Monday, October 29, 2007

R. B. KITAJ

One of my favorite painters of all time died last week—R. B. Kitaj. I remember the first time I saw one of his paintings in person, I felt like I had stumbled into a place that was as familiar as the dailiness of my own life, including what I'm reading, and as alien as my recurring confusion about all that, if that makes any sense to anyone.

He wrote a lot about his own paintings, as well as others' works of various art. Here's the tail end of a preface he wrote to mini-essays about some of his paintings, explaining why he could write about some and not others:

"...I hope my paintings are little imitations of life. Some paintings have resisted my advances so far and their quietude persists. When a painting says no, I assume she means no."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Lal--Yes, I saw the R.B. Kitaj obit in the Times the other day. I loved his stuff. Years ago a painter friend sent me a copy of a review of a Kitaj show. The review was by John Ashbery and it was the piece of writing that began to change my mind about Ashbery because it was crystal clear and it was the most positive, most generous art review I'd ever seen up to that point. And it made me want to see more of Kitaj's work. Now when was the last time a review of a book of poems in the Times Bk Rev made you want to read the poems being reviewed? I'll bet you can't remember. Neither can I.
So, Requiescat, R.B. Kitaj. People will still be looking at your stuff and telling their friends about it long after Damien Hirst has been completely forgotten.
Bob Berner