Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie is set to open an atelier inside the three-story New York building that formerly housed the home and studio of renowned Neoexpressionist painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. According to Artnews, which first reported the story, Jolie signed an eight-year lease with Meridian Capital Group for the 6,600-square-foot space at 57 Great Jones Street in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood. While the terms of the agreement have not yet been made public, the property was originally listed for $60,000 per month, with the real estate agent demanding a minimum ten-year lease.
Basquiat lived and worked at the address for the last five years of his life, having rented the second floor from Andy Warhol, its owner at the time, shortly after the pair met in 1983. He died there at the age of twenty-seven following an accidental heroin overdose in 1988. Prior to Warhol’s 1970 purchase of the circa 1860s structure, it had notoriously housed the Brighton Athletic Club, established there in 1904 by Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, better known as gangster Paul Kelly. In recent years, it was home to the upscale invite-only Japanese restaurant Bohemian.
According to Meridian agents John Roesch and Garrett Kelly, Jolie is expected to retain the graffiti and street art covering the building’s façade in tribute to Basquiat’s history as a graffiti artist: As half of the duo SAMO, with Al Diaz, he tagged buildings across the metropolis in the late 1970s.
Atelier Jolie, a fashion line the actress announced in May, will “make use of the high-quality vintage material and deadstock fabric already available.” The garments will be made by “a skilled and diverse family of expert tailors, pattern makers and artisans from around the world.” The line is scheduled to debut this autumn.
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