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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1946 "Untitled" oil on canvas painting signed and dated by artist Alex Katz.
By Alex Katz
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Untitled" oil on canvas painting by artist Alex Katz. Signed and dated A. Katz 46 recto lower right. Painted in 1946, during the period when Katz was studying at Cooper Union in New...
Canvas, Oil
$16,000
Reflection 2
By Alex Katz
Located in Fairfield, CT
Edition of 100 Archival pigment ink on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper
Archival Ink, Rag Paper
$658
H 14.97 in W 22.84 in D 0.79 in
Exotic Landscape - Painting by Kabemba Situna WA - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Exotic Landscape is an artwork realized by Kabemba Situna Wa. Oil on Canvas, 1970s. 38 x 58 cm ; 65 x 85 cm with frame. Good conditions
Canvas, Oil
$29,000
H 40 in W 43 in
"Winter Landscape" William Lester Stevens, Cape Ann Snowy Landscape
By William Lester Stevens
Located in New York, NY
William Lester Stevens Winter Landscape Signed lower right Oil on canvas 32 x 36 inches Born on June 15, 1888, in Rockport, Massachusetts, Stevens displayed his artistic abilities ...
Canvas, Oil
$175,000
H 37 in W 45 in D 1.5 in
“Middleton Place II, 1974” Wolf Kahn, West Brattleboro, Vermont Barn Oil Canvas
By Wolf Kahn
Located in Yardley, PA
A fantastic early painting from Kahn’s iconic barn series depicting Dr. Middleton’s property in West Brattleboro, VT. Here, Kahn turns a familiar rural motif into something hovering ...
Canvas, Oil
La Rue Solitaire
By Charles Levier
Located in Sheffield, MA
Charles Levier French, 1920-2004 La Rue Solitaire Oil on canvas 36 X 24 in. w/ frame 45 ½ X 33 ½ in. Signed lower right Inventory Number: 01747 Charles Levier was born in 1920 fro...
Canvas, Oil
$564
H 24.81 in W 44.49 in D 0.79 in
Landscape with Boats - Paint by Mustapha Yehya - mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Realized by Mustapha Yehya in the mid-20th century. Hand signed. In excellent condition, it includes a coeval wooden frame.
Canvas, Oil
$1,088
H 20.08 in W 35.83 in
Mid Century Modern Swedish Green Landscape Oil Painting - Pastoral Geometry
Located in Bristol, GB
PASTORAL GEOMETRY Size: 51 x 91 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A serene mid-century modernist landscape that captures a cluster of farmhouses nestled within a stylised patchwork...
Canvas, Oil
$1,475
H 24 in W 28 in D 2 in
Antique American School Tropical Modernist Palm Tree Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist tropical landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Measuring: 24 by 28 inches overall, and 20 by 24 painting alone.. In excellent original condition....
Oil, Canvas
$4,500
H 38 in W 28 in
"New Hampshire Winter" Georgina Klitgaard, Female WPA, Northeastern Landscape
By Georgina Klitgaard
Located in New York, NY
Georgina Klitgaard New Hampshire Winter Signed lower right Oil on canvas 38 x 28 inches Georgina Klitgaard’s art has sometimes gotten lost in the critical propensity to assign arti...
Canvas, Oil
$5,641
H 15.75 in W 20.28 in D 0.79 in
Pair of Landscapes with Views of Ancient Rome - Oil on Canvas - Mid 19th century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscapes with Views of Ancient Rome is an original pair of oil on canvas realized in the Second Half 19th Century. Mixed colored oil on canvas, mounted on panel. Minor damage to ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,800
H 36.25 in W 20 in D 1.5 in
Fabulous 1950 Painting, "47th & Woodlawn Ave in Chicago, ILL" by EC Nieman
Located in Chicago, IL
Make it yours! A large fabulous Urban Modern painting titled "47th & Woodlawn Ave in Chicago, ILL" by EC Nieman and dated 1950. Depicts a Walgreen's Drug Store, a horse pulling a m...
Canvas, Oil
Provincetown Landscape (Ptown Landscape)
By Beulah Stevenson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Provincetown Landscape (Ptown Landscape), 1942, oil on canvas board, signed lower left, 20 x 24 inches, titled and dated verso, labels verso read 1) “Provincetown Landscape / oil painting by Buelah Stevenson / 252 Fulton St. / Brkn / price $ [illegible] /” and 2) “New York Society of Women Artists”, perhaps exhibited: 1) Society of Independent Artists, American Society of Fine Arts, New York, NY, 1942 – 1944 under the title “Landscape", 2) 17th Annual Exhibition of the New York Society of Women Artists, New York, NY, February - March, 1942; and/or 3) Beulah Stevenson Paintings, Fifteen Gallery, New York, NY, April 6 -18, 1942 Provincetown Landscape is a beautiful example of Beulah Stevenson's painting from the 1940s, a time when she honed her mature style which emphasized rhythmic patterns developed in a semi-abstract idiom executed with a bright, saturated palette. Provincetown had long been a source of inspiration for American painters and Stevenson knew it well from her time studying there with Hans Hoffman. In reviewing her solo exhibition of twenty-five works at Fifteen Gallery which included a large section