Untitled Series (with Sean Kalish)

Untitled Series (with Sean Kalish)
Untitled etching from the series (1989–90)
Artist
Year
  • 1989–90 (drawn)
  • 1990 (printed, published)
CatalogueLittmann 155-157
Medium11 Etchings (soft-ground and hard-ground) in black ink on handmade cotton paper
Subject
Dimensions
  • Plate: 12.5 × 15.5 cm (6 × 5 in.)
  • Sheet: 35.5 × 31.5 cm (14 × 12+1⁄2 in.)
Location≥2 public collections
Collaborators
Proofed by
Editioned by
  • Richard Spare, London
Publisher
  • Keith Haring, New York City
WebsiteUntitled at haring.com

Untitled Series (with Sean Kalish) is an untitled and unordered series of eleven untitled etchings, drawn between 1989 and 1990 by Keith Haring in collaboration with Sean Kalish,[1][2] a 9-year-old patron of the Pop Shop.[3] Also referred to as Untitled (w Sean Kalish) or Untitled, 1989.[4]

This anti-adultist artistic collaboration was a form of youth-adult partnership undertaken at Haring's studio in New York City and coincided with the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) at the United Nations General Assembly, also in New York City. The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention and opened it for signature on 20 November 1989 (the 30th anniversary of its Declaration of the Rights of the Child).[5]

This was one of the final projects undertaken by Haring, and the last to involve etching, before his death on (1990-02-16)16 February 1990, age 31.[6] The United States of America did not sign the convention until 16 February 1995, exactly five years later, and remains to the present day the only country in the world not to have ratified the UNCRC.[5]

  1. ^ "Keith Haring, Sean Kalish. Untitled. 1989 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023.
  2. ^ Littmann, Klaus, ed. (1997). Keith Haring: Editions On Paper 1982–1990. Das Druckgraphische Werk / The Complete Printed Works / L'oeuvre Imprimé Complet. From the Collection of the Estate of Keith Haring (in German, English, and French) (2nd ed.). Ostfildern-Ruit, Stuttgart, Germany: Cantz. pp. 155–57. ISBN 978-3-89322-555-2.
  3. ^ Bretton, Molly (27 June 2022). "Why we need to take child art seriously | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts". Royal Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on 14 August 2023.
  4. ^ Haring, Keith; Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, eds. (2006). Keith Haring, Journey of the Radiant Baby: February 18 – August 6, 2006. Piermont, New Hampshire: Bunker Hill Publishing Inc. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-1-59373-052-9.
  5. ^ a b "11. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD" (PDF). United Nations. New York. 20 November 1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 August 2023.
  6. ^ Yarrow, Andrew L. (17 February 1990). "Keith Haring, Artist, Dies at 31; Career Began in Subway Graffiti". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 August 2023.