Alex KatzFace of the Poet1979
1979
About the Item
- Creator:Alex Katz (1927, American)
- Creation Year:1979
- Dimensions:Height: 14.5 in (36.83 cm)Width: 19 in (48.26 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU29327323852
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 PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Vincent with Open MouthBy Alex KatzLocated in New York, NYAquatint and drypoint 14 3/4 x 22 1/4 inches Edition: 58 Artist Proofs: 8 White German Etching paper Printed by Jennifer Melby, New York Co-published by Brooke Alexander, Inc., New Y...Category
1970s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsDrypoint, Aquatint
- Black BrookBy Alex KatzLocated in New York, NYAlex Katz Black Brook, 1992 aquatint, Edition of 50 (Printers Proof available) 30 1/4 x 67 in. (76.8 x 170.2 cm) Alex Katz has painted scenes of the countryside in the American stat...Category
1990s Pop Art Landscape Prints
MaterialsAquatint
- 2 a.m., Paris, 1943By Red GroomsLocated in New York, NYRed Grooms 2 a.m., Paris, 1943, 1985 Aquatint in 11 colors on Hahnemuhle paper, edition 21 of 50 14 3/8 x 16 in. (36.5 x 40.6 cm)Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsAquatint
- Night RiverBy Wayne ThiebaudLocated in New York, NYWayne THIEBAUD Night River, 1998/2011 Hard ground etching with drypoint and aquatint printed in blue and black, ed. 9 of 40 15 x 20 in. (unframed)Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint, Drypoint
- Coney IslandBy Red GroomsLocated in New York, NYRed Grooms Coney Island, 1978 aquatint in 4 colors, edition of 34 22 x 25 3/4 in. (55.9 x 65.4 cm)Category
1970s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsAquatint
- UntitledBy Zao Wou-KiLocated in New York, NYetching with aquatint, AP aside from the edition of 99 image: 11 x 19 in. / 27.9 x 48.3 cm paper: 19 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. / 50.2 x 65.4 cmCategory
1970s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Woman Entwined in Giant Electric Cord Claes Oldenburg Laocoon style pop art nudeBy Claes OldenburgLocated in New York, NYThis sensuous and playful scene is characteristic of Oldenburg’s printmaking ouevre: a woman peeks out from loops and knots of thick cord, a modern-day Laocoön and His Sons. She seem...Category
1970s Pop Art Nude Prints
MaterialsAquatint, Etching
- Wall (The Wolfman) by Jim Dine vintage retro monster cinema with king kongBy Jim DineLocated in New York, NYA delightful early Jim Dine etching picturing iconic 1940s Hollywood monster the Wolfman in neon green. With a broken red heart in the lower left and a tiny King Kong doodle in yello...Category
1960s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsAquatint, Etching
- Study for Sculpture in the Form of an Inverted Q Above & Below Ground OldenburgBy Claes OldenburgLocated in New York, NYStudy for Sculpture in the Form of an Inverted Q: Above and Below Ground, 1975 Lithograph, soft-ground etching, and aquatint in six colors on cream, thick, slightly textured Rive BFK paper 14 × 11 in. / 35.2 × 28 cm Signed and dated in pencil, lower right, numbered in pencil, lower left. Edition of 100 with 20 AP. Printed by Bill Law, Winston Roeth and Allan Uglow at Petersburg Press...Category
1970s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint, Lithograph
- Large Head of Vincent - aquatint print by Alex KatzBy Alex KatzLocated in East Quogue, NY"Large Head of Vincent" by Alex Katz - sugarlift aquatint on Arches Cover paper. Offered in simple white wooden frame. Print size: 61 x 35.5 inches Frame s...Category
1980s Pop Art Portrait Prints
MaterialsAquatint
- Etching and aquatint with dog and airplane, signed/n by California Pop Art starBy Billy Al BengstonLocated in New York, NYBILLY AL BENGSTON Untitled, from the In Barcelona Portfolio, 1988 Etching with aquatint on Rives BFK paper 22 × 30 inches Signed, dated and numbered 29/75 in graphite pencil on the front Published by: Poligrafia Obra Grafica SL, Barcelona, Spain Abstract etching with aquatint containing the silhouette of a dog and an airplane contrasted with a highly textured background, by renowned West Coast based American artist Billy Al Bengston. Published by Poligrafia Obra Grafica, SL in Barcelona, Spain Billy Al Bengston was memorialized in the New York Times as the artist who epitomized California Cool. Billy Al Bengston was born in 1934 in Dodge City, Kansas and moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1948. He studied painting under Richard Diebenkorn at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. In 1957, Bengston began showing with the Ferus Gallery (founded and run by Walter Hopps...Category
1980s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsMixed Media, Etching, Aquatint, Pencil, Graphite
- The Young Couple (Cole 141) Romantic print by famed figurative artistBy Will BarnetLocated in New York, NYThe Young Couple (Cole 141), 1971 Color etching and aquatint. Signed. Titled. Numbered Pencil signed, titled and numbered from the limited edition of 225 on the front Unframed Will B...Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint