Jean-Michel Basquiat's early work will be put on display for the entirety of May at the Acquavella Gallery in uptown NYC. The exhibit comes to us from the Schlorr Family, who are collectors and former friends of the late great pop-artist, letting loose 22 never seen paper drawings and 2 paintings, all from their personal stash. The Schlorr family is giving patrons a rare glimpse into the formative years of the champions prolific, yet curt career with a litany of early work. You can catch a glimpse of a few of those ever coveted treatments as well as statement from the gallery below, but for the full scoop, you'll have to catch the exhibit when it opens this Thursday at Acquavella.

“During the artist’s seminal years 1982-83 the Schorrs acquired several of his most important paintings, but in contrast to virtually every other early collector, the Schorrs also pursued and acquired a great number of works on paper both directly from the artist and from his early dealers,” explained curator Fred Hoffman. “The Schorrs astutely understood that working on paper was equally central to his practice as painting on canvas. Their collection demonstrates both the focus and ambition that the artist invested in the medium of drawing.”

spotted at Mass Appeal