Alex Katz
Vivien in White Coat, 2021
2021

Name: Vivien in White Coat, 2021
Brand: Alex Katz
Price: 40000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Alex Katz Vivien in White Coat, 2021 is a work of subtle admiration that the artist holds for her daughter-in-law, Vivien Bittencourt. The gentle hues of monochromatic cornflower blue draw the viewer in, creating a candid composition of the young woman as she glances to the side, her face cleverly hidden by her hair. Painted in a thick bob that rounds out around her shoulders, thin streaks of the paint beneath poke through, creating a minimalistic endeavor of depth that is prominent in Katz works. The white suite she wears creates a stark focal point to the work, your eye immediately drawn to the center of the work. Flashes of greys mixed with purples are brushed into the area’s shadows would fall on her suit, with the darker of the greys softly blending into the background and into the hair, as if they all exist together as a part of each other. The execution of his technique brings the works to life, allowing the emotion caught within the ink to breathe and echo off the canvas. Her hand, the only warm tone seen throughout the composition, delicately clutches at her chest wrought in emotion, leaving the viewer to ponder on what she could possibly be glancing at in the distance. Though she faces away from the viewer, there is a mesmerizing energy in engaging with the unknown and trying to capture the sentiment the artist feels towards his daughter-in-law. There is a qualitative intent that went into the work, and the tenderness that Katz brings out in this decisive moment between artist and family. Created in 2021, Alex Katz Vivien in White Coat is a silkscreen on Saunders Waterford 425 gsm paper that is hand-signed by Alex Katz (Brooklyn, 1927 - ) in pencil in the lower left and is numbered AP 17/20 (artist proof), aside from the numbered edition of 60. About the Framing: Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Alex Katz Vivien in White Coat, 2021 is presented in a complementary moulding and optical grade Plexiglas.

Creator:

Alex Katz (1927, American)

Creation Year:

2021

Dimensions:

Height: 54 in (137.16 cm)Width: 39 in (99.06 cm)

Medium:

Screen

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

2010-

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Palo Alto, CA

Reference Number:

Seller: 78371stDibs: LU1567210774492

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Shop All Alex Katz

Alex Katz

Flat color and minimal forms contrast the often monumental scales of the paintings by Alex Katz through which he creates portraits and landscapes of deceptive simplicity. Although the signature stark style that defines his prints and other work is now recognizable at a glance, it took him a decade to develop. During that time, he has said he destroyed hundreds of paintings.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian émigré parents, Katz’s family moved to Queens when he was a baby and that is where his family’s passion for the arts supported his early creative interests. In 1946, he enrolled at the Cooper Union in Manhattan where he studied painting under Morris Kantor. While he was influenced by the bold colors and hard edges of modernism, he shifted away from the then-dominant Abstract Expressionism movement to figurative scenes of life that have an inherent cool in their pared-down approach. Especially impactful were Katz’s summer studies between 1949 and 1950 at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, a place where, as he later wrote: “I tried plein air painting and found my subject matter and a reason to devote my life to painting.”

Katz’s first solo show was in 1954 at Roko Gallery in New York. He experimented over the course of the following years with collage and painting on aluminum sheets, with his work in the 1960s drawing inspiration from film and advertising. In the 1970s, Katz expanded into portrait groups that regularly depicted the cultural scene of New York; in the 1980s, he extended his focus to fashion and its supermodels. Since the late 1950s, an enduring muse for his portraits has been his wife, Ada, while others have painted friends and famous figures. The intimate closeness of the frequently cropped faces in Katz’s portraits exudes a sense of tension with the subjects’ enigmatic expressions and planes of color.

In the 1960s, Katz collaborated with American dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor on sets and costumes. His concentration on landscapes emerged in the late 1980s, with atmospheric night views joining his practice, which had previously been defined by bright colors. Always finding new perspectives on his work, he has explored using iPhone photographs as the basis for large-scale compositions in recent years.

Katz’s prolific career has spanned sculpture, prints and public art along with his paintings and drawings, and his works can be found in the collections of leading museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of Modern Art. He has had over 250 solo exhibitions around the world and continues to be acclaimed. In 2022, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened a major retrospective of his art.

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