R.B. Kitaj, Walter Lippman 1966Like the Miro I posted a week ago, I first saw this painting in the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo; unlike the Miro, it hasn't been on display there for years, though it's stuck in my memory. I love how it evokes a seemingly common movie scene, even as it challenges the viewer to put together the individual pieces of its mise en scene, which Kitaj has effectively dismantled, and slightly shuffled. I especially love the shadowy figure at the top of the stairs-- could it be the titular character of Lippman, the topcoat visually representing a common stereotype of the reporter, the silhouette effect metaphorically representing the reporter's place as an outside observer? Or is that Lippman's face on the lower right, again apart and observing the action before him? I don't know, but these are the kind of questions prompted by the piece that makes it endlessly fascinating to me.
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