This late painting by R. B. Kitaj began its life in 1988 as an elevation in blues of the modernist Cohen house by the architects Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953) and Serge Chermayeff (1900–1996) in Old Church Street, Chelsea, just around the corner from where Kitaj was then living and working in London. In 2004, by now transplanted to Los Angeles, Kitaj completed the foreground. He writes: "It is a strange painting, done in stages over many years. It is a sort of frieze showing a few painters in my London circle in a free-form kind of style. . . . The initials stand for Kitaj, [Lucian] Freud, [Frank] Auerbach, my late wife Sandra Fisher, and [Leon] Kossoff." Notably, all of these painters were either not born in Britain or had parents who fled to London to escape persecution in their former homelands. The harsh execution and high-keyed colors belie an elegiac quality, and more than a hint of affection, in these brisk characterizations of some of the most important people in his life, partly visualized from, partly obscured by, the distant vantage point of Southern California. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2020
