ALEX KATZ In Good Company
KATZ In Good Company January 20, 2023 February 19, 2023
ALEX
Alex Katz (b. 1927), COCACOLA GIRL 7 From the COCACOLA GIRL PORTFOLIO, 2019, (Edition of 60, +20AP), 19color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High Whit e HP 425 gsm fine art paper, 40 x 40 in
Foreword 6-7 Sunrise 1 8-9 Sunrise 2 10-11 Straw Hat 1 12-13 Straw Hat 3 14-15 ADA Silkscreen Portfolio 16-37 Catalog Essay 38-39 ADA Purple 40-41 ADA Black 42-43 FLOWERS Portfolio 44-59 COCA-COLA GIRL Portfolio 60-79 ADA Hand-Pulled Etchings Boxed Portfolio 80-81 Vivien on Blue 82-83 Sissel 84-85 Cow (Small Cutout) 86-87 White Visor 88-89 Blue Hat 90-91 Jessica (Cutout) 92-93 Red Grooms and Elizabeth Ross 94-95 Black Brook 96-97 Luna Park II 98-99 Studies of Caroline I 100-101 Studies of Caroline II 102-103 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Alex Katz (b. 1927), White Visor, 2003, (Edition of 75, +11AP), Aquatint in 9 colors
Sunrise 1 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Ink on Innova Etching Rag Fine Art Paper 54 x 40.50 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
6
Sunrise 2 2022 Edition of 75 + 6AP 8 Color Woodcut on Hiromi Izumi Paper 250 gsm 25.75 x 17.25 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
8
10
Straw Hat 1 2022 Edition of 150 + 20AP + 6HC + 1BAT + 1RTP Archival Pigment Ink on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper 36 x 36 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Straw Hat 3 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP + 6HC + 1BAT + 1RTP Archival pigment ink print, hand varnished on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm 75.50 x 42 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
ADA PORTFOLIO
6HC
4PP
18
Ada 1 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP +
+
+ 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
From
2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP + 6HC + 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 40.50 x 54 in Signed, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right. 20
Ada 2
the ADA Portfolio
6HC
22
Ada 3 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP +
+ 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
6HC
24
Ada 4 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP +
+ 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
6HC
26
Ada 5 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP +
+ 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Ada 6 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP + 6HC + 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Ada 7 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP + 6HC + 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
+ 20AP + 6HC + 4PP
1BAT +1RTP
32
Ada 8 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100
+
Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 40.50 x 54 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Ada 9 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP + 6HC + 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Ada 10 From the ADA Portfolio 2022 Edition of 100 + 20AP + 6HC + 4PP + 1BAT +1RTP Silkscreen in colors on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm paper 54 x 40.5 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2022 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
ALEX KATZ In Good Company
By Gabriel Delgado
Alex Katz – In Good Company, is an exhibition consisting of a selection of original paintings & drawings, fine art prints, and other artworks by the American Icon, Alex Katz, on exhibit at New River Fine Art from January 20, 2023 – February 19, 2023. This timely exhibition offers a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of Katz’ s style and his signature minimalistic aesthetic, while reflecting the artist’s continued experimentation with form and color with images that range from the 1970’s to today. The result is a curated exhibition that is timeless yet continuously feels fresh and refined.
formed the foundation of his artistic practice today.
The new Ada Print Portfolio has the artist revisiting some of his favorite paintings of his beloved spouse by creating ten new fine art prints that are featured in the exhibition. His works demonstrate skill in distilling her details down to their most fundamental elementslips, eyes, and nose. He captures her individual traits without compromising her uniqueness. This recently published portfolio is a magnificent reminder of the all-encompassing love and devotion the artist has for his beloved wife. It is clear from the imagery that Katz cherishes every single moment shared with his partner, registering her nuances in his art and being able to freeze moments in time, canonizing Ada for all eternity.
Over the course of his more than seven-decade career, this championed American artist has created an impressive body of work that includes portraiture, landscapes, and still life. Alex Katz is renowned for his reductive aesthetic, and the artworks in the exhibition, In Good Company, display a great appreciation for his subtractive methodology. His inventive use of flat illustration with minimal use of modeling techniques, coupled with his deft navigation of hard-edged accessories, creates striking compositions to captivate viewers. Through this culling of complexity, he eliminates any superfluous elements from the environment, rendering an effective impact through signature painterly reductions.
Enzo Cucchi once wrote, “The sensuality of his [Katz’s] paintings return emotion to the skin.” This evocation can be seen in many of the artist’ s portraits, especially in the iconic paintings of his wife and muse, Ada. Katz has painted her over 250 times, a dedication that is said to have
The Sunrise suite, another print portfolio in Alex Katz – In Good Company, is composed of two bold and striking images that provide the perfect platform for the renowned artist to demonstrate his impressive ability to meld contrasting elements. The quintessential Katz image of “Sunrise 1” features refined and reduced elements, while the darker portrait, ‘Sunrise 2” is more compact and features distinct hard-edge definitions. Contrasting these two, it is possible to understand how opposition can be rendered into an integral part of something's identity. As seen in “Sunrise 1”, the female figure seems to be enjoying a sunny day, sporting a wide-brimmed purple hat. With its curved bill, it casts the perfect shadow over her eyes. The emptiness that exists beyond the portrait appear flat at first, but this pink void is in fact much richer than its two-dimensional facade may suggest, a space free from physical boundaries- existing beyond the picture plane. “Sunrise 2”, is an outstanding and a truly remarkable 8-color woodblock print. At a distance, the model’s eye is masked
in darkness, but we soon discover a hidden, minimalistic wonderment. Only three black lines articulately define the subject’s pupil and eyelid, a definition that hoovers in the boxy shadow of her guise. There's something magnetic about this area that draws one in, its calming serenity remains imprinted on the viewer as a window into her soul.
Alex Katz' "Straw Hat 3" is an arresting work with its subject, a woman standing before us, is painted with delicate lines and subtle tonality, her visage made notably distinct from her surroundings by contrasting color palettes. Her skin, kissed with a slight tan, is complimented by her hat. By using a close-up of the model’ s face with her eyes shut, the artist delivers a complex narrative that is simultaneously alluring but mysterious. A certain aura of austerity surrounds her. The stillness of his subject speaks louder than words, commanding admiration that roots its power in a quiet sophistication.
The model in the white sun visor anchoring the left side of the composition of Katz’s oversized print titled: “White Visor” , looks effortlessly sophisticated and confident. Her gracefully elongated and tilted neck immediately catches one's attention, while the tucked ponytail delicately accents her face, each giving an air of refinement. Her perfectly fashioned lips add a touch of stylish glamour. With a simple painted profile, the artist allows her to confidently gazes off into the distance, radiating an effortless grace that is truly captivating.
Original drawings in the exhibition include “Studies of Caroline” I & II, both 7 ¼ x 7 ¾ inch pencil on paper pieces. "Studies of Caroline" II highlights how even the most seemingly mundane aspects of life can be imbued with
newfound importance through Katz’ s artistry. The woman in the portrait is depicted close-up, her face occupying an acutely central position and mouth slightly agape. This slight touch reveals Katz's deep understanding of facial expression nuances. Through his distinctive stylization, he brings out subtleties that make the portrait utterly captivating. Comparing this work to its counterpart, "Studies of Caroline" I, allows one to appreciate the slightest changes between them, the neutral expression in II becomes more playful when contrasted against the solemnness of I, a testament to Katz's mastery in depicting a subject that at first appears commonplace. A single sketch of an eye, adjacent to the model in “Studies of Caroline" I shows devoted study to Katz’s own minimalistic analysis of subjects.
