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RB Kitaj RA (1932-2007)

Born: 29 October 1932, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Died: 21 October 2007, Los Angeles, United States
Elected ARA: 9 May 1984
Elected RA: 26 June 1991
Category of Membership: Painter

R B Kitaj studied at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York from 1950 to 1951, at the Academy of Fine Art, Vienna from 1951 to 1952, at the Ruskin School of Drawing, Oxford from 1953 to 1959 and at the Royal College of Art, London from 1959 to 1961. Kitaj went on to teach at Camberwell School of Art from 1962 to 1966 and at the University of California, Berkeley from 1970 to 1971. He was Artist in Residence at Dartmouth College, USA from 1978 to 1979.

R B Kitaj RA, Against Slander

Kitaj’s first solo show was held at the Marlborough New London Gallery in 1963. This quickly led to a succession of solo exhibitions throughout the world including the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York (1965), Cleveland Museum of Art (1967), the Icon Gallery, Birmingham (1977) and FIAC, Paris (1978). He continued to exhibit regularly with Marlborough Fine Art in London, New York and Zurich. Retrospectives of his work were held at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC in 1981 and at the Tate Gallery, London in 1994. His work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions from 1958 to the present day.

R B Kitaj RA, Dr Claribel and Miss Etta Kitaj was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1982. He also received Honorary Doctorates from the University of London, the Royal College of Art and Durham University in 1982, 1991 and 1996 respectively. He received the Golden Lion for Painting at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and in 1997 won the Wollaston Award for the most distinguished work in the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. In 1996 he was nominated Chevalier des Arts and des Lettres by the French Government. Kitaj was elected Royal Academician in 1991 (ARA in 1984), and in 1997 moved to Los Angeles, where he died in October 2007.

Recent solo exhibitions
2006 Marlborough Gallery, London
2001 National Gallery, London
2000 Marlborough Gallery, New York
1998 Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo
Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid
Jewish Museum, Hannover
1995 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1994 Marlborough Fine Art, London
Tate Gallery, London
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1990-91 Hamburger Kunsthalle

Public collections
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Akron Institute, Ohio
Arkansas Art Center
Arts Council of Great Britain, London
Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland
British Council, London
British Museum, London
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
Collection Thyssen Bornesmiza, Madrid
Fondation du Judaisme Francaise, Paris
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Louisianna Museum, Humblebaek
Ludwig Collection, Aix la Chapelle
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Michael and Dorothy Blankfort Collection,
at Los Angeles County Museum
Museum of Art, Rhode Island
Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Nasjoalgalleriet, Oslo
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Staatliche Museen
Stiftung Preussiche Kulturbesitz
National Gallery, Cape Town
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
National Portrait Gallery, London
Newport Harbor Art Museum, California
Royal Academy of Arts, London
Saatchi Collection, London
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Silkeborg Kunstmuseum
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Swindon Art Gallery
Tate Gallery, London
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester