Tempera on board
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bernard-perlin-1758" aria-label="More by Bernard Perlin" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Bernard Perlin</a>
Orthodox Boys
Presented by Lincoln Kirstein through the Institute of Contemporary Arts 1950
architecture
book - non-specific
boy
children
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
graffiti
Judaism
kippa
New York, Canal Street subway
objects
people
places
reading, writing, printed matter
religion and belief
religions
religious and ceremonial
townscapes / man-made features
USA
wall
<p>The handing down of intellectual or religious knowledge is a traditional form of male bonding. This painting depicts two Jewish boys on the platform at Canal Street subway stop, New York City. The green wall, the back of a newspaper kiosk, is used to compress the space in the picture and focus attention on the psychological quality of the work. Graffiti on the wall record the former presence of other city dwellers, from lovers to Nazi sympathisers. The inscribers have left their marks, which help to verify their own sense of identity. Behind the kiosk the boys are solemnly and furtively sharing a Hebrew text, also inscribed, which is a sign of their difference, a sign of their Jewishness.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting tempera board
31 January 2002 – 14 April 2002
2002-04-14
31 January 2002 – 14 April 2002
2002-04-14
2002-01-31
Barbican Art Gallery (London, UK)
2002-01-31
The London Art Scene in the Fifties
Loan-out
17 September 2011 – 8 January 2012
2012-01-08
17 September 2011 – 8 January 2012
2012-01-08
2011-09-17
Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK)
2011-09-17
Nothing in the world but youth
Loan-out
3 April 2017 – 5 October 2020
2020-10-05
3 April 2017 – 5 October 2020
2020-10-05
2017-04-03
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2017-04-03
Refiguring American Abstraction
Collection based display
20 March 2020 – 7 February 2021
2021-02-07
20 March 2020 – 7 February 2021
2021-02-07
2020-03-20
Jewish Museum (New York, USA)
2020-03-20
Jonathan Horowitz: We Fight to Build a Free World
Loan-out
Orthodox Boys
support: 762 × 1016 mm
frame: 807 × 1062 × 35 mm
Presented by Lincoln Kirstein through the Institute of Contemporary Arts 1950
<p>The handing down of intellectual or religious knowledge is a traditional form of male bonding. This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> depicts two Jewish boys on the platform at Canal Street subway stop, New York City. The green wall, the back of a newspaper kiosk, is used to compress the space in the picture and focus attention on the psychological quality of the work. Graffiti on the wall record the former presence of other city dwellers, from lovers to Nazi sympathisers. The inscribers have left their marks, which help to verify their own sense of identity. Behind the kiosk the boys are solemnly and furtively sharing a Hebrew text, also inscribed, which is a sign of their difference, a sign of their Jewishness.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<strong>Bernard Perlin</strong> born 1918
<p>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/perlin-orthodox-boys-n05956" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05956</span></a> <strong>Orthodox Boys</strong> 1948
</p><p>
Inscribed 'Bernard Perlin 1948' b.l.<br/>
Tempera on millboard, 30 x 40 (76 x 102)<br/>
Presented by Lincoln Kirstein through the ICA 1950<br/>
<em>Prov:</em> With M. Knoedler, New York (purchased from the artist 1948); Lincoln Kirstein, New York, 1948<br/>
<em>Exh:</em> <em>Bernard Perlin</em>, Knoedler, New York, May-June 1948 (6); <em>Painting in the United States 1949</em>, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, October-December 1949 (35, repr.); <em>Artists under 35 Years of Age</em>, Metropolitan Museum, New York, March-April 1950 (no catalogue); <em>Symbolic Realism in American Painting</em>, ICA, London, July-August 1950 (21, repr.); XXVIII Biennale, Venice, June-October 1956 (US pavilion 35, repr. in special catalogue <em>American Artists paint the City</em>, pl.14); <em>American Artists paint the City</em>, Art Institute of Chicago, January-March 1957 (works not numbered, repr. pl.14)<br/>
<em>Repr:</em> <em>Art News</em>, XLVII, June-August 1948, p.51; <em>Architectural Review</em>, CVIII, 1950, p.206
</p><p>
Orthodox Jewish boys on the platform at Canal Street subway stop, New York City. The green wall is the back of a newspaper kiosk (letter from the artist, 26 August 1952).
</p><p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
Ronald Alley, <em>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</em>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.584, reproduced p.584
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</p>
Catalogue entry
2000-04-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
architecture book - non-specific boy children cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents graffiti Judaism kippa New York, Canal Street subway objects people places reading, writing, printed matter religion and belief religions religious and ceremonial townscapes / man-made features USA wall