Alex Katz – In Good Company is a tour de force of impeccable selection, showcasing the signature minimalistic aesthetic of this iconic 95-year-old artist. Even at such an advanced age, Katz has shown no fatigue in experimenting with new techniques and creations. The works on exhibit offer a wide range, each a testament to the manifold beauty of Alex Katz's oeuvre. More than just evocative simplicity, his artistry offers complexity cleverly disguised by its deceptively uncomplicated forms – an impeccable selection that transcends generations and genres alike.
CATALOG ESSAY
ADA (PURPLE)
40
2022 Edition of 75 + 6AP 1 Color Woodcut on Somerset Satin White, 300 gsm 18 x 23.50 in Signed by the artist, numbered, Printed by Collaborative Art Editions, St. Petersburg, Florida, Published by Lococo Fine Art Publisher, St. Louis
ADA (BLACK)
42
2022 Edition of 150 + 10AP 1 Color Woodcut on Somerset Satin White, 300 gsm 18 x 23.50 in Signed by the artist, numbered, Printed by Collaborative Art Editions, St. Petersburg, Florida, Published by Lococo Fine Art Publisher, St. Louis
THE
Alex Katz In Good Company, #1
THE FLOWERS PORTFOLIO
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Purple Tulips 1 From THE FLOWERS PORTFOLIO 2021 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Inks, Innova, Etching Cotton Rag, White, 315 gsm 32 x 47 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2021 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Purple Tulips 2 From THE FLOWERS PORTFOLIO 2021 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Inks, Innova, Etching Cotton Rag, White, 315 gsm 47 x 34 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2021 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
Red Dogwood I From THE FLOWERS PORTFOLIO 2021 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Inks, Innova, Etching Cotton Rag, White, 315 gsm 47 x 34 in
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Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2021 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Red Dogwood 2 From THE FLOWERS PORTFOLIO 2021 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Inks, Innova, Etching Cotton Rag, White, 315 gsm 47 x 34 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2021 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Goldenrod From THE FLOWERS PORTFOLIO 2021 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Inks, Innova, Etching Cotton Rag, White, 315 gsm 35 x 47 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2021 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
Peonies From THE FLOWERS PORTFOLIO 2021 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Inks, Innova, Etching Cotton Rag, White, 315 gsm 47 x 34 in Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2021 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
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Azaleas on
Yellow From THE FLOWERS
PORTFOLIO
2021 Edition of 100 + 20AP Archival Pigment Inks, Innova, Etching Cotton Rag, White, 315 gsm 47 x 34 in
50
Signed by the artist, lower left; numbered, lower right. Stamped (c) 2021 Alex Katz, Lococo Fine Art Publisher, verso, lower right.
COCA-COLA GIRL PORTFOLIO
-COLA GIRL 1
COCA-
GIRL PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 20-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm fine art paper 40 x 50 in Signed
the
numbered, Printed and Published
Art Publisher, St. Louis 62
COCA
From
COLA
by
artist,
by Lococo Fine
-COLA
2
PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 19-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm fine art paper 40 x 60 in Signed
numbered,
Published
Publisher, St. Louis 64
COCA
GIRL
From COCA-COLA GIRL
by the artist,
Printed and
by Lococo Fine Art
-COLA GIRL 3
COCA-COLA GIRL PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 20-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm fine art paper 40 x 50 in Signed
numbered, Printed and Published
Publisher, St. Louis 66
COCA
From
by the artist,
by Lococo Fine Art
COCA-COLA GIRL 4 From COCA-COLA GIRL PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 18-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm fine art paper 40 x 50 in Signed
numbered, Printed and Published
Publisher, St. Louis 68
by the artist,
by Lococo Fine Art
PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 20-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm fine art paper 40 x 56 in Signed
