R. B. Kitaj
Los Angeles No. 26 (Nose Kiss), 2003
Oil on canvas
91.4 x 91.4 cm
36 x 36 in
36 x 36 in
Copyright The Artist
In 2005, Kitaj appended the following text to accompany this work: This painting was inspired by the Judeophile Rembrandt, blessed be he, of two old Jews shmoozing in their Synagogue,...
In 2005, Kitaj appended the following text to accompany this work:
This painting was inspired by the Judeophile Rembrandt, blessed be he, of two old Jews shmoozing in their Synagogue, a print of which [Sigmund] Freud had in his consulting room. The two Jews are now Sandra and me bewinged, Los Angeles. The Kitaj Angel, after Rembrandt’s old Jew is of exaggerated girth with a head of quite wide geography. He/I looks by chance like a cross between myself and the Lubavitcher Messiah Schneeerson. My shoulder-insignia is that of a self-awarded Jewish General. This painting is the latest episode in my Greatest Story Ever Told, The Woman-Man Story. I’m still trying to solve the color in this painting, reading the section on visualization of colours in Moshe Idel’s Kabbalah.
R.B. Kitaj: How To Reach 72 In A Jewish Art, exh. cat., Marlborough Gallery, 2005, p. 57.
This painting was inspired by the Judeophile Rembrandt, blessed be he, of two old Jews shmoozing in their Synagogue, a print of which [Sigmund] Freud had in his consulting room. The two Jews are now Sandra and me bewinged, Los Angeles. The Kitaj Angel, after Rembrandt’s old Jew is of exaggerated girth with a head of quite wide geography. He/I looks by chance like a cross between myself and the Lubavitcher Messiah Schneeerson. My shoulder-insignia is that of a self-awarded Jewish General. This painting is the latest episode in my Greatest Story Ever Told, The Woman-Man Story. I’m still trying to solve the color in this painting, reading the section on visualization of colours in Moshe Idel’s Kabbalah.
R.B. Kitaj: How To Reach 72 In A Jewish Art, exh. cat., Marlborough Gallery, 2005, p. 57.
Provenance
R.B. Kitaj EstateExhibitions
2005, New York, Marlborough Gallery, R.B. Kitaj: How To Reach 72 In A Jewish Art, 1 March - 2 April 2005, cat. no. 502013, Venice, California, L.A. Louver, R.B. Kitaj, 10 Oct. - 9 Nov. 2013, unnumbered
Literature
R.B. Kitaj: How To Reach 72 In A Jewish Art, exh. cat., Marlborough Gallery, 2005, cat. no. 50, p. 57 (col. illus.)Marco Livingstone, Kitaj, Phaidon, 2010, cat. no. 847, p. 280
R.B. Kitaj, exh. cat., L.A. Louver, 2013, pp. 38-39 (col. illus.)
Eckhart Gillen, ed., R.B. Kitaj: Confession of an Old Jewish Painter, Schirmer/Mosel, 2017, p. 339 (col. illus.)