George Washington
View Similar Items
Alex KatzGeorge Washington1975
1975
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 opened a major retrospective of his art.
Find Alex Katz art today on 1stDibs.
- George WashingtonBy Alex KatzLocated in Long Island City, NYAn original print from the Kent Bicentennial poster portfolio published by Lorillard. This side profile of the president is from the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio. Alex Katz is a leadi...Category
1970s Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsOffset
- Cabeza en Amarillo, Surrealist Etching by Rufino TamayoBy Rufino TamayoLocated in Long Island City, NYA Surrealist etching by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo of a simple yellow figure against a gray background, staring at the viewer with piercing white eyes. This piece is one of 5 unnum...Category
1980s Portrait Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Portrait de Femme au Collier, Cubist Lithograph by Pablo PicassoBy Pablo PicassoLocated in Long Island City, NYA lithograph from the Marina Picasso Estate Collection after the Pablo Picasso painting "Nature Morte a la Porte et a la Clef". The original painting was completed in 1946. In the 1...Category
1980s Modern Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Femme Assise, Cubist Lithograph by Pablo PicassoBy Pablo PicassoLocated in Long Island City, NYPablo Picasso’s portrayal of a woman in an armchair is a classic example of his avant-garde Cubist style. Rendered as a series of angular shapes and thick lines, the figure of the wo...Category
1980s Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Portrait de Femme au Chapeau & a la Robe Vert Jaune, Lithograph by Pablo PicassoBy Pablo PicassoLocated in Long Island City, NYA lithograph from the Marina Picasso Estate Collection after the Pablo Picasso painting "Portrait de Femme au Chapeau et a la Robe Vert Jaune". The original painting was completed i...Category
1980s Cubist Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Cabez sobre fondo Rosa, Surrealist Etching by Rufino TamayoBy Rufino TamayoLocated in Long Island City, NYA Surrealist etching by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo of a simple yellow figure against a pink background, staring at the viewer with piercing white eyes. This piece is 21 of 99 numb...Category
1980s Portrait Prints
MaterialsEtching
- TAA Trans-Australia Airlines original vintage travel posterLocated in Spokane, WAOriginal TAA Trans Australia Airlines vintage travel poster. Linen-backed and ready to frame. TAA Airlines was started in 1946 and was renamed Australian Airlines in 1986. In 1...Category
20th Century Realist Portrait Prints
MaterialsOffset
- Poster: Photographs 1970-1990 with Steve Martin (Hand signed by Annie Leibovitz)By Annie LeibovitzLocated in New York, NYAnnie Leibovitz Photographs 1970-1990 (Hand signed by Annie Leibovitz), 1993 Offset lithograph poster (hand signed) Boldly signed in black marker on the front 30 × 24 inches Ansel Adams Center for Photography, San Francisco in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Unframed This offset lithograph poster was published on the occasion of the Annie Leibovitz' 1993 survey exhibition at the Ansel Adams Center for photograph in San Francisco. The photograph of course depicts the actor and renowned art collector Steve Martin in front of a Franz Kline painting entitled Rue, which Martin apparently once owned. Steve Martin was said to have always wanted to be part of the painting; Complete with black brushstrokes on his white suit, Martin realized his dream and posed for Leibowitz in front of Rue. (Of course the irony is that Martin cuts a gleeful, almost clownish pose in front of a painting, Rue, whose very name means sorry and regret. Perhaps Martin will rue the day he sold this Franz Kline!) A companion photo appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The Portland Art Museum also exhibited the photo Annie Leibovitz took of Steve Martin in Beverly Hills when he posed for his portrait. A coveted poster when hand signed by Annie Leibovitz Provenance: Collection of former Trustee of the Portland Museum of Art Annie Leibovitz Biography: Born in 1949, Annie Leibovitz graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1971. Photos she took during college while living on a kibbutz in Israel and working to uncover the remains of King Solomon’s Temple helped land her a job at Rolling Stone magazine, where she was quickly named chief photographer. Between photographing John Lennon and documenting the Rolling Stones’ 1975 concert tour, Liebovitz reinforced her reputation as the most prominent celebrity photographer of her generation. In 1983, she moved to Vanity Fair, where she broadened her range of subjects from rock stars to other public figures like the Dalai Lama. In 1991, Leibovitz became only the second living photographer to be featured in an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. Overview and Early Life For decades, Annie Leibovitz and her camera have exposed to the public eye subtleties of character in rock stars, politicians, actors, and literary figures that lay beneath their celebrity personae. Her work first fueled the American fascination with rock ’n’ roll dissidents in the 1970s and then, in the 1980s and 1990s, captured the essence of the day’s great cultural icons. Her photographs make plain that, as Leibovitz herself once put it, she was not afraid to fall in love with her subjects. Anna-Lou Leibovitz was born on October 2, 1949, in Westbury, Connecticut. She was the third of six children of Marilyn Leibovitz, a modern dance instructor, and Sam Leibovitz, an air force lieutenant colonel. As the daughter of a career military officer, Leibovitz moved with her family