numbered, Printed and Published
Publisher, St. Louis 70
COCA-COLA GIRL 5 From COCA-COLA GIRL
by the artist,
by Lococo Fine Art
-
PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 22-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm fine art paper 36 x 72 in Signed
Published
Publisher, St. Louis 72
COCA
COLA GIRL 6 From COCA-COLA GIRL
by the artist, numbered, Printed and
by Lococo Fine Art
2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 19-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High
HP 425 gsm fine art paper 40 x 40 in Signed
Published
Publisher, St. Louis 74
COCA-COLA GIRL 7 From COCA-COLA GIRL PORTFOLIO
White
by the artist, numbered, Printed and
by Lococo Fine Art
COCA-COLA GIRL 8 From COCA-COLA GIRL PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 14-color silkscreen on Saunders Waterford High White HP 425 gsm fine art paper 40 x 55 in Signed
the artist, numbered, Printed and Published
Art Publisher, St. Louis 76
by
by Lococo Fine
PORTFOLIO 2019 Edition of 60 + 20AP 26-color silkscreen on Saunders on Saunders Waterford High
HP 425 gsm fine art paper 36 x 102 in Signed
Published
Publisher, St. Louis 78
COCA-COLA GIRL 9 From COCA-COLA GIRL
White
by the artist, numbered, Printed and
by Lococo Fine Art
80
ADA 1-10 Portfolio of 10 Prints 2017 Edition of 40 + 8AP 1-color etching, hand-pulled on 300 gsm Somerset Satin White fine art paper 13 x 13 in Signed by the artist, lower left, and numbered Printed by Collaborative Art Editions, St. Petersburg, Florida Published by Lococo Fine Art Publisher, St. Louis
ADA
Boxed Portfolio
—
82
Vivien on Blue 2007 Edition of 40 + 10AP Screenprint in colors on Rives BFK paper 50 x 36 in Signed by the artist, numbered in pencil lower left, with publisher's stamp lower right Published by Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin Printed by Brand X Edition, New York
84
Sissel 2006 Edition of VII / XX + 50 Arabic Numerals + 20 Roman Numerals, + 4AP Aquatint in Colors on Cartiere Magnani Corona 400 g paper 20 x 23.50 in Signed by the artist, lower left margin, and numbered Printed by Giancarlo Sardella, Milano and Pesaro Published by Galleria Fabjbasaglia, Rimini
Cow (Small Cutout) 2004 Edition of 99 +15AP
Screenprint in Colors, on cut aluminum in forty-five colors (printed on both sides) 16.625 x 41.50 x 0.125 in Signed by the artist, verso, and numbered
Printed by Steven Sangenario, Brand X Editions, Inc., New York Published by Arte y Naturaleza, Madrid
86
White Visor 2003 Edition of 75 + 11AP Aquatint in 9 colors on Somerset Velvet Paper 33.37 x 67.87 in Signed by the artist, and numbered Printed by Doris Simmelink, Chris Sukimoto, and Hiroshi Tachibana, Simmelink-Sukimoto Editions Published by Arte y Naturaleza, Madrid
88
Blue Hat 2003 Edition of 75 + 11AP Aquatint in 11 colors on Somerset Velvet Paper 33.50 x 67 in Signed by the artist, and numbered Printed by Doris Simmelink, Chris Sukimoto, and Hiroshi Tachibana, Simmelink-Sukimoto Editions Published by Arte y Naturaleza, Madrid
90
Jessica (Cutout) 2002 Edition of 35 + 7AP Screenprint in Colors, on aluminum , (printed on both sides) 68.50 x 13.50 x 0.75 in Signed by the artist, numbered, verso Published by Arte y Naturaleza, Madrid, Printed by Brand X Editions, New York, USA
92
Serigraph in colors on Arches Cover White Paper 36 x 19.75 in
Signed by the artist, lower left, numbered
Printed by Robert Blanton, Thomas D. Little, Augustin Rijo, Paulino Guerrero, Jason Engelhardt, and Reid Van Renesse, Styria Studio, Inc., New York and Brand X Editions, Inc., New York Published by Chalk and Vermilion Fine Arts, Greenwich, Conn. Portfolio: Pas de Deux
Red Grooms and Elizabeth Ross
(from the Pas de Deux portfolio) 1993 Edition of 150 + 18AP
94
Black Brook (for
Edition 21) 1989 Edition of 100 + 11AP Woodcut on Goyu Paper 10 x 16.375 in Paper Size: 12.75 x 19 in Signed by the artist, lower left, numbered Printed by John C. Erikson, New York and Published by
96
Parkett Special
Parkett-Verlagg AG, Zurich, Parkett Art Magazine
Luna Park II 1973 Edition of 60 + 10AP
6 Color Screenprint on Arches Paper 39.75 x 30 in Signed by the artist, numbered 52/60 in pencil, lower left. Printed by Larry Rosen at Chiron Press, New York. Co-published by Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York, and Marlborough Graphics, Inc., New York.
