This piece is predominantly made up of written text, with some figures drawn in alongside. Basquiat would take religious themes into his work many times, displaying a spiritual connection which came in spite of his own personal problems. There was also Baptism, for example as well as Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari. Here he is believed to have used pastel, pencil, coal and acrylic to put together this piece although without direct access to the piece we cannot really expand too much on that information. In general terms, items that reside in private collections tend to be less accessible and therefore art historians have not been able to produce as much information and research about them, as compared to items that are publically available, even if just for a few years. Scientific research is commonly used for older artworks, but only large institutions tend to have the resources available for these types of process.
As well as religion, Basquiat was also interested in history as well, though the two often overlapped. He became fascinated by some of the powerful leaders of the past, such as Napoleon and Alexander the Great, displaying a truly curious mindsight for someone who was actually homeless at any earlier period in his lifetime. This artist loved to learn and also perhaps appreciated the direction that his life had taken after such difficult beginnings. This contrasts markedly with his artistic colleagues, most of whom would have come from white middle-class backgrounds where art was very much a choice from a number of different occupations offered to them in their early years. This made Basquiat himself relatively grateful and also made his work particularly edgy in style and content.
This artwork is smaller than most of the artist's paintings, at around half a metre in width and height, suggesting it to be from a large artist notebook. It is likely that he would have produced several different interpretations of these ideas at around the same time, some as studies and some as genuine artworks such as Bishop as displayed here. He remains one of the most respected artists of the 20th century and played an important role in promoting the qualities of American art, with many of its contributors having recent connections to other nations, having arrived as an immigrant or perhaps a first or second generation settler.
