Japanese tycoon Yusaku Maezawa loans Basquiat masterpiece to Brooklyn Museum

A Basquiat masterpiece, bought by a Japanese billionaire for a record $110.5 million, will make its museum debut this month, going on display in the artist’s home borough of Brooklyn. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 “Untitled” has been virtually unseen in public and never previously been exhibited in a museum. It depicts a skull-like head in oil-stick, acrylic and spray paint, and was bought at Sotheby’s last May by Yusaku Maezawa. The $110.5 million price tag set a new auction record for Basquiat and a record for the work of any US artist at auction. “My wish to share this masterpiece with as many people as possible begins in Basquiat’s home town of Brooklyn,” Maezawa wrote on his Instagram account Thursday.