Untitled

Jean-Michel Basquiat postcard, 1978. Drawing, watercolor, and collaged text. One of seven designs from the collection of Norman Scherer by a young man whom Mr. Scherer knew only as Jean-Michel. They worked together in the seventies at Unique Clothing Warehouse in the East Village dressing mannequins and organizing window displays.

Signed “Jean Basquiat,” not “Jean-Michel Basquiat,” conjuring a period when Basquiat, not yet even a New York figure let alone a household name, was still trying to get his name out.