Cabalistic Painting

1983

Julian Schnabel American, born 1951

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About the Artwork

Schnabel rose to prominence along with other neoexpressionists who used figurative content and appropriation to create a multitude of layered images taken from history, myths, and contemporary culture. Reviving religious and cultural archetypes, Schnabel uses an image from the Cabala, a system of interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures dating back to the thirteenth century. He incorporates imagery from both the Old and New Testaments, showing a man seated at a table on which sits an alembic and a torah. In a crystal vial, there seems to be a reflection of Saint John the Divine writing his Book of Revelation. Schnabel's unorthodox use of velvet for the background has historical connections with royalty and an association with kitsch-oriented souvenir pictures, especially black velvet canvases. His loose, streaked brushstrokes recall the gesture and emotion of the Abstract Expressionists in the 1950s, signaling a return to expression in both content and aesthetics.

Title Cabalistic Painting

Artwork Date 1983

Artist Julian Schnabel

Life Dates born 1951

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on velvet

Dimensions Overall: 108 × 80 × 2 1/8 inches (274.3 × 203.2 × 5.4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department Contemporary Art after 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1992.16

Markings

Signed Signed, on the back: Julian Schnabel

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

the artist. Collection of Roger Davidson (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Locksley Shea Gallery

1992-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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