Odours of Punt (1983/2024)
Published in 2024 by Flatiron Editions, Odours of Punt is a posthumous print based on a 1983 artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat, released by the Estate of the artist. The edition was made available exclusively through Pace Prints starting on May 1st at 11 a.m. (New York time), and is stamped and signed by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, the artist’s sisters and co-administrators of the Estate.
The title references the ancient African kingdom of Punt—renowned for its trade in gold and aromatic resins with Egypt—evoking the layered historical and cultural meanings often present in Basquiat’s work. In this piece, archetypal text fragments and symbols intersect with visual references drawn from both popular culture and antiquity.
Odours of Punt exemplifies Basquiat’s dynamic combination of Xerox collage, oilstick, and gestural overpainting—a hallmark of his signature visual language. Both painter and poet, Basquiat defied categorization, collapsing boundaries between high and low art, European tradition and African diasporic expression.
This release follows major exhibitions of the artist’s work, including Boom For Real (Barbican Centre, London, 2017), Jean-Michel Basquiat (Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2018), King Pleasure (Starrett-Lehigh Building, New York, 2022), Seeing Loud: Basquiat and Music (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2022), and The Modena Paintings (Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2023).
