‘Tobacco versus Red Chief’, 1981-82, is one of the earliest paintings made by Jean-Michel Basquiat during his brief yet prolific career. In the 1970s, Basquiat gained attention as a graffiti artist for his scrawled phrases and pictograms of crowns and copyright signs. By 1981, he had abandoned the walls of buildings for canvas.
‘Tobacco versus Red Chief’ is one of several paintings referencing stereotypes and represents a sardonic commentary on an American myth. The large figure is a Native American chief, grasping tobacco in his raised fist. Rendered in outline in a primitive manner, the figure is filled in with color and articulated by raw detail. The masklike face has been painted black, hinting at an ethnic minority and demonstrating Basquiat's tendency to impose his own identity in the process of artistic creation.
Basquiat's deep-rooted concerns about race, human rights, the accumulation of power and wealth and the control of and respect for nature are evident in this work. He identified with the plight of Native Americans and the loss of their land to tobacco farming and what the settlers regarded as industry and progress.
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