Ricard both make appearances, for instance Clement's account is an honest love story above all else.
