Richard Arthur Wollheim

This portraitback to top

Wollheim and Kitaj were friends for over forty years and Wollheim contributed an essay for the catalogue of Kitaj's Tate Gallery retrospective exhibition in 1994. In addition to the present work, Kitaj made two other drawings of Wollheim including a study for an unfinished painting, Three Philosophers. The present portrait was given by the artist to the sitter on his 70th birthday in 1993. Kitaj was filmed making the drawing for a BBC film on drawing made by Mike Gibb. The roundel format, which surrounds the head of the sitter, is a striking device, recalling Ghiberti's portraits on the Baptistery doors in Florence.

Events of 1993back to top

Current affairs

The Conservative Party is attacked in the media for 'sleaze'. Two MP's resign over sex scandals, two over the 'cash-for-questions affair', and one dies in bizarre and embarrassing circumstances. Journalist Max Clifford was responsible for exposing many of the scandals.
Black teenager Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racist attack by a gang of white youths.

Art and science

Rachel Whiteread wins the Turner Prize for her sculpture House; a concrete cast of the inside of a Victorian terraced house in East London. Controversy was caused by the work itself, by it winning the Turner Prize, and by the decision of Tower Hamlets council to demolish the sculpture.
British inventor James Dyson revolutionises the vacuum cleaner with his eponymous design.

International

Czechoslovakia is divided into two countries: the Slovak Republic (Slovakia) and the Czech Republic. The division was peaceful and democratic and so became known as the 'Velvet Divorce', recalling the 'Velvet Revolution' of 1989 by which Communism in Czechoslovakia was overthrown through peaceful mass demonstrations.

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