R.B. Kitaj found inspiration in his extensive library that reflected his varied interests: literature, art history, Jewish identity and film. The painting above Whistler vs. Ruskin alludes to the infamous libel suit between James Abbot Whistler and John Ruskin, and is a direct compositional reference to George Bellows’ 1924 painting Dempsey and Firpo. 

In the 1994 Tate Retrospective catalogue, Kitaj explained his approach to this particular work:

Anyone who doesn’t know about the famous and absurd Whistler–Ruskin trial a century ago should look it up because it’s a lot of fun even though it ruined both of them… The painting is based mainly on my fellow Ohioan, [George] Bellows, of course… Dempsey and Firpo, at the Whitney… What a fight that must have been – even Babe Ruth was there for the whole four minutes it lasted. I’ve followed boxing all my life and I’ve taken liberties with some of the strange events of those four minutes (it was Dempsey, the eventual winner, who was knocked out of the ring), but even though Whistler won the case, we’re not sure he did, are we? Anyway, this painting is also about London American coxcombs getting our chops in, and about the way painting may be said to extend its aesthetic reach of punch beyond the sacred plane, into time, historical stream and vivid lineage of bloodline: the Ruskin figure is based on the amazing torso (which I’ve upended) of a Rembrandt Christ (the Munich ‘Descent From The Cross’)… Rembrandt comments on this transcription of his. He wrote that he wanted to express the 'deepest inward emotion’. I think I projected my deepest emotion into the referee, which is a self-portrait, by an old boy of the drawing school Ruskin founded at Oxford.

Stay tuned on our blog – we’ll continue to explore the rich imagery featured in R.B. Kitaj’s paintings, currently on view at L.A. Louver through November 9, 2013.

Visit our website to see more works in the exhibition, and to learn about upcoming R.B. Kitaj events at L.A. Louver. 

IMAGES: (top) R.B Kitaj, Whistler vs. Ruskin, 1992, © R.B. Kitaj Estate; (bottom): George Bellows, Dempsey and Firpo, 1924, Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, NY