Self Portrait with Distinguishing Features (The Eternal Jew) 2010. Oil on Canvas 29"h x 90"w
This painting explores ongoing bigotry and racial stereotyping in our contemporary world, and in
particular, was created as a reaction to the recent vociferous hatred and vilification (as expressed by
some) to Barack Obama’s election campaign and presidency. This self-portrait is an unequivocal statement
of defiance to those destructive elements in our society who would attempt to divide us.
The work is based upon a series of plaster models stereotyping "typical Jewish" features, that were
created for the exhibition Die Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew), which opened in the German Museum in
Munich on November 8, 1937. Billed as a degenerate-art exhibition, it was the largest prewar anti-Semitic
exhibit produced by the Nazis. Police reports at the time, stated there was a direct correlation in the rise
of anti-Semitic feelings, and in some cases violence against the Jewish community in each of the cities
where the exhibition was held.
"Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the
bitch that bore him is in heat again." From Bertolt Brecht's 1941 play, "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"
particular, was created as a reaction to the recent vociferous hatred and vilification (as expressed by
some) to Barack Obama’s election campaign and presidency. This self-portrait is an unequivocal statement
of defiance to those destructive elements in our society who would attempt to divide us.
The work is based upon a series of plaster models stereotyping "typical Jewish" features, that were
created for the exhibition Die Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew), which opened in the German Museum in
Munich on November 8, 1937. Billed as a degenerate-art exhibition, it was the largest prewar anti-Semitic
exhibit produced by the Nazis. Police reports at the time, stated there was a direct correlation in the rise
of anti-Semitic feelings, and in some cases violence against the Jewish community in each of the cities
where the exhibition was held.
"Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the
bitch that bore him is in heat again." From Bertolt Brecht's 1941 play, "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"
