Overview

R. B. Kitaj (1932–2007) is one of the most intriguing 20th-century artists. Curating The Human Clay, a 1976 show of figurative contemporary British artists, he coined the term `School of London’ for the artistic circle around Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff. A major 1994 retrospective at the Tate Gallery failed to produce Kitaj’s international breakthrough; in fact, it was savagely panned by British critics. This, and the sudden death of his wife Sandra, induced his increasingly paranoid perspective. Embittered, he returned to the USA and settled in Los Angeles, where he finally took his own life in 2007. Kitaj left behind a manuscript unmatched among 20th-century artist autobiographies. Eloquently describing his vices and sufferings, it tells the story of an artist vacillating between America and Europe. Now published in paperback for the first time, it is a sensation, from both a literary and an art historical point of view. It includes a preface by Kitaj’s close friend, David Hockney, and an epilogue by Eckhart J. Gillen, who discovered the manuscript when he prepared the 2012 Kitaj retrospective exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

Full Product Details

Author:   R.B. Kitaj ,  David Hockney
Publisher:   Thames & Hudson Ltd
Imprint:   Thames & Hudson Ltd
ISBN:  

9780500239865

ISBN 10:   050023986
Pages:   400
Publication Date:   14 March 2019
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Preface by David Hockney * 1. Childhood * 2. Oxford and Warburg * 3. Royal College of Art, London * 4. The American Painter in Swinging London * 5. You Can't Go Home Again - Yet 6. Whoring and Painting On My Perfect Day * 7. How to Start Becoming a Jewish Artist 8. Berkeley, California, 1968 * 9. Man and Woman * 10. Hollywood * 11. Sandra * 12. 62 Elm Park Road, SW3 * 13. The Jew Etc * 14. Porridge Paper and Marynka * 15. The God Question 16. Josep and Guimera * 17. The Human Clay * 18. The Six-Day-War * 19. I Can Draw Better than Any Jew in History * 20. Another American Year * 21. Paris * 22. Summing Up at 50 * 23. London Yet Again * 24. The Royal Academy * 25. Collecting * 26. Prelude to War (1990-1994) 27. Sandringham / Isaiah Berlin * 28. Sandra Influences Me * 29. Tate War - Manifesto J'Accuse 30. `Oh Eclipse of My Sun!' Sandra's Death * 31. Goodbye London * 32. Los Angeles * 33. My Tinsel Jerusalem * 34. Oslo, Madrid, Vienna, Dusseldorf * 35. Kitaj in the Aura of Cezanne

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions