Alex KatzAlex Katz 'Reflection 2'2021
2021
About the Item
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 plans to open a major retrospective of his art.
Find Alex Katz art today on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Alex Katz 'Reflection 2'By Alex KatzLocated in New York, NYAlex Katz (born 1927) Reflection 2 2021 Archival pigment ink on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper 47 x 39.5 inches (119 x 100.3 cm) Edition of 81/100 With flat plane...Category
2010s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Blues, from American Signs portfolioBy Robert CottinghamLocated in New York, NYROBERT COTTINGHAM Blues, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' a...Category
Photorealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Donald Sułtan, Mimosa, September 29, 2021By Donald SultanLocated in New York, NYMIMOSA, SEPT 29, 2021 2021 Silkscreen with enamel inks and flocking on Rising 4-ply museum board 42 x 42 inches (107 x 107 cm) Edition of 40 Signed and numbered DONALD SULTAN (b. 1...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Mujer PrimaveralBy Julian SchnabelLocated in New York, NYJulian Schnabel Mujer Primaveral, 1996 Hand-painted, 15-color silkscreen with poured resin 40 x 30 inches (102 x 76 cm) Signed and numbered edition of 80 "Sexual Spring-like Winter"...Category
1990s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Otono FloralBy Julian SchnabelLocated in New York, NYOTONO FLORAL, 1995 Hand-painted, 15-color silkscreen with poured resin 40 x 30 inches (102 x 76 cm) Edition of 80 "Sexual Spring-like Winter" is a large painterly work, created with...Category
1990s Neo-Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen, Resin
- Ross Bleckner, Floating RedBy Ross BlecknerLocated in New York, NYRoss Bleckner FLOATING RED Year: 2019 Medium: Archival pigment print on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper Size: 42 x 70 inches (107 x 178 cm) Edition: 30 Price: $7,000 Also sold as a set with Floating Red Glowing and contemplative, Ross Bleckner’s work blends abstraction with recognizable symbols to create meditations on perception, transcendence and loss. Ross Bleckner was born in 1949 in New York and grew up in the prosperous town of Hewlett Harbor on Long Island. The first art exhibition he saw—The Responsive Eye, a show of Op art on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965—had a strong impact on him. He decided to become an artist when he was in college, studying with Sol LeWitt and Chuck Close at New York University, where he earned a BA in 1971. Two years later, he completed an MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where he met David Salle. After moving back to New York, Bleckner purchased and moved into a Tribeca loft building in 1974. Painter Julian Schnabel rented three floors of the building, and the Mudd Club, a nightclub frequented by musicians and artists, occupied space there from 1977 to 1983. Bleckner sold the building in 2004. His first solo exhibition was held in 1975 at Cunningham Ward Gallery in New York. In 1979 he began his long association with Mary Boone Gallery in New York, which championed several of the so-called art stars of the 1980s. In 1981 Bleckner met Thomas Ammann, an important Swiss art dealer who went on to collect his work. Bleckner’s early 1980s Stripe...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- 1959 Israeli Moshe Tamir Color Modernist Mixed Media Serigraph PhoenixBy Moshe TamirLocated in Surfside, FLAbstract Composition, 1959 Silkscreen Lithograph "Phoenix". This was from a portfolio which included works by Yosl Bergner, Menashe Kadishman, Yosef Zaritsky, Aharon Kahana...Category
1950s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- Poezia Marina, Spain - Abstract LandscapeBy Guido LopezLocated in Soquel, CABright and bold screen print by Spanish artist Guido Lopez (Spain, 20th century). Titled "Poezia Marina", signed lower right "Guido Lopez', 12/150. Unframed. Image 22.5"H x 25"L, Mat...Category
Early 2000s Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Michael Gross Israeli Minimalist Conceptual Art, Abstract Jerusalem SilkscreenBy Michael GrossLocated in Surfside, FLMichael Gross (Hebrew: מיכאל גרוס; 1920 – 4 November 2004) was an Israeli painter, sculptor and conceptual artist. Michael Gross was born in Tiberias in the British-administered Palestine in 1920. He grew up in the farming village of Migdal. In 1939-1940, he left to study at the Teachers’ Training College in Jerusalem. In 1939, while he was away, his father was murdered by Arabs, and the family farm and home were destroyed. This event impacted on his work as an artist. From 1943 to 1945, he studied architecture at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. From 1951 to 1954, he studied art at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned to Israel in 1954 and settled in the artists’ village of Ein Hod. Gross's works are imbued with the light and spirit. They are minimalist, but never pure abstraction, always tied to natural form and laden with feeling. In his early paintings, Gross simplified form in order to concentrate on proportion, broad areas of color, and the size and placement of each element. This reductive process was also notable in his sculptures, whether in painted iron or other materials such as white concrete. In later paintings, he often juxtaposed large off-white panels with patches of tone, adding textured materials such as wooden beams, burlap and rope. Gross’s rough, freely-brushed surfaces, along with the use of soft pastel coloring, conjure up images of the Israeli landscape. Education 1936-1940 Teachers Seminary, Jerusalem 1943-1945, Technion, Haifa, architecture, studied sculpture with Moshe Ziffer. 1951-1954 Beaux Arts, Paris with Michel Guimond Teaching 1954 - 1954 Higher School of Education, Haifa. 1957-1960 Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem 1960-1980 Oranim Art Institute, Tivon Awards 1964: Hermann Struck Prize 1967: Dizengoff Prize 1971...Category
1970s Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- Pink Vegetal Pool - Trees, Swimming PoolLocated in AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRsilkscreen Two colours on Fine Art paper. Interior Photography, Romantic, Abandoned place, Nature, Window Work Title : Piscine Végétale Rose Artist : Marie Vandooren...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Landscape Prints
MaterialsScreen, Archival Paper
- I am writing from Rocks MountainsBy Jean Michel FolonLocated in Ljubljana, SIOriginal color silkscreen, unknown year. Jean-Michel Folon was a Belgian contemporary artist, illustrator, painter and sculptor. During his diverse artistic career, Folon experimente...Category
Late 20th Century Post-Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Grey LeavesBy Gary HumeLocated in New York, NYGary Hume Grey Leaves 2004 Screen print in 4 colours with one glaze, printed on 400gsm Somerset Tub Sheet: 28 x 23 inches; 71 x 59 cm Frame: 30 3/8 x 25 1/...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsGlaze, Screen