Indian Summer

The writer who dropped the letters

Futura was born Leonard Hilton McGurr in New York City on November 17, 1955, and grew up in Manhattan. As a teenager in the early 1970s he began painting the city's subway trains illegally under the name Futura. From 1974 to 1978 he served in the US Navy and traveled the world, an experience he has linked to his interest in computers, navigation systems and a futuristic look.

In 1980 he painted a whole subway car, known as Break, that broke with graffiti's central tradition: it was recognized for its abstraction rather than for lettering. While most writers of the time concentrated on letters, Futura pioneered an abstract approach, and his spray lines were unusually thin, closer to an airbrush than a can.

He was among the first graffiti artists shown in New York galleries. In the early 1980s he exhibited downtown alongside his friends Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rammellzee, Dondi and Kenny Scharf, and the landmark 1981 exhibition New York / New Wave at the institution now called MoMA PS1 brought those artists together.

1982: graffiti goes on tour

The year this canvas was begun, Futura was also a rock-tour performer. He designed the sleeve of The Clash's single 'This Is Radio Clash,' hand-lettered the sleeve notes and lyric sheet for their 1982 album Combat Rock, and toured with the band, spray-painting backdrops on stage while they played. His rap appears on the Clash song 'Overpowered by Funk.'

Europe was opening up at the same moment. In June 1982 Lee Quinones, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat took part in Documenta 7 in Kassel. In early 1983 an Amsterdam gallery gave solo shows to Blade, Dondi, Rammellzee, Futura, Quik and others, and in October 1983 the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam held what is described as the first museum exhibition of graffiti-based art, with Futura among its featured artists.

Indian Summer belongs to that Dutch chapter. Its provenance begins with a gallery in Amsterdam, from which the collector who consigned it in 2024 bought it in 1982.

Reading the canvas

Indian Summer is spray paint on canvas, 163.5 by 132 centimeters. It is signed 'futura' at lower right. The reverse carries two inscriptions: a signature, title and date reading 'futura 2000 Indian Summer 83,' and a second line, 'FUTURA FOR ROUTE 66 10/82.' The catalogue therefore dates it 1982-1983 rather than to a single year.

The two dates fit how the work's history is recorded: the canvas is inscribed October 1982 and also 1983, while the owner is said to have acquired it in 1982. The sale catalogue does not explain the difference, and this page does not try to.

The vocabulary Futura developed in these years is described by museums and his representatives in consistent terms: very fine sprayed lines set against mists of color, large areas of canvas left open, and forms that seem to float in space, often with motifs such as an atom shape and the alien-like figure he calls the Pointman. Many of his paintings were made flat on the floor.

Forty-two years in one collection

The sale catalogue records two owners: the Amsterdam gallery and the European collector who acquired it from that gallery in 1982.

It returned on April 23, 2024, as lot 2 in an online sale of 20th- and 21st-century art run from Amsterdam, offered as property from an important European collection. Against an estimate of 40,000 to 60,000 euros, it sold for 107,100 euros including fees, reported in US dollars as $114,000. It was the headline lot of a sale that totaled about $2.03 million across 135 sold works.

Five decades later

Futura's career took long detours. In the mid-1980s he worked as a bike messenger and at a Queens post office to support his son, finding it hard to live as a gallery artist. In the 1990s record artwork for Mo' Wax and collaborations with streetwear labels brought him back, and he later worked with Nike, Comme des Garcons, Louis Vuitton, BMW and others.

Museums have since caught up. His work is in collections including the New Museum in New York, MOCA in Los Angeles and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, and in 2024 the Bronx Museum opened FUTURA 2000: BREAKING OUT, on view from September 8, 2024, to March 30, 2025, the most comprehensive survey of his five-decade career ever shown in his hometown.

The numbers

Medium

Spray paint on canvas

Dimensions

163.5 x 132 cm

Inscriptions

Signed 'futura' lower right; on the reverse 'futura 2000 Indian Summer 83' and 'FUTURA FOR ROUTE 66 10/82'

Catalogue raisonne

None stated

Current owner

Private; the 2024 buyer has not been publicly named

Timeline

1. Nov 17, 1955

   Leonard Hilton McGurr is born in New York City.

2. 1974

   After painting subways as a teenager, he joins the US Navy, serving until 1978.

3. 1980

   He paints Break, a whole subway car known for its abstraction rather than lettering.

4. 1981

   He is included in New York / New Wave at what is now MoMA PS1.

5. 1982

   Futura tours with The Clash, painting backdrops live on stage during the Combat Rock tour.

6. Jun 1982

   Lee Quinones, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat take part in Documenta 7 in Kassel.

7. Oct 1982

   Indian Summer is inscribed 'FUTURA FOR ROUTE 66 10/82' on the reverse.

8. 1982

   A European collector buys the painting from an Amsterdam gallery.

9. 1983

   An Amsterdam gallery gives Futura a solo show early in the year; the canvas also bears the date 83.

10. Oct 1983

    The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam opens its graffiti exhibition, featuring Futura.

11. Apr 23, 2024

    Indian Summer sells in an online sale run from Amsterdam for 107,100 euros with fees, the top lot.

12. Sep 8, 2024

    The Bronx Museum opens FUTURA 2000: BREAKING OUT, a five-decade retrospective.

The world in 1982

• Jan 7, 1982

  The Commodore 64 home computer is launched.

• Jun 12, 1982

  A rally against nuclear weapons draws about 750,000 people to Central Park in New York.

• Jun 30, 1982

  The Equal Rights Amendment falls short of ratification.

• Oct 1, 1982

  EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World.

• Nov 13, 1982

  The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

• Nov 30, 1982

  Michael Jackson releases Thriller.

• Dec 2, 1982

  Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Indian Summer is number 42 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (40 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Futura's 1980 whole subway car Break was recognized for its abstraction at a time when most writers concentrated on letters.
• In 1982 he spray-painted backdrops live on stage while The Clash played.
• He served in the US Navy from 1974 to 1978 and traveled the world before returning to painting.
• In the mid-1980s he worked as a bike messenger and at a Queens post office to support his son.
• The canvas carries two dates on its back, October 1982 and 1983.