98
Studies of Caroline I 1973
Original Drawing, Pencil on Paper 7.25 x 7.75 in Signed by the artist, Recto "Alex Katz" and inscribed "for Caroline & Brooke."
100
Studies of Caroline II 1973
Original Drawing, Pencil on Paper 7.25 x 7.75 in Signed by the artist, Recto "Alex Katz" and inscribed "for Caroline & Brooke."
102
Alex Katz was born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York in 1927. At the outset of the Depression in 1928, his Russian émigré parents moved the family to St. Albans, a suburb of Queens that had sprung up between the two World Wars. Raised in a family with interests in poetry and the arts, his mother having been an actress in Yiddish Theater, Katz enrolled at Woodrow Wilson High School for its unique program that allowed him to devote mornings to academics and afternoons to the arts. In 1946, after serving in the Navy, Katz entered The Cooper Union Art School in Manhattan.
At Cooper Union, Katz studied painting under Morris Kantor and was trained to paint from drawings in modern techniques. Upon graduating in 1949, Katz was awarded a scholarship for summer study at the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine. At Skowhegan he was encouraged to paint from life, which would prove pivotal in his development as a painter and remains a staple of his practices today. Katz explains that Skowhegan’s plein air painting gave him “ a reason to devote my life to painting.” In the 1950’s, when most of the serious art being done was abstract, Katz confounded scores of artists and formalist critics by inventing new ways to paint the human figure. He has always had his own direction, which has not been the direction of mainstream art in any of the last seven decades. Katz spent the first half of 1950’s painting small collage figures in landscape and began his engagement with portraiture in the latter half of the decade. Katz developed a close-knit circle of friends that
included fellow New York artists and intellectual cognoscenti who, along with his wife and muse, Ada, became his steady troupe of models. Anticipating Pop Art, Katz began using monochrome backgrounds, which would become a defining characteristic of his style. In 1959, Katz made his first painted cutout, a practice which has continued throughout his career, forming a series of freestanding or wallmounted portraits that exist in actual space.
Katz’s paintings from the 1960’s brought a new kind of American Social Realism. Influenced by films, television, and billboard advertising, Katz began creating large-scale paintings with dramatically cropped faces. After 1964, Katz increasingly began painting clusters of people. The genius in these neat, self- contained groups was that while they appeared socially objective, they recognized that every individual, however socially exalted or self-important, is a selfdeceptive subject, always deceiving others or themselves about who they are. These contradictions and moments of uninhibited selfexpression informs the majority of Katz’s work in the ‘60s.
1965 marks the date Katz embarked on a prolific career in printmaking. The artist would go on to produce numerous editions in lithography, etching, silkscreen, woodcut, and linoleum cut, mediums he continues to experiment with today.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Katz focused much of his attention on large “environmental” paintings, The natural landscape of Maine offered Katz an arena of abstract exploration; where nature became the sole stimulus and allowed him space to open his eyes and mind to
paint automatically. Katz began each of these canvases with “an idea of the landscape, a conception,” trying to find the image in nature afterwards. Rather than utilizing a graphic implementation that pervaded Pop Art, Katz’ s images always emanated from nature or the figure.
