TitleSitting for Raphael
Artist
John Barnes Dobbs
(American, 1931 - 2011)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 28 1/8 × 32 in.
Framed: 31 × 34 7/8 × 2 7/8 in.
SignedSigned lower right: "Dobbs"
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, April 2, 1979
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1979.5
Label TextThe artist recalls that his friend Raphael Soyer requested him to sit for his portrait to help Soyer get out of a "dry spell" that resulted from his reaction to his brother Moses's death. "[Raphael] always worked from life but was fascinated by artists who did not follow this practice. . . . I thought it might be interesting to do a portrait of Raphael painting my portrait, but after the act. That is, after sitting I would return to my studio and make sketches from memory, trying to find the likeness in the remembered gesture."
