The Paris Review (Littmann P. 114) by Keith Haring was created in 1989 as a commission for the celebrated literary journal of the same name. By the 1960s, The Paris Review had begun collaborating with leading contemporary artists on posters and print editions, placing Haring alongside figures such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Louise Bourgeois within the publication’s wider visual history. The commission reflects the extent to which Haring’s imagery had moved beyond the downtown New York scene into broader literary, cultural and institutional contexts by the end of the 1980s.

The screenprint presents one of Haring’s most playful and eccentric figures against a stark white ground. A clown-like character occupies the centre of the image, its body constructed from Haring’s thick black contours and animated with vivid areas of yellow, red and blue.

Despite the intellectual context of The Paris Review, Haring avoids seriousness or restraint. The simplified figure, bright colour relationships and bold line maintain the visual clarity that allowed his work to operate equally across subway drawings, public murals, print editions and commercial projects. Rather than adapting his imagery to fit the conventions of literary culture, Haring brings the same irreverence and openness that characterised his public work into the commission itself.

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