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Alex KatzGreen Jacket1990
1990
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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.
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- Straw Hat VivienBy Alex KatzLocated in Mount Laurel, NJThis Alex Katz work consists of a green background with the portrait of a woman with dark hair dressed in white wearing a straw hat. This original silkscreen print on paper is guaranteed authentic and is hand signed by the artist. Artist: Alex Katz Title: "Straw Hat Vivien...Category
2010s Pop Art Portrait Prints
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Price Upon Request - Silkscreen Day Glo Fluorescent 1960's Japanese Pop Art Print Samurai KimonoBy Ushio ShinoharaLocated in Surfside, FLUshio Shinohara (born 1932, Tokyo), nicknamed “Gyu-chan”, is a Japanese Neo-Dadaist artist. His bright, large work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seoul and others. Shinohara and his wife, Noriko, are the subjects of a documentary film by Zachary Heinzerling called Cutie and the Boxer (2013). Shinohara's parents instilled in him a love for painters such as Paul Cézanne, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. His father was a tanka poet who was taught by Wakayama Bokusui. Shinohara’s mother was a painter who went to the Woman’s Art University (Joshibijutsu Daigaku) in Tokyo. In 1952 Shinohara entered the Tokyo Art University (later renamed to Tokyo University of the Arts), majoring in oil painting, however he left before graduation in 1957. In 1960 Shinohara participated in a group called "Neo-Dada Organizers". (Masunobu Yoshimura, Genpei Akasegawa, Shusaku Arakawa, Ushio Shinohara, Sho Kazakura, Tomio Miki, Tetsumi Kudo, Natsuyuki Nakanishi) This group of artists showed their works of art in an exhibition in the 1960s called the Yomiuri Independent Exhibition. This exhibition was sponsored by a newspaper, was open to the public, and was not judged by anyone. This type of exhibition was a form of an anti-salon and was a stepping stone for Shinohara’s sculptures of found objects which acquired the label of “junk art...Category
1960s Pop Art Abstract Prints
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- Girl with Hat III, Silkscreen by John GrilloBy John GrilloLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: John Grillo, American (1917 - 2014) Title: Girl with Hat III Year: 1979 Medium: Serigraph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 200, AP 30 Image Size: 28.5 x 22....Category
1970s Contemporary Portrait Prints
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- Blue Hat, Screenprint by John GrilloBy John GrilloLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: John Grillo, American (1917 - 2014) Title: Blue Hat Year: 1978 Medium: Serigraph, Signed and Numbered in Pencil Edition: 200, AP 30 Image S...Category
1970s Contemporary Portrait Prints
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- John F. Kennedy / Abraham LincolnBy Yvaral (Jean-Pierre Vasarely)Located in Long Island City, NYArtist: Jean-Pierre Vasarely - "Yvaral" French (1934 - 2002) Title: John F. Kennedy / Abraham Lincoln Year: circa 1979 Medium: Serigraph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 145/...Category
1970s Op Art Portrait Prints
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- The Moroccan, IVBy James BrownLocated in Rancho Santa Fe, CAA 12-color silkscreen from the signed and numbered edition of 75. Beautifully framed. James Brown's artwork can be found on the collections of: Centre National d'Art et de Culture G...Category
1990s Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsScreen, Archival Paper
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