JIM DINE

The Lewis-James Paintings

The Iconic Robe in Dine’s Work

The robe is one of the artist’s best-known motifs. The idea of the robe as self-portrait came about as Dine contemplated depicting himself in his work, but wasn’t happy with his initial efforts.

“Dine rather innocently remarked “I found it while leafing through the pages of The New York Times magazine section one day—it was this enigmatic, figureless bathrobe. The man’s body had been airbrushed out.”

For some reason Dine felt that his own body was missing from the robe. He was either consciously or subconsciously looking into his dreams at an archetype of the father or discovered some dimension of his repressed inner masculinity.” — Excerpt from an interview with Jim Dine in “Tablet Magazine” (Jeremy  Sigler, August 14, 2023 https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/jim-dine-bathrobes)