The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (251 page)
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Authors: Ian Chilvers
Kitaj , Ron B.
(1932– ).
American painter and graphic artist, active mainly in England, where he has been one of the most prominent figures of the
Pop art
movement. Before becoming a student at the
Royal College of Art
Kitaj had travelled widely (he was a merchant seaman, then served in the US army) and his wide cultural horizons gave him an influential position among his contemporaries (he studied with
Hockney
and Allen
Jones
), particularly in holding up his own preference for figuration in opposition to the prevailing abstraction. After a visit to Paris in 1975 he was inspired by
Degas
to take up pastel, which he has used for much of his subsequent work. Late 19th-cent. French art has been a major source of inspiration, as has a preoccupation with his Jewish identity, and he has said: ‘I took it into my cosmopolitan head that I should attempt to do
Cézanne
and Degas and Kafka over again, after Auschwitz.’ Unlike the majority of Pop artists, Kitaj has had relatively little interest in the culture of the mass media and has evolved a multi-evocative pictorial language, deriving from a wide range of pictorial and literary sources—indeed he has declared that he is not a Pop artist. Typically his work uses broad areas of flat colour within a strong linear framework, creating an effect somewhat akin to comic strips.
American painter and graphic artist, active mainly in England, where he has been one of the most prominent figures of the
Pop art
movement. Before becoming a student at the
Royal College of Art
Kitaj had travelled widely (he was a merchant seaman, then served in the US army) and his wide cultural horizons gave him an influential position among his contemporaries (he studied with
Hockney
and Allen
Jones
), particularly in holding up his own preference for figuration in opposition to the prevailing abstraction. After a visit to Paris in 1975 he was inspired by
Degas
to take up pastel, which he has used for much of his subsequent work. Late 19th-cent. French art has been a major source of inspiration, as has a preoccupation with his Jewish identity, and he has said: ‘I took it into my cosmopolitan head that I should attempt to do
Cézanne
and Degas and Kafka over again, after Auschwitz.’ Unlike the majority of Pop artists, Kitaj has had relatively little interest in the culture of the mass media and has evolved a multi-evocative pictorial language, deriving from a wide range of pictorial and literary sources—indeed he has declared that he is not a Pop artist. Typically his work uses broad areas of flat colour within a strong linear framework, creating an effect somewhat akin to comic strips.
kit-cat
.
.
A canvas measuring 36 × 28 in. (92 × 71 cm.). The name derives from
Kneller's
portraits of the Kit-Cat Club (NPG, London,
c.
1702–21), all but one of which (there are forty-two) are of this size. Members of the club, which was founded in the last years of the 17th cent. and included many of the leading Whigs of the day, met originally at a tavern near Temple Bar kept by Christopher Cat (or Kat) that was famous for its mutton pies known as ‘Kit-cats’. The kit-cat size canvas is particularly suited to life-size portraits showing the sitter's head and shoulders and one or both hands, and Kneller's portraits popularized the format.
Kneller's
portraits of the Kit-Cat Club (NPG, London,
c.
1702–21), all but one of which (there are forty-two) are of this size. Members of the club, which was founded in the last years of the 17th cent. and included many of the leading Whigs of the day, met originally at a tavern near Temple Bar kept by Christopher Cat (or Kat) that was famous for its mutton pies known as ‘Kit-cats’. The kit-cat size canvas is particularly suited to life-size portraits showing the sitter's head and shoulders and one or both hands, and Kneller's portraits popularized the format.
Kitchen Sink School
.
.
A group of British
Social Realist
painters active in the 1950s who specialized in drab working-class subjects, notably interior scenes and still lifes of domestic clutter and debris. The main artists covered by the term were John
Bratby
, Derrick Greaves (1927– ), Edward Middleditch (1923– ), and Jack Smith (1928– ), who were supported by the Beaux Arts Gallery in London (they became known as the Beaux Arts Quartet) and by the leftwing critic John Berger (1926– ); in 1956 they exhibited together at the Venice
Biennale
. By their choice of dour and sordid themes and their harsh aggressive style they expressed the same kind of dissatisfaction with the social and moral values of post-war British society as the ‘Angry Young Men’ in literature (writers such as John Osborne , whose
Look Back in Anger
was first produced in 1956, were sometimes referred to as ‘kitchen sink dramatists’). The mood did not last and from the late 1950s the painters of the Kitchen Sink School developed in different ways, Bratby, for example, emphasizing his
Expressionist
handling and Smith eventually turning to abstraction. Berger denounced his former protégés.
Social Realist
painters active in the 1950s who specialized in drab working-class subjects, notably interior scenes and still lifes of domestic clutter and debris. The main artists covered by the term were John
Bratby
, Derrick Greaves (1927– ), Edward Middleditch (1923– ), and Jack Smith (1928– ), who were supported by the Beaux Arts Gallery in London (they became known as the Beaux Arts Quartet) and by the leftwing critic John Berger (1926– ); in 1956 they exhibited together at the Venice
Biennale
. By their choice of dour and sordid themes and their harsh aggressive style they expressed the same kind of dissatisfaction with the social and moral values of post-war British society as the ‘Angry Young Men’ in literature (writers such as John Osborne , whose
Look Back in Anger
was first produced in 1956, were sometimes referred to as ‘kitchen sink dramatists’). The mood did not last and from the late 1950s the painters of the Kitchen Sink School developed in different ways, Bratby, for example, emphasizing his
Expressionist
handling and Smith eventually turning to abstraction. Berger denounced his former protégés.
