.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
With its oblique assemblage of objects and forms, Self-Portrait is an enigmatic early work by R.B. Kitaj. Executed in 1965, the work dates from the initial stages of the artist’s rise to acclaim, during which he mounted his first solo museum exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. In conversation with Julián Ríos, Kitaj explained that the contents of the work – including a fan, a New York tenement building and three charred fabric samples – did not form a recognisable narrative, claiming that ‘I believe it represents a mood I was in’ (R.B. Kitaj, quoted in J. Ríos, Kitaj: Pictures and Conversations, London 1994, p. 91). Nonetheless, it offers an intriguing early picture of an artist who would go on to plunder an extraordinary array of sources, layering his findings with a fluid, near-Surrealist logic. It is a portrait, perhaps, of his own eclectic outlook: as Ríos suggested – quoting Wittgenstein – ‘ich bin meine Welt’ (‘I am my world’). The work was included in Kitaj’s solo exhibition at the Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, in 1970.
Self-Portrait was originally owned by Sir Colin St John (‘Sandy’) Wilson, the celebrated architect best known for designing the current British Library building near Kings Cross. Wilson was closely connected to the post-war British art scene, involving himself with the Independent Group during the 1950s and contributing to the seminal exhibition This is Tomorrow held at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1956. He became a friend and key supporter of Kitaj, inviting him to speak at the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Contemporary Arts during the early 1960s. Wilson’s wife MJ Long would later redesign Kitaj’s studio, and his friendship with the couple is immortalised in his painting The Architects, 1980-1984 (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester). Over the course of their careers, Wilson and Long amassed over 400 works by Kitaj and other British artists including Lucian Freud, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton and David Bomberg. Lancaster acquired the work in January 2006, shortly before Wilson donated his share of the collection to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.
Self-Portrait was originally owned by Sir Colin St John (‘Sandy’) Wilson, the celebrated architect best known for designing the current British Library building near Kings Cross. Wilson was closely connected to the post-war British art scene, involving himself with the Independent Group during the 1950s and contributing to the seminal exhibition This is Tomorrow held at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1956. He became a friend and key supporter of Kitaj, inviting him to speak at the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Contemporary Arts during the early 1960s. Wilson’s wife MJ Long would later redesign Kitaj’s studio, and his friendship with the couple is immortalised in his painting The Architects, 1980-1984 (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester). Over the course of their careers, Wilson and Long amassed over 400 works by Kitaj and other British artists including Lucian Freud, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton and David Bomberg. Lancaster acquired the work in January 2006, shortly before Wilson donated his share of the collection to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.