Kitaj

R. B. Kitaj (1932-) is recognized as a modern master whose powerful, controversial and highly personal paintings, pastels and drawings reflect his unfashionable commitment to the human figure as a subject, and his complex involvement with the art of the past, with political and social issues, and with his own Jewish identity. Marco Livingstone's definitive and much praised monograph on Kitaj is based on an extraordinary series of interviews and letters between the artist and the author, and provides full and up-to-date documentation of Kitaj's life and work. The artist himself participated actively in the design of the book, and a series of articulate and revealing 'prefaces' to his own paintings are also included here. For this expanded third edition, the author has written a new chapter surveying Kitaj's work in the 1990s, a tragic period dominated by his now famous confrontation with the critics of his 1994 retrospective exhibition, the subsequent death of his wife the artist Sandra Fisher, and his eventual return to the United States. This text is complemented by a new plate section illustrating 22 recent works, and three additional 'prefaces' written by the artist. The Bibliography and Catalogue of Works have been expanded and updated, and finally many illustrations that were black-and-white in earlier editions are now reproduced in full colour. With its fresh account of a productive and turbulent phase in Kitaj's career, this new edition will be indispensable for all admirers of the artist.

Kitaj is a complex and controversial artist who is one of the most important figural painters of the late 20th century. This monograph is the result of a close collaboration between artist and author and includes a review of Kitaj's work.