The Most Important Film Ever Made
Print
1974 (made)
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 | |
Title | The 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 |
|
Production type | Limited 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 created | September 21, 2007 |
Record URL |
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