Village Trivia
Do You Recognize This Plaque?
By Brian J. Pape, AI
Photo by Brian J. Pape, AIA.
Greenwich Village has many commemorative sites that have been honored with bronze plaques to inform the public about important aspects of the community. Just a few years back I attended the unveiling of this one, and I expected it to be respected because of who it honored. I was shocked to see its condition (see photo above), and I could hardly decipher the text. Can you discern what it says and who it honors? See below…
Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Park Slope, Brooklyn. In the 10th grade, he enrolled at City-As-School, an alternative high school in the Village, home to many artistic students who found conventional schooling difficult. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti duo SAMO. At 22, he became one of the youngest artists to exhibit at the Whitney Biennial in New York. The Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of his artwork in 1992. In his short but prolific career, Basquiat produced around 1,500 drawings, around 600 paintings, and many sculpture and mixed media works. Basquiat’s work has steadily increased in value.
The small two story building was originally as a horse stable built at 57 Great Jones Street. From 1983 to 1988, landlord Andy Warhol rented it to Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) for a live-work studio. After Basquiat’s death, the façade became covered with graffiti. More recently, part of the original façade was replaced with modern glass doors and an accessibility ramp for a new retailer. The plaque was placed there in 2016 by Village Preservation. Photo by Brian J. Pape, AIA.
CITY-AS-SCHOOL was formerly Chelsea Vocational Annex, boatbuilding was the main thing, there was also the Injection Molding Class, forerunner of fiberglass! I was in the main building, 131 6th. Ave., 1951/1954!