Robert Kelly

Kill the Messenger Robert Kelly First edition

Everything that ought to be known about Robert Kelly can be found in his books, of which this is the fortieth.

From "The Court Painter":


How can I show you the truth of

anyone witout his face you ask?

The face is the last thing I paint,

& the least important.

It is there to trick the subject

into thinking he is one,

that he has been 'represented.'

But where he is is in a fold

of cape, shadow of a label,

wrinkle between elbow & those wide

gold stripes that tell how great he is