Book Description

An intimate friendship of more than three decades is chronicled here, along with the aesthetic evolution of two major American artists. R.B. Kitaj's unusual, handsome, troubled, charismatic face has been a rich subject for Lee Friedlander's camera since the two artists became friends in 1970, when both were teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Kitaj" begins and ends with photographs shot in Los Angeles, and the artist's passage from raw and vigorous young man to grizzly, white-haired prophet is charted through more than 90 images. A frank and moving series of images from 1994, focused on Kitaj during the days following his wife Sandra's sudden and unexpected death, achieve a disarming intimacy that could only have been the result of a deep and trusting friendship. "Kitaj" includes a reminiscence by Kitaj himself as well as an introduction by Friedlander's wife, Maria. A great photograph is like a great translation, which gives you a little something of a more gorgeous original. It's a short-lived illusion glancing my day. That's why we place photos of loved ones around the house. They escape the tomb, don't they? We read and reread them into a spectral life. --R.B. KitajI can sympathize with Kitaj that at times he would wish to look better in a certain photo, to be rendered differently... But there we are, both Kitaj and myself, I for more than forty years and Kitaj for over thirty, accepting ourselves as subjects for a photographer we trust. --Maria Friedlander
Introduction by Maria Friedlander. Afterword by R.B. Kitaj.

9.5 x 9.5 in.
96 duotone illustrations ... Read more

Reviews (1)

this review refers to the older edition
I have the older edition described above and I thought it was the greatest thing until now. My main disappointment in that edition was the number of b/w prints. Kitaj is a superior draftsman whose work brings in a lot of outside allusions - it looks like the work of a great and active mind that knows about things you yourself have no knowledge of - almost as if he lives on another planet, really. Anyway, whatever it is you know about, the drawing is what makes this great. Kitaj draws eyes better than anyone I can think of. I'd love to read more about his response to the critical panning he received in England recently. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Kitaj's enigmatic and highly personal paintings engage with contemporary culture, his Jewish identity, and the horror of the Holocaust. His hero is Cézanne: "He is my greatest painter of all and the three last Bathers are my favorite art of all."Kitaj recently embarked on a series of seven major new paintings inspired by Cézanne's Bathers for an exhibition at the National Gallery, London. These new works are reproduced here for the first time, together with a series of black chalk drawings, directly inspired by Cézanne. The book includes a short essay about Kitaj's work, which places the new paintings in the context of his earlier works and reveals his constant preoccupation with the Old Masters. There is also a new and previously unpublished interview with the artist. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent collection of critical essays
As a student currently researching a dissertation on Kitaj, I must say that this handy little book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the study of this fascinating artist. The texts are rather dense and scholarly (the general reader should check out Marco Livingstone's monograph) but they cover a very wide range of issues and interpretations, some of which have never been dealt with in depth before. One such example is Pat Gilmour's essay on Kitaj's importance as a screenprinter, something rarely touched on in the literature, mainly due to Kitaj's re-evaluation of his early work.

Furthermore, other essays explore Kitaj's relation to tradition, his interest in cinema, as well as the social and historical context surrounding some of his allusive paintings. There is even a rather critical essay by Terry Atkinson (formerly of Art & Language) which takes Kitaj to task for daring to carry on the "fetish" of painting. Rather, suggests Atkinson, artists ought to give up such nonsense and sit around pondering the nature of Modernism instead. Oh well, we can't all be philosophers, yet it's heartening that there are still artists alive such as Kitaj who can carry on producing painting which invites informed and stimulating discussion in books such as this. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1819 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Gallery chronicle.
Author: Daniel Kunitz
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 19Issue: 5Page: 51

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on March 22, 1999. The length of the article is 340 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Kitaj: Pictures and Conversations.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Irving Malin
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1999
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: 19Issue: 1Page: 182

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thompson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on May 4, 1998. The length of the article is 508 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: El contador de historias.(Ronald Brooks Kitaj, Reina Sofa, Madrid, Madrid, Espaa)(TT: The story teller.)(TA: Ronald Brooks Kitaj, Reina Sofa, Madrid, Madrid, Spain)
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 4, 1998
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Page: 72(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

This unique volume brings together artists active in the broad stream of the modern movement, whose work responds to experience of the world at large and reflects in particular those Jewish themes and concerns which have marked the turbulent events of our era. Avram Kampf focuses on artists such as Mordechai Ardon, David Bomberg, Marc Chagall, R. B. Kitaj, Jack Levine, Amadeo Modigliani, Mark Rothko, Chaim Soutine, and Max Weber--whose works of art are an expression of the Jewish people, the approaching catastrophe, the Holocaust, Israel, and the religious traditions and philosphies nourished from Jewish sources. Beautifully illustrated, this book contains 48 more color illustrations than its first edition, as well as more than 200 black and white and color illustrations. Also, over fifty percent of the illustrations have been changed from the first edition and the text has been substantially revised. ... Read more