Beginning in 2010, Katz re-framed his subject matter, employing more drastic cropping of individual portraits. He also began composing multiple portraits using tightly cropped images of the same subject sequenced across the linen. Since 2015, Katz has frequently begun his process by taking photographs with his iPhone, which he then prints out, cuts, and collages into compositions. From these maquettes, he may make painted studies or go straight to making a large-scale cartoon, from which he paints an oil on linen. During an extended stay in Pennsylvania from spring through early summer of 2020, Katz made more than 50 paintings, mainly of flowers and landscapes he saw around him, which became the basis for The Flowers Portfolio, a suite of 7 signed and numbered prints released in 2021. 2022 saw the opening of Alex Katz: Gathering a retrospective exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York as well as the release of The Ada Portfolio and Sunrise Suite prints. Alex Katz's work has been the subject of more than 250 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions internationally since 1951 and he has received numerous accolades throughout his career. Among them, Katz was inducted by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1988. In 1978, Katz received the U.S. Government grant to
participate in an educational and cultural exchange with the USSR. Katz was awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for Painting in 1972.
Asking an elementary question: What is reality? Katz took this question as a starting point and spent the past 70 years repeatedly exploring possible ways with which “realism” can be redefined.
ARTIST
BIO
1964 Recent Landscapes by Eight Americans, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1971 Alex Katz, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
1972 Alex Katz, Reed College Art Gallery, Portland, OR
1973 The American Neo-Realist: Alex Katz, Assa Galleria, Helsinki, Finland
1974 Alex Katz Prints, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
1975 Alex Katz Prints, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA University Gallery, University of Minnesota, MN Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1977 Alex Katz: Recent Paintings, Fresno Arts Center and Museum, CA
Art Galleries, California State University, Long Beach, CA Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada
1978 Alex Katz, Richard Eugene Fuller Art Gallery, Beaver College, Glendale, PA Alex Katz in the Seventies, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Alex Katz: Selected Prints, Wilcox Gallery, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
1979 Alex Katz: Prints, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
1980 Alex Katz: Rush An Environmental Wall Piece, Hartnell College Gallery, Salinas, CA
Alex Katz: Scale and Gesture, The Queens Museum, Flushing, NY
Alex Katz: Ada, Fine Arts Gallery, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY
Alex Katz: Prints, Centro ColomboAmericano, Bogota, Colombia
1981 Alex Katz, Portland Center for the Visual Arts, OR
Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
1984 Alex Katz Process and Development: Small Paintings from the Collection of Paul J. Schupf '58, The Picker Art Gallery, Charles A. Dana Creative Arts Center, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
1985 Alex Katz Paints a Picture, Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, NY
Alex Katz, William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, Rockland, ME
Alex Katz: An Exhibition Featuring Works from the Collection of Paul J. Schupf, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine and Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Paintings by Alex Katz, Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, KS
1985 Alex Katz Paints a Picture, Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, NY
1986 Retrospective exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Florida
1988 Alex Katz, The Seibu Museum of Art, The Seed Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Alex Katz: A Print Retrospective, The
Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
Alex Katz: Nocturnal Paintings, The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
1990 Making Faces: Self-Portraits by Alex Katz, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
The Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
Alex Katz: Paintings, Drawings and Cutouts, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
Alex Katz: Recent Paintings, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
1991 Alex Katz: Small Paintings, Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Alex Katz: A Drawing Retrospective, Museum of Art, Munson-WilliamsProctor Institute, Utica, NY
1992 Alex Katz: Drawings 1946 – 1989, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AK
1996 Alex Katz at Colby College, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Alex Katz Under the Stars: Landscapes 1951-1995, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME Institute for Contemporary Art/P.S. 1 Museum, Long Island City, NY
Alex Katz, I.V.A.M. Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia, Spain
1997 Alex Katz: Twenty-Five Years of Painting, The Saatchi Collection, London, UK
Alex Katz, Centro Cultural Recoleta,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
1999 Change of Scene, Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Alex Katz, Galleria Civica Di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
