R. B. Kitaj, Die Donau from In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the Most Part, 1969, one from a portfolio of fifty screenprints, some with collage additions.
R. B. Kitaj, Hanging in Chains from In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the Most Part, 1969-70, one from a portfolio of fifty screenprints, some with collage additions.
R. B. Kitaj, Selections from “In Our Time…”, 2007, installation view, SFU Gallery. Photo: SFU LIDC.
R. B. Kitaj, Workers in the Dawn from In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the Most Part, 1969-70, one from a portfolio of fifty screenprints, some with collage additions.
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R. B. Kitaj, Selections from “In Our Time…”, 2007, installation view, SFU Gallery. Photo: SFU LIDC.
R.B. Kitaj: Selections from “In Our Time…”
September 8 – October 20, 2007
SFU Gallery
In 1969, the American artist Ronald Kitaj, then living in England, reproduced fifty book covers as a series of screenprints called In Our Time. Kitaj's selection was idiosyncratic, but these were in fact some of his favourite books. These covers have intrigued bibliophiles for decades, reminding us of a different era in book design, as well as in reading preferences—an era in which limited technical means were employed to produce designs often more stylized and adventurous than those commonly seen today. The uncanny aspect of Kitaj's series is that many of his choices have a new relevance and resonance in today's global context; his choices seem prescient.
The SFU Gallery has acquired twenty-five of the In Our Time works for this exhibition; they are supplemented by loans from several Vancouver-area collectors who generously lent works to complete the show.
Curated by Bill Jeffries.
Events
Opening Reception
Saturday, September 8, 2007, 3–5pm
The opening of this exhibition is concurrent with the reception for Douglas Coupland's new work, Fifty Books I Have Read More Than Once.