David Bomberg

Just finished "A Palestine Affair" by Jonathan Wilson (see above), a novel where you have a character ('Mark Bloomberg') who is a painter who was in fact loosely based on "real life" David Bomberg. Some googling-time later I could even find his 1925 painting of Jerusalem.





Self-Portrait

Jerusalem, Looking to Mount Scopus 1925

Oil on canvas
support: 565 x 752 mm frame: 756 x 940 x 65 mm

Purchased 1972

T01683
In 1917 the British Government had declared support for the 'establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people'. Six years later Bomberg, a Jewish artist from the East End of London, was commissioned by a Zionist organisation to paint images of Jewish settlements in Jerusalem. However, Bomberg was not a supporter of Zionism and found the British Government officials in Jerusalem more congenial patrons. The painstakingly detailed depiction of buildings in this painting probably reflects their desire to see a faithful description of the ancient city which they hoped to restore and protect from modernisation.

(From the display caption September 2004)