Kitson , Linda
.
.
Klee , Paul
(1879–1940).
German-Swiss painter, graphic artist, and writer on art, one of the most individual figures in 20th-cent. art. He trained at the Academy of Fine Art, Munich, 1898–1901, and after travelling in Italy, 1901–2, and visiting Paris in 1905 with Louis
Moilliet
he settled in Munich in 1906, in the same year marrying the pianist Lily Stumpf (he was himself a talented violinist). In 1911 he met
Jawlensky
,
Kandinsky
,
Macke
, and
Marc
, and in the following year took part in the second Blaue Reiter exhibition. Also in 1912 he visited Paris for the second time; he met
Delaunay
and saw
Cubist
pictures. In 1914 he travelled with Moilliet and August Macke to Tunisia, a journey which awakened him to a new sense of colour (most of his work before this date had been in black and white). During the war he served in the Germany army, being engaged for part of the time on painting aeroplane wings. In 1919 an exhibition in Munich of 362 of his works made Klee internationally famous. Invited by
Gropius
to teach at the
Bauhaus
, he moved to Weimar in 1921 and followed the Bauhaus to Dessau in 1926. In 1931 he left the Bauhaus to take up an appointment at the Düsseldorf Academy, but he was forced to abandon this in 1933 by the Nazi administration and left Germany for Berne. His works were included in the notorious exhibition of
Degenerate Art
in 1937.
Although Klee was not politically inclined, there is no doubt that during his last years in Berne his mood was one of profound disappointment, perhaps bordering on acute depression. In 1935 he suffered the first symptoms of the illness that caused his death in 1940, a rare debilitating disease called scleroderma. Although he remained productive until the end, the predominance of a darker scale of colour in the paintings of the last seven years, their preoccupation with malign and malevolent forces and themes of corruption, and the appearance of a more bitter form of satire instead of his earlier playfulness all attest to the mental stress under which he lived during these years. Yet his technical and formal mastery remained unaffected and his sense of humour (albeit macabre humour) remained even when he was facing death (
Death and Fire
, Paul Klee Foundation, Kunstmuseum, Berne, 1940). Klee was one of the most inventive and prolific of the modern masters, his complete output being estimated at some 8,000 works. It is impossible to categorize his work stylistically as he moved freely between figuration and abstraction, absorbing countless influences and transforming these through his unrivalled imaginative gifts. In spite of this variety, his work—in whatever style—is almost always easily recognizable as his, revealing a joyous spirit that is hard to parallel in 20th-cent. art. Klee was a brilliant and undogmatic teacher and a stimulating writer on art. Various collections of his writings (including his notebooks and diaries) have been published. The best-known individual work is
Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch
, published in 1925 as the second of the Bauhaus Books and translated into English as
Pedagogical Sketch book
(1953).
German-Swiss painter, graphic artist, and writer on art, one of the most individual figures in 20th-cent. art. He trained at the Academy of Fine Art, Munich, 1898–1901, and after travelling in Italy, 1901–2, and visiting Paris in 1905 with Louis
Moilliet
he settled in Munich in 1906, in the same year marrying the pianist Lily Stumpf (he was himself a talented violinist). In 1911 he met
Jawlensky
,
Kandinsky
,
Macke
, and
Marc
, and in the following year took part in the second Blaue Reiter exhibition. Also in 1912 he visited Paris for the second time; he met
Delaunay
and saw
Cubist
pictures. In 1914 he travelled with Moilliet and August Macke to Tunisia, a journey which awakened him to a new sense of colour (most of his work before this date had been in black and white). During the war he served in the Germany army, being engaged for part of the time on painting aeroplane wings. In 1919 an exhibition in Munich of 362 of his works made Klee internationally famous. Invited by
Gropius
to teach at the
Bauhaus
, he moved to Weimar in 1921 and followed the Bauhaus to Dessau in 1926. In 1931 he left the Bauhaus to take up an appointment at the Düsseldorf Academy, but he was forced to abandon this in 1933 by the Nazi administration and left Germany for Berne. His works were included in the notorious exhibition of
Degenerate Art
in 1937.
Although Klee was not politically inclined, there is no doubt that during his last years in Berne his mood was one of profound disappointment, perhaps bordering on acute depression. In 1935 he suffered the first symptoms of the illness that caused his death in 1940, a rare debilitating disease called scleroderma. Although he remained productive until the end, the predominance of a darker scale of colour in the paintings of the last seven years, their preoccupation with malign and malevolent forces and themes of corruption, and the appearance of a more bitter form of satire instead of his earlier playfulness all attest to the mental stress under which he lived during these years. Yet his technical and formal mastery remained unaffected and his sense of humour (albeit macabre humour) remained even when he was facing death (
Death and Fire
, Paul Klee Foundation, Kunstmuseum, Berne, 1940). Klee was one of the most inventive and prolific of the modern masters, his complete output being estimated at some 8,000 works. It is impossible to categorize his work stylistically as he moved freely between figuration and abstraction, absorbing countless influences and transforming these through his unrivalled imaginative gifts. In spite of this variety, his work—in whatever style—is almost always easily recognizable as his, revealing a joyous spirit that is hard to parallel in 20th-cent. art. Klee was a brilliant and undogmatic teacher and a stimulating writer on art. Various collections of his writings (including his notebooks and diaries) have been published. The best-known individual work is
Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch
, published in 1925 as the second of the Bauhaus Books and translated into English as
Pedagogical Sketch book
(1953).
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