The Second Diasporist Manifesto
by R.B. Kitaj
from Yale University Press
Kitaj: The Architects, Colin St John Wilson and Mj Long
from Black Dog Publishing
Through a collection of diary extracts written by the subjects themselves, Kitaj The Architects: Colin St John Wilson and MJ Long provides a fascinating insight into the artistic process of a painting in composition.
RB Kitaj started painting The Architects in August of 1979 to celebrate the remodelling of his home by MJ Long. Painted largely without the models present, this portrait of his friends against the backdrop of the stepped bookcase designed for him by Long marks a significant transition in Kitaj's development as an artist. Breaking with his earlier graphic work, Kitaj experimented with technique in search of a renewed artistic vision, arriving at an awkwardness of composition reminiscent of Manet and a colouration inspired by van Gogh. Kitaj: The Architects closely follows this development, documenting each sitting session, from the first preliminary sketches to the final delivery of the painting in late 1981. A thoughtful and revealing take on Kitaj's artistic method, Colin St John Wilson and MJ Long's observations capture the creative process through the explorations of initial ideas, happy accidents, compositional struggles and dissatisfactions, to the finished artefact.
Kitaj: Pictures and Conversations
by Julian Rios
from Moyer Bell
The Human Clay: An Exhibition Selected by R.B. KITAJ.
Critical Kitaj: Essays on the Work of R. B. Kitaj (Issues in Art History Series)
from Rutgers University Press
First Diasporist Manifesto: With 60 Illustrations
Kitaj: In the Aura of Cezanne and Other Masters
by Anthony Rudolf
from National Gallery London
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 There is also a new and previously unpublished interview with the artist.
Kitaj (Contemporary Artists)
by Andrew Lambirth
from Philip Wilson Publishers
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