American-born artist R.B. Kitaj (1932-2007) was one of the most controversial artists of the second half of the twentieth century. His distinctive, highly personal and often challenging works drew on many influences ranging from literature to politics and film. The British museum holds a near complete set of the artist's proofs, the best representation of the artist's graphic works in the UK. Kitaj worked in England for almost forty years. It was in London that he had developed his early style and influenced many of his friends, including David Hockney, Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach. This led Kitaj to coin the term 'school of London', later associated with this group of purely figurative artists.