Kitaj Pictures and Conversations

Kitaj: Pictures and Conversations is both a conversation with and a meditation on the work of the American-born painter R.B. Kitaj, who has lived more than half his life in London. Together novelist, Julian Rios, and painter, R.B. Kitaj, in an exuberant exchange of wordplay and allusion, look at the formative experiences that lie behind the extraordinary eclecticism of Kitaj's art. They consider the influence on his work of artists ancient and modern, his fascination with the grim underside of city life, and the huge inspiration he has found in literature and the cinema. They also explore his increasing awareness of his Jewish identity and the quest to comprehend through his painting the conflicts and troubles of his century.