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The Most Important Film Ever Made

Print
1974 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

R. B. Kitaj, one of the most important 20th century American artists, spent many years living and working in London. During the 1960s and '70s he made many prints with Chris Prater, the master screenprinter who was a key figure in the transition of screenprint from a commercial to a fine-art print medium. Kitaj is often associated with the Pop Art movement as he came to prominence as an artist during the 1960s and 70s and worked with reproductions from mass-produced imagery, a strategy popular with such artists as Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton and Allen Jones. But his work reaches beyond popular culture to reflects a more esoteric interest in philosophy, literature, history and world politics. Here he situates propaganda regarding the cultural and economic development of the Soviet Union in an evocation of cinematic history. He presents a layout of covers of a French journal - the 'Anthologie du Cinema'- dated variously from the 1960s and 70s, each bearing the name of a different major film director, and a still image from the film 'Turk Sib' with a text below it suggesting reasons for its importance. The image shows (as the text describes it) "the old wasteful means of transport (camel) and the new fruitful one (the steel road)".

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleThe Most Important Film Ever Made (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour screenprint and collage
Brief description
R.B. Kitaj: The Most Important Film Ever Made. 1974 Screenprint and collage.
Physical description
Colour screenprint and collage on paper
Dimensions
  • Height: 70cm
  • Width: 103.7cm
Production typeLimited edition
Copy number
4/70
Subject depicted
Summary
R. B. Kitaj, one of the most important 20th century American artists, spent many years living and working in London. During the 1960s and '70s he made many prints with Chris Prater, the master screenprinter who was a key figure in the transition of screenprint from a commercial to a fine-art print medium. Kitaj is often associated with the Pop Art movement as he came to prominence as an artist during the 1960s and 70s and worked with reproductions from mass-produced imagery, a strategy popular with such artists as Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton and Allen Jones. But his work reaches beyond popular culture to reflects a more esoteric interest in philosophy, literature, history and world politics. Here he situates propaganda regarding the cultural and economic development of the Soviet Union in an evocation of cinematic history. He presents a layout of covers of a French journal - the 'Anthologie du Cinema'- dated variously from the 1960s and 70s, each bearing the name of a different major film director, and a still image from the film 'Turk Sib' with a text below it suggesting reasons for its importance. The image shows (as the text describes it) "the old wasteful means of transport (camel) and the new fruitful one (the steel road)".
Collection
Accession number
E.430-1975

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Record createdSeptember 21, 2007
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