Sunset At Middle East

#73012     107 X 74 cm     mmp

• Chagall: “Feast Day (Rabbi with Lemon)”, 1914. Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne
• Greco: “View of Toledo”, 1610-14. Metropolitan Museum, NY

A sunrise is more promising than a sunset, more promising and optimistic.The infinite, mirrors-like picture within a picture of the warlike rabbi holding a diminished replica of himself (in our mind’s eye we can see the second rabbi doing the same in turn) suggests a cycle that cannot be broken with tools of hostility.

Parachuting may be fine for carnivals and celebrators, but for warriors, even when they bear the vestments of God, diving through the sky can be associated only with war and force.

Despite the lemons (whimsical or symbolic?), this is a picture of dangerous reality. It seems unlikely that Chen’s convergence of cultures will be found floating in this wind current.

– Lawrance Jeppson