Michael Kitson

Michael William Lely Kitson (30 January 1926 – 7 August 1998) was an art historian who became an international authority on the work of the painter Claude Lorrain. In 1969, he organized the first Lorrain exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London.

Early life and education

Michael Kitson was born on 30 January 1926,[1] the son of the Reverend Bernard Meredith Kitson, a Church of England clergyman, and his wife Helen May Lely.[2] The novelist Anthony Trollope and the painter Sir Peter Lely were among his ancestors. He was educated at Gresham's School and King's College, Cambridge, where he read English (1944-45 and 1948-50), and at the Courtauld Institute of Art (1950–1952).[3]

Military service

His three years at King's College, Cambridge, were interrupted in 1945 when he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and attached to security intelligence Middle East, based in Egypt. He left the army in 1948 and returned to Cambridge.

Career

In 1952, he joined the Slade School of Fine Art at University College, London, as an assistant lecturer in the history of art. He moved on to the Courtauld Institute, London, as a lecturer from 1955 to 1967 and as a reader from 1967 to 1978. He became Professor of the History of Art there in 1978 and was deputy director of the Institute from 1980 to 1985.

In 1985, Kitson became Director of Studies at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, a British educational charity with close links to Yale University.

Kitson became an international authority on Claude Lorrain[4] and organized the first Lorrain exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 1969.[5] In 1978 he catalogued the Liber Veritatis, Lorrain's own drawings of his paintings, for the British Museum and later wrote the article on Lorrain for the Macmillan Dictionary of Art (1996).

He shared an interest in 17th-century French painting with Anthony Blunt and later wrote the article on Blunt for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Family

On 8 July 1950, Kitson married Annabella, the daughter of John Leslie Cloudsley.[6] They had two sons. In the 1980s Kitson became the partner of Judith Colton, an American art scholar.

Death

After his death in Islington, London, on 7 August 1998,[7] a memorial service was held at St Clement Danes on 23 October 1998, with an address by Neil MacGregor, Director of the National Gallery.[8]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ John Gage. "Obituary: Professor Michael Kitson | Culture". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  2. ↑ Kitson, Michael William Lely (1926–1998), art historian. Jason Tomes in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) (subscription required)
  3. ↑ "Professor Michael Kitson", The Times, 11 August 1998, p. 19.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "First big exhibition of Claude Lorrain", D.H. Gow, The Times, 13 October 1969, p. 14.
  6. ↑ "Michael Kitson". Dictionary of Art Historians. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  7. ↑ "Michael Kitson, 72, Art History Professor". NYTimes.com. 1998-08-30. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  8. ↑ "The Courtauld Institute of Art : Newsletter Archive". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  9. ↑ "The Seeing Eye: Michael Kitson, critical writings on Art". Mnemosynepress.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  10. ↑ "Bibliography". Mnemosynepress.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
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