R.B. Kitaj Art
Born Ronald Brooks Kitaj in Cleveland, Ohio, to an American family with Viennese and Russian-Jewish heritage, R.B. Kitaj (1932-2007) is widely regarded as one of the most erudite and iconographically complex artists of the last half-century; he is subsequently considered to be a key figure in the canon of European and American art. His expressive, figurative works combine aspects of contemporary life with art historical and socio-political references, sexuality,self-analysis and Judeo-Christian mysticism embedded in the early 20th-century literature of Franz Kafka and Walter Benjamin. While his work has occasionally been considered controversial, he is undeniably viewed as a master draughtsman with a commitment to figurative art. His highly personal paintings, prints and drawings reflect his deep interest in history; cultural, social and political ideologies; and issues of identity.
As a child, attended art classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Following his studies at Cooper Union in New York and the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, he spent two years in Europe serving for the United States Army. He then continued his studies at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, and at the Royal College of Art in London. He enrolled at the latter in 1959, where he became a close friend of David Hockney, Patrick Caulfield and Allen Jones, he was inititally identified as a pioneer of Pop Art, before recontextualising himself as a School of London painter alongside admired contemporaries that included Auerbach, Bacon, Freud and Kossoff. Kitaj remained in in London for 40 years, until 1997 when he moved to Los Angeles. He died at his home there in 2007, one week before his 75th birthday.
Despite his early association with Pop Art, Kitaj had limited interest in the culture of mass media and instead works from pictorial and literary sources. Renowned for his use of intellectually stimulating historical references, Kitaj's work was often inspired by late 19th-century French art and by his Jewish identity. His paintings and prints add up to an extraordinary body of work; the latter function as an illustrated journal of an artist's life, characterized by a quest for new subject matter and innovative ways to depict it. R.B. Kitaj remains one of the most influential artists since the late 1950's and continues to link personal history with contemporary art through his unique vision.
(Biography provided by Marlborough New York)
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Artist: R.B. Kitaj
1972 R.B. Kitaj 'Baghdad' Hand Signed
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper Size: 20 x 14.5 inches ( 50.8 x 36.83 cm )
Image Size: 20 x 14.5 inches ( 50.8 x 36.83 cm )
Framed: No
Condition: A-: Near Mint, very light signs of handling
Additional D...
Category
1970s Contemporary R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Screen
Femme de Peuple II (hand signed and inscribed to poet Robert Duncan)
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in New York, NY
R. B. Kitaj
Femme de Peuple II (hand signed and inscribed to poet Robert Duncan), 1978
Offset Lithograph (hand signed and inscribed to poet Robert Duncan)
Hand signed and inscribed o...
Category
1970s Pop Art R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Graphite, Offset, Lithograph
O'Neill accuses Faulkner of lack of loyalty and support (Nancy & Jim Dine)
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in New York, NY
Ronald B. (R.B.) Kitaj
Nancy and Jim Dine, or O'Neill accuses Faulkner of lack of loyalty and support (Kinsman 40), 1970
16 Color Silkscreen with collage and coating on different wove papers
Hand signed and numbered in pencil 29/70 on the front. The back (which is framed) bears the Kelpra Studio blindstamp
Frame included: held in the original vintage metal frame
Very rare stateside. Other editions of this work are in the permanent collections of major institutions like the British museum, which has the following explanation: "The artist Jim Dine and his wife Nancy were close to Kitaj and his family, especially after the death of Elsi, Kitaj's first wife in 1969. They sometimes stayed with the Dines at their farm in Vermont during Kitaj's second teaching sojourn in the United States. Dine and Kitaj held a joint show at the Cincinnati Museum of Art in 1973. In the catalogue both artists contributed an insightful 'essay' on each other with Dine stressing Kitaj's obsession with all things American and baseball-related...' The alternate title, "O'Neill accuses Faulkner of lack of loyalty and support" can be seen on the artwork itself, and clearly is some kind of inside joke among friends. By the way -- do you see the way the colored dots are placed over the figures? Kitaj was doing this well before Baldessari who made it famous; that's how pioneering he was at the time.
Referenced in the catalogue raisonne of Kitaj's prints, Kinsman, 40
Published and printed by Chris Prater of Kelpra Studio, Kentish Town, United Kingdom
Ronald Brooks (RB) Kitaj Biography
R.B. (Ronald Brooks) Kitaj was born in 1932 in Cleveland Ohio. One of the most prominent painters of his time, particularly in England where he spent some four decades spanning the late 1950s through the late 1990s, Kitaj is considered a key figure in European and American contemporary painting. While his work has been considered controversial, he is regarded as a master draughtsman with a commitment to figurative art. His highly personal paintings and drawings reflect his deep interest in history; cultural, social and political ideologies; and issues of identity.
Part of an extraordinary cohort who emerged from the Royal College of Art circa 1960, which included Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, and David Hockney, Kitaj was immediately pegged as one of its leading figures. The London Times greeted his first solo show in 1963 as a long-awaited and galvanizing event: “Mr. R.B. Kitaj’s first exhibition, now that it has at last taken place, puts the whole ‘new wave’ of figurative painting in this country during the last two or three years into perspective.” In 1976, KItaj curated the exhibition The Human Clay, and in the essay he wrote for it he proposed the existence of a “School of London”—a label which stuck to a group of painters that includes Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, Leon Kossoff, Michael Andrews...
Category
1970s Pop Art R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Screen, Pencil
Hail Thee Who Play (Michael McClure)
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in New York, NY
R.B. Kitaj
Hail thee who play (Michael McClure), 1969
Silkscreen, photo-silkscreen and collage on black textured paper
33 × 13 9/10 inches
Edition 35/70
Pencil signed and numbered on...
Category
1960s Pop Art R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Screen
Cap'n A.B. Dick (B) Pale pink and raspberry sailor's portrait drawing R.B. Kitaj
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in New York, NY
Kitaj’s drawing on pink paper is of a man in profile, wearing a sou’wester: a fisherman’s collapsible rain hat. The image is a wry portrait, ostensibly of Albert Blake...
Category
1970s Realist R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Lithograph
Cutie
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in New York, NY
R.B. Kitaj
Cutie, 1974
silkscreen, ed. of 70
25 x 19 1/4 in. (63.5 x 48.9 cm)
Category
1970s R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Screen
Bacon II
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in New York, NY
R.B. Kitaj
Bacon II, 1969
screenprint, ed. of 70
40 x 15 in. (101.6 x 38.1 cm)
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Screen
Old and New Tables
By R.B. Kitaj
Located in New York, NY
4 color screenprint, photo-screenprint
edition of 45
Category
1960s Pop Art R.B. Kitaj Art
Materials
Screen
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R.b. Kitaj art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic R.B. Kitaj art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of pink, purple and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by R.B. Kitaj in screen print, mixed media, lithograph and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Pop Art style. Not every interior allows for large R.B. Kitaj art, so small editions measuring 14 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Peter Phillips, Patrick Nagel, and Clemens Briels. R.B. Kitaj art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $800 and tops out at $4,000, while the average work can sell for $1,450.