Men, Book and Scissors, 1970s

Ken Kiff RA (1935 - 2001)

RA Collection: Art

This vibrant composition is characteristic of Kiff’s painting, both in his use of intense and saturated colour and in the fantastical or dreamlike figurative subject. The composition is dominated by a central figure, depicted in profile, who looks down at the book in his hands. Another figure looks on from the right. His hand rests on the table, perhaps in alarmingly close proximity to a pair of scissors.

Throughout his career, Kiff maintained a commitment to the pictorial values of modernism. In contemporary debates around abstraction versus figuration he tended to push past the battle-lines - ‘colour thinking’ as opposed to ‘image thinking’, pictorial form versus representational meaning - to create something that moved beyond their seeming differences.

Born in Dagenham, Kiff trained at Hornsey School of Art (1955-61). He first came to prominence in the 1980s thanks, in part, to the support of art critic Norbert Lynton. A major reassessment of figurative painting was underway at this time, as evidenced by the Royal Academy's 1981 ‘New Spirit in Painting’ exhibition. Kiff started exhibiting at Nicola Jacob's gallery, before moving to Fischer Fine Art in 1987 and then finally to the Marlborough Gallery in 1990. By this time, he was exhibiting internationally and had work in major public collections. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1991 and became Associate Artist at the National Gallery 1991-93. His 30-year teaching career at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College influenced a generation of students.

Further reading:

https://www.kenkiff.com/biography