Priest, Deckchair and Distraught Woman

© the estate of R. B. Kitaj. Image credit: Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

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This painting is evidence of Kitaj's fascination with the Journals of the Warburg Institute and the idiosyncratic approach to aesthetic and cultural history of the art historian Aby Warburg. The figures of the priest and distraught woman both appear in Kitaj's earlier painting, 'Specimen Musings of a Democrat', as indeed does the deckchair. Here, however, the distraught woman is given prominence and is a further reference to what Warburg referred to as the 'nympha' or 'maenad' in Florentine Renaissance art, which he described as an intrusive and incongruous figure. Although similar to Botticelli's female figures in her flowing garments and hair, Warburg was more concerned with the hidden cultural and socio-historical meanings of the 'nympha' rather than her aesthetic qualities.

Pallant House Gallery

Chichester

Title

Priest, Deckchair and Distraught Woman

Date

1961

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 127 x W 101.6 cm

Accession number

CHCPH 1291

Acquisition method

gift from Colin St John Wilson through the National Art Collections Fund, 2004

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

Pallant House Gallery

9 North Pallant, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1TJ England

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