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A LIFE

© The Estate of R.B. Kitaj

A LIFE 1975

R B Kitaj (1932 – 2007)

Details

Dimension
73 X 52.8 CM
Media
LITHOGRAPH
Accession number
P4428

Summary

An American by birth, Kitaj took advantage of provisions in the GI Bill to settle in England in 1958 to study at the Ruskin School of Drawing, and later at the Royal College of Art. Kitaj’s championing of figurative art provided a salutary alternative to the then prevailing influence of American abstraction, and his ability to draw on a wide variety of historical and contemporary subjects provided a model for a new form of picture- making. The composition of the lithograph here is based on a pastel, Femme du Peuple II (Private Collection USA), and ‘a pulp novel I can’t remember’’, showing an encounter between a young prostitute and an anonymous man, unidentifiable in his trench coat with his hat pulled firmly down.

Thresholds, British Council 2010

Glossary

  • Abstraction

    To abstract means to remove, and in the art sense it means that artist has removed or withheld references to an object, landscape or figure to produce a simplified or schematic work. This method of creating art has led to many critical theories; some theorists considered this the purest form of art: art for art’s sake. Unconcerned as it is with materiality, abstraction is often considered as representing the spiritual.

  • Contemporary

    Existing or coming into being at the same period; of today or of the present. The term that designates art being made today.

  • Drawing

    The depiction of shapes and forms on a flat surface chiefly by means of lines although colour and shading may also be included. Materials most commonly used are pencil, ink, crayon, charcoal, chalk and pastel, although other materials, including paint, can be used in combination.

  • Pastel

    A drawing medium of dried paste made of ground pigments and a water-based binder that is manufactured in crayon form. The term also refers to a picture or sketch drawn with this type of crayon.