Tuesday 6 March 2012

R. B. Kitaj - part 4

This is part 4 of a 4-part post on the works of American artist R. B. Kitaj (1932-2007). For biographical notes see part 1. For more works see parts 1, 2 & 3. This last part takes a look at two series of prints made in the 1960s.

Kitaj was a self-professed bibliomaniac. In 1969 his love of books provided the inspiration for "In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the Most Part" - a portfolio of 50 screenprints depicting the covers of select books from the his library. Made from enlarged photographic facsimiles of the actual covers, the prints replicate evidence of each book’s handling and use, such as torn bookjackets, stained pages, and worn bindings. Kitaj’s selections include books of significance to the artist (like Ezra Pound’s "How to Read"), as well as apparently random books or leaflets (like the city of Burbank’s annual budget for 1968–69) that reflect the idiosyncratic nature of Kitaj’s book collection, and of book collections in general. The portfolio also speaks to connections between the visual arts and literature, as well as Kitaj’s and other artists’ perception of book as object.

This is a selection from the edition:


City of Burbank Annual Budget

Edward Hopper

Ezra Pound, How to Read

George Gissing, Workers in the Dawn

Industrial Camouflage Manual

Intelligence Bulletin

London by Night

Mark Rothko

Max and the White Phagocytes

Maxim Gorky, Articles and Pamphlets

James Agee, Permit me Voyage

Damon Runyon, Short Takes

Robert W. Service, Songs of a Sourdough

Wyndham Lewis, The Caliph's Design

Vachel Lindsay, The Congo and Other Poems

Leon Trotsky, The Defence of Terrorism

W. B. Yeats, The Tower

The Wording of Police Charges

Kenneth Burke, Towards a Better Life

Carl Th. Dreyer, Vampyr

Howard Marshall, With Scott to the Pole


"Struggle in the West - the bombing of London (horizon/blitz)" : A set of seven screenprints and 1 title page (1967-69) Edition: edition of 70 in linen covered box made by Rudolf Rieser, Cologne.


 Set piece 1

Horizon / Blitz (Prologue)

Safeguarding of Life

Set piece 3

Bullets

Sunday 4 March 2012

R. B. Kitaj - part 3

This is part 3 of a 4-part post on the works of American artist R. B. Kitaj (1932-2007). For biographical notes see part 1. For more works see parts 1 - 2.


1975 The Red Dancer of Moscow ( state 2 )
 screenprint 102.9 x 76.2 cm

1975 The Red Dancer of Moscow 
screenprint 101.3 x 74.9 cm

1975-76 If Not, Not 
oil and black chalk on canvas 152.4 x 152.4 cm

1975-79 The Rise of Fascism 
oil and pastel on paper 85.1 x 158.4 cm

1976-77 The Orientalist 
oil on canvas 243.8 x 76.8 cm

1977 Melancholie after Vincent 
etching 39.4 x 33 cm

1980 Mary Ann 
pastel and charcoal on paper 77.5 x 56 cm

1980 Marynka Smoking 
pastel and charcoal on paper 90.8 x 56.5 cm

1980 The Jewish School ( Drawing a Golem ) 
152 x 152 cm

1981 The Garden 
oil on canvas 121.9 x 121.9 cm

1982 Self-Portrait, Reading 
intaglio soft-ground etching 49.4 x 37 cm

1982 Self-Portrait, Smiling 
intaglio soft-ground etching 40.2 x 22 cm

1983 After Matteo, Self-Portrait 
intaglio soft-ground etching 46.4 x 35 cm

1983 Mother in Pearls 
charcoal and pastel

1983-84 Cecil Ct., London WC2 ( The Refugees ) 
oil on canvas 183 x 183 cm

1983-94 Amerika (Baseball) 
oil on canvas 152.4 x 152.4 cm

1985 Marcus Joseph Sieff, Baron Sieff 
pastel 57.5 x 78.1 cm 
© National Portrait Gallery, London

1989 Melancholy After Durer 
oil on canvas 123.5 x 122.5 cm

1989-93 The Wedding 
oil on canvas 182.9 x 182.9 cm

1990-93 My Cities ( An Experimental Drama ) 
oil on canvas 183.2 x 183.2 cm

1991 The Oak Tree 
oil on canvas 152.7 x 152.4 cm

1994 Self-Portrait as a Cleveland Indian 
charcoal and red pastel 78.4 x 57.4 cm

c2000-04 Self-Portrait ( After Freud’s First Painting of Me )
 charcoal, black and brown pastel 56.5 x 38.5 cm

2005-06 Abraham's God ( After Rembrandt ) 
oil and charcoal on canvas 126.3 x 126.3 cm

Artists for Peace poster

Bather-Psychotic-Boy


La Hispanista (Nissa Torrents)

The Friendship and the Shadow of Betrayal