Inscribed on the reverse: Sebastian in the Kitchen / 1977 Oil on canvas 61 x 50 cm / 24 x 20 inches / George Deem
Reference
Vermeer, The Milkmaid.
Antonello da Messina, Saint Sebastian.
In his
Connaissance article (April 1977), Udo Kultermann reproduced a drawing of mine that he has in his collection,
Sebastian in the Kitchen. I think
Sebastian in the Kitchen will make a good painting, oil on canvas, a companion picture to
Hands Off Mayakovski: instead of Mayakovski seated against the wall behind Vermeer's maidservant pouring milk, I will paint Antonello da Messina's
Saint Sebastian standing there. Marc Chagall did something when he decided he would paint many many paintings by repeating himself a lot.
Sebastian in the Kitchen: a play between impasto and a glaze technique, impasto for Vermeer's maidservant pouring milk with an immediate jump to glaze for the figure of St. Sebastian.("Extra Genre,"
WhiteWalls: A Magazine of Writings by Artists #6 Summer 1981 p. 15, Reproduction p. 18).
The 1976 oil-on-paper picture Hands Off Mayakovski which was reproduced with your article in Connaissance des Arts (April 1977), is a study for an oil-on-canvas painting, same title. In the study, Mayakovski wears a comic-book-green suit. In the painting, the suit is comic-book purple. ... The oil-on-canvas painting Sebastian in the Kitchen is of course from the drawing you own, which was also reproduced in Connaissance. It is one of a series of three paintings, with Hands Off Mayakovski and Words By Ronald Vance (later retitled Seventeen by the artist). In the current show (at Allan Stone Gallery, New York) these pictures were hung in sequence: Sebastian, Mayakovski, Words By R.V. These three pictures can also be joined as a triptych. (George Deem, letter to Udo Kultermann, November 26, 1977)