frequently from town to town. The constant relocation fostered strong ties among the six Leibovitz children. Education and Work with Rolling Stone Leibovitz attended the San Francisco Art Institute from 1967 until 1971. She shifted her focus from painting to photography early in her college career. In 1969, she lived on Kibbutz Amir in Israel. The archaeological team on which she worked during her five months in Israel uncovered the remains of King Solomon’s Temple. By the time Leibovitz received her bachelor of fine arts degree in 1971, her photographs of Israel and a picture of the poet Allen Ginsberg at a San Francisco peace march had already landed her a job at the music magazine Rolling Stone. Soon after she was hired, Leibovitz convinced editor Jann Wenner to grant her a breakthrough assignment. Leibovitz flew with Wenner to New York City to interview John Lennon. A photo from that trip adorned the cover of Rolling Stone, the first of dozens Leibovitz would shoot over the course of her career with the music magazine. In 1973, she was named chief photographer. The mid-1970s brought Leibovitz an increasing amount of notoriety and its concomitant tribulations. In 1975, the rock band the Rolling Stones invited Leibovitz to document their six-month concert tour. Living in the world of her subjects, her camera did not shield Leibovitz from the rock ’n’ roll life-style. She began using cocaine on tour and struggled for years afterward to recover. Photography Exhibits and Move to Vanity Fair In 1983, Leibovitz put together her first major exhibit, which led to the publication of her book Annie Leibovitz: Photographs (1983). Her ability to work with her subjects to get beneath the veneer of superficiality that typically characterizes Hollywood paparazzi has reinforced her reputation as the most prominent celebrity photographer of her generation. The rapport Leibovitz develops with her subjects creates an atmosphere in which celebrities will strike the most unconventional of poses and show emotions that other photographers could not evoke. Among her most famous shots are a naked John Lennon curled around a fully clothed Yoko Ono, Bette Midler in a bed of roses, and the Blues Brothers painted blue. In 1983, after more than a decade of photographing such rock ’n’ roll legends as Lennon, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and Bruce Springsteen, Leibovitz left Rolling Stone for Vanity Fair. This move gave her the opportunity to shoot a broader range of subjects, including the Dalai Lama, Vaclav Havel, and Donald Trump. Her art did not suffer from the change. The American Society of Magazine Photographers selected her as the Photographer of the Year in 1984. Advertising Work, Awards, and Honors In addition to her work for Vanity Fair, Leibovitz became active in advertising photography. In 1986, she was the first photographer ever to be commissioned to design and shoot posters for the World Cup. A campaign she designed for American Express brought Leibovitz a storm of critical acclaim. In 1987, she received the Innovation in Photography Award from the American Society of Magazine Photographers, a Clio Award from Clio Enterprises, and a Campaign of the Decade Award from Advertising Age for the “Portraits” campaign she produced for American Express. Then, in 1990, the International Center of Photography recognized the same work by giving Leibovitz the Infinity Award for applied photography. n 1991, Leibovitz became only the second living photographer to be featured in an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. She published this retrospective in book form under the title Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, 1970–1990. In anticipation of the centennial Olympic games, Leibovitz spent two years photographing athletes...Category
1990s Realist Figurative Prints
MaterialsInk, Offset, Lithograph
- Afghan Girl iconic poster: Sharbat Gula, Pakistan (Hand Signed by Steve McCurry)By Steve McCurryLocated in New York, NYSteve McCurry Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl, Pakistan (Hand Signed), 1984 Offset Lithograph poster Hand signed by the photographer in black felt pen on the front 24 × 20 inches Unframed...Category
1980s Realist Figurative Prints
MaterialsFelt Pen, Lithograph, Offset
- Phil Limited Edition rubber stamp Portrait of Philip Glass, pencil no. 243/1000By Chuck CloseLocated in New York, NYChuck Close Phil, 1976 Limited Edition Print on Strathmore 3-Ply Paper. Pencil numbered 243/1000 on the verso. Artist's printed copyright name verso. Accompanied by original envelope...Category
1970s Realist Figurative Prints
MaterialsMixed Media, Pencil, Lithograph, Offset
- Private TokyoBy Nobuyoshi ArakiLocated in New York, NYNobuyoshi Araki Private Tokyo, 1996 Two Sided Offset Lithograph Boldly signed and numbered by the artist in black marker on the lower right front 33 × 46 3/5 inches Unframed This dra...Category
1990s Realist Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Postcard of Phong Bui's portrait of Jasper Johns, hand signed by Jasper JohnsBy Jasper JohnsLocated in New York, NYJasper Johns and Phong Bui Offset lithograph card of portrait of Jasper Johns by Phong Bui (hand signed and dated by Jasper Johns), 2008 Card depicting a portrait of Jasper Johns by ...Category
Early 2000s Realist Portrait Prints
MaterialsPostcard, Lithograph, Offset, Ink
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Chryssa’s 1962 Neon Sculpture Was Way ahead of the Art-World Curve
By working with lettering, neon and Pop imagery, Chryssa pioneered several postmodern themes at a time when most male artists detested commercial mediums.
7 Exciting Works by Female Artists from the RoGallery Auction
Prints by these modern and contemporary visionaries are relatively affordable — for now.