Jean-Michel Basquiat — Hollywood Africans For Sale

Hollywood Africans

Hollywood Africans is a 2015 Estate screenprint based on the painting Basquiat completed in Los Angeles in 1983, depicting himself alongside fellow artists Toxic and Rammellzee against a backdrop referencing the racial stereotyping of Black actors in the Hollywood studio system. The painting's autobiographical details — the trio of figures, Basquiat's birth date rendered as "12 22 60" — sit alongside text fragments like "Sugar Cane," "Tobacco," and "Gangsterism," pointing to the narrow, demeaning roles historically available to Black performers in American film.

Released in conjunction with the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat on October 22, 2015, the screenprint reproduces the painting's dense combination of text and image at a scale matching the original canvas. Basquiat's habit of crossing out words rather than omitting them entirely — a technique he described as making viewers want to read the obscured text more, not less — is preserved throughout, and the print carries the same confrontational energy that has made the original painting one of his most widely reproduced and discussed works.

Published in an edition of 60 plus 15 artist's proofs, each impression is stamped and signed by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, the artist's sisters and administrators of his Estate, making this one of the more widely available yet historically grounded prints in the posthumous Basquiat print market. Hollywood Africans prints for sale are consistently sought by collectors building a focused Basquiat collection around his most socially and politically direct imagery, and impressions in strong condition with full Estate documentation continue to command steady interest at auction and in private sale.

Guy Hepner offers authenticated Hollywood Africans prints for sale with full Estate provenance and condition reporting. Collectors looking to buy Basquiat prints, or to sell an existing impression, are welcome to contact our New York gallery to discuss current availability, pricing, and acquisition.