2000 Alex Katz, Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Regarding Alex Katz, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
2001 Alex Katz, Ed Rusha, American Academy in Rome
2002 Alex Katz: Small Paintings, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York, NY
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
Oklahoma City Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
The Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Alex Katz: In Your Face, Kunst-Und Ausstellungshalle Der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
Alex Katz, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
2003 Alex Katz, Galleria D'Arte
Contemporanea Emilio Mazzoli, Modena, Italy
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Alex Katz: Cutouts, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Alex Katz: Portraits, Fondazione Bevilacqua
La Masa, Venice, Italy
Alex Katz: Cutouts, Museum Moderner Kunst Kirnten, Klagenfurt, Austria
2004 Alex Katz: Cartoons and Paintings, Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria
2005 Alex Katz Collages, Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, ME
Alex Katz, The University of South Florida at Tampa, FL
Alex Katz: Recent Paintings, CAC Malaga, Malaga, Spain
Alex Katz in Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
2006 Alex Katz in Maine, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Alex Katz in European Collections, Langen Foundation, Neuss, Germany
Alex Katz: Woodcuts and Linocuts, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Alex Katz Paints Ada, 1957-2005, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
2007 Alex Katz: New York, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
2009 Alex Katz: Reflections, Museo delle Arti di Catanzaro (MARCA), Calabria, Italy
Alex Katz: An American Way of Seeing, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
Musée Grenoble, Grenoble, France Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Kleve, Germany
2010 Alex Katz Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
Alex Katz: New Work, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
Alex Katz: Prints, Paintings, Cutouts, Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Alex Katz, Philadelphia Museum of Art
2011 Alex Katz, Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
Alex Katz: Naked Beauty, Kestnergesellschaft Hanover
2012 Alex Katz: Casa Nadi, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (MAC) de la Foundation Gas Natural Fenosa, A Coruña SPAIN
Alex Katz Prints, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
Alex Katz: Give Me Tomorrow, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, UK
Alex Katz: Maine/New York, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
We The People, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, NY
Alex Katz, Essl Museum, Vienna
2013 Katz x Katz, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
Alex Katz: Landscapes, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
Alex Katz: New York/Maine, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Germany
Alex Katz / Félix Vallotton, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne
Alex Katz: Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY
Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT
Alex Katz: Beneath the Surface, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough, UK
2014 Face Value, The National Portrait Gallery Washington, D.C.
The Sea, Mu.ZEE, Ostende, Belgium
2015 Alex Katz: This is Now, High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Alex Katz at the Met, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Alex Katz: This is Now, Guggenheim Bilbao
2016 Alex Katz: Quick Light, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Alex Katz: Small Paintings, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME
Alex Katz: Black and White, American University Museum, Washington D.C.
2017 Alex Katz: Black and White, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Alex Katz: Small Paintings, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
2018 Alex Katz: Models and Dancers, Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY
WOW! The Heidi Horton Collection, Leopold Museum, Vienna Austria
ARTIST ROOMS: Alex Katz, Tate
Liverpool, Liverpool, England, U.K. Alex Katz, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany series, 2009-2010, Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris, France
THE COLLECTION OF THE FONDATION: A VISION FOR PAINTING, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France
Alex Katz / Moby Dick, Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Alex Katz Alex Katz ‘Soup to Nuts’ ,
The Sao Paulo Bienal Project, selected by Robert Storr
Focus On: Alex Katz, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas.
2020 Alex Katz, Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, China
2022 Alex Katz, Museo Nacional ThyssenBornemisza, Madrid, Spain.
Alex Katz: Gathering, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
Public Collections: USA
Andover, MA, The Addison Gallery
Athens, GA, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia Atlanta, GA, The High Museum of Art Boston, MA, The Museum of Fine Arts
Brunswick, ME, Bowdoin College Museum of Art Buffalo, NY, Albright-Knox Museum
Cambridge, MA, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
Cambridge, MA, The Albert & Vera List of Arts Center, M.I.T.
Chattanooga, TN, Hunter Museum of American Art
Chicago, IL, The Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL, Chicago Arts Club
Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Art Museum
Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art Denver, CO, Denver Art Museum
Des Moines, IA, Des Moines Art Center
Detroit, MI, The Detroit Institute of Art Fort Worth, TX, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Greensboro, NC, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro Hamilton, NY, The Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University Hanover, NH, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College
Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Athenaeum
Honolulu, HI, Honolulu Academy of Art Houston, TX, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX, Rice Museum, Rice University Iowa City, IA, University of Iowa Museum of Art Kansas City, MO, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City, MO, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Lawrence, KS, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas Lewiston, ME, Olin Art Center, Bates College
Little Rock, AR, The Arkansas Art Center
Los Angeles, CA, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art Madison, WI, Madison Art Center
Malibu, CA, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University Manitowoc, WI, Rahr West Museum
Miami, FL, Miami-Dade Community College Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee Art Museum
New Orleans, LA, New Orleans Museum of Art New York, NY, The Brooklyn Museum New York, NY, The Grey Art Gallery, NYU Art Collection, New York University New York, NY, The Jewish Museum New York, NY, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, NY, The Museum of Modern Art New York, NY, Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, NY, Equitable Life Insurance New York, NY, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
New York, NY, Exxon Corporate Collection Norfolk, VA, Chrysler Museum
Oberlin, OH, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College Omaha, NE, Joslyn Art Museum
Philadelphia, PA, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia Museum of Art Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Museum of Art Portland, ME, Portland Museum of Art Portland, OR, Portland Art Museum
Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Art Museum
Providence, RI, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Art Rochester, MI, Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University Rockland, ME, William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum
Salt Lake City, UT, Utah Museum of Fine Arts Scranton, PA, Everhart Museum
Seattle, WA, Virginia Wright Fund
Sioux City, IA, Sioux City Art Center
Syracuse, NY, Joe & Emily Lowe Art Gallery, Syracuse University Tampa, FL, University of South Florida Art Galleries
Trenton, NJ, New Jersey State Museum
Utica, NY, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute of Art
Waltham, MA, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University
Washington, DC, Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Washington, DC, National Collection of Fine Arts
Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC, National Portrait Gallery
Washington, DC, The Phillips Collection Washington, DC, Smithsonian Institute Waterville, ME, Colby College Museum of Art
Wilmington, DE, Delaware Art Museum
Winston-Salem, NC, Wake Forest University
Wichita, KS, Wichita Art Museum
Worcester, MA, Worcester Art Museum
AUSTRIA
Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina Vienna, Museum Moderner Kunst
CANADA
Toronto, The Art Gallery of Ontario
ENGLAND
London, Saatchi Collection
London, The Tate Gallery
Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
FINLAND
Helsinki, Atenium Taidemuso
Tampere, Sarah Hilden Museum of Art
FRANCE
Paris, Foundation d'Art Contemporaine Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou
GERMANY
Aachen, Neue Galerie
Bad Hamburg, Altana Haus Museum
Baden-Baden, Museum Frieder Burda Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Nationalgalerie Frankfurt, Staedel Museum
Cologne, Collection Westdeutsch Spielbank
Kleve, Museum Kurhaus
Künzelsau, Museum Würth Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Moderne Kunst
Munich, Museum Bandhorst
HOLLAND Museum Voorlinden
ISRAEL
Jerusalem, The Israel Museum
JAPAN
Hiroshima, Hiroshima City Museum
Iwaki, Iwaki City Art Museum
Tokyo, Museum of Contemporary Art
KOREA
Kyonqiu-Shi, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art
LUXEMBURG
Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art Luxembourg
MEXICO
Mexico City, Museo Rufino Tamayo
PORTUGAL
Sintra, Berardo Museum Collection
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland
SPAIN
Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia
Valencia, IVAM Centre Julio Gonzalez
SWITZERLAND
Lausanne, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Art Zurich, Daros Collection
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