Wanting to Spit on the Unsick so as to Convert Them
1970-1972
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color photo-etching and screenprint on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 61.6 × 41.59 cm (24 1/4 × 16 3/8 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Raymond W. Merritt)
Accession Number
2015.19.2623.3
Art Historical Context
R.B. Kitaj's *Wanting to Spit on Unsick so as to Them* (1970–1972) is a provocative color photo-etching and screen on wove paper, measuring 61.6 × 41.59 cm. Part of a portfolio in the National Gallery of's Corcoran Collectiongift of Raymond W. Merritt), this exemplifies the innovative printmaking of the early 1970s, when artists pushed boundaries with hybrid techniques. Photo-etching transfers photographic images onto metal plates for intricate etched lines, capturing fine details with mechanical precision, while screenprinting overlays bold, vibrant colors in flat areas—ideal for Kitaj's lay...
About the Artist
R. B. Kitaj
Ronald Brooks Kitaj (1932–2007), known professionally as R. B. Kitaj, was an American-born painter who spent the greater part of his career in England and became one of the most intellectually ambitious figurative artists of the postwar era. Born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Kitaj led an itinerant early life that included a stint as a merchant seaman before he turned to formal art education. He studied...