For Love

Object Details

Artist

R. B. Kitaj, 29 Oct 1932 - 21 Oct 2007

Sitter

Robert Creeley, 21 May 1926 - 30 Mar 2005

Exhibition Label

Born Arlington, Massachusetts

Robert Creeley was a transformative figure in postwar American poetry. His affiliation with the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina placed him at the center of a group of progressive poets who originated “projective verse”—a mode of composition that abandoned the structured rhyme and metric schemes of traditional poetry in favor of a more improvisational, free-form approach that Creeley likened to jazz and Abstract Expressionism. He explored such synergies through frequent collaboration with prominent visual artists. This portrait by R. B. Kitaj was inspired by Creeley’s first major collection, For Love: Poems 1950–1960 (1962), which examines the collapse of the author’s first marriage and the beginning of his second. The book hallmarked Creeley’s radically concise, minimalist style and his focus on private, everyday emotions and experiences rather than epic themes. The author of several dozen volumes of verse, Creeley received the Bollingen Prize for Poetry in 1999.

Nacido en Arlington, Massachusetts

Robert Creeley fue una figura transformadora de la poesía estadounidense de posguerra. Su afiliación con el Black Mountain College experimental de Carolina del Norte lo ubicó en el centro de un grupo de poetas progresistas que crearon el “verso proyectivo”, una forma de composición que abandonaba la rima estructurada y los esquemas métricos de la poesía tradicional en favor de un enfoque más improvisado y una forma más libre que Creeley comparó con el jazz y el expresionismo abstracto. Exploró dichas sinergias por medio de la colaboración frecuente con destacados artistas visuales.

Este retrato de R. B. Kitaj se inspiró en la primera gran colección de poemas de Creeley, For Love: Poems 1950–1960 (1962), que examinaba el colapso del primer matrimonio del autor y el comienzo de su segundo. El libro se convirtió en el mejor ejemplar del estilo radicalmente conciso y minimalista de Creeley y de su enfoque en emociones y experiencias privadas y cotidianas en lugar de temas épicos. Creeley, autor de varias decenas de volúmenes de verso, recibió el premio Bollingen de poesía en 1999.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of R. B. Kitaj Estate

1966

Object number

NPG.2011.125

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Print

Medium

Color screenprint

Dimensions

Sheet: 64.8 × 45.7 cm (25 1/2 × 18")

Mat: 81.3 × 55.9 cm (32 × 22")

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Location

Currently not on view

Associated Title

First Series: Some Poets 1966-1969

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache

Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Beard

Equipment\Drafting & Writing Implements\Ruler

Robert Creeley: Male

Robert Creeley: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer

Robert Creeley: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer\Poet

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.2011.125

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm49c2d9ce5-e5c9-4124-a2c0-5e02bf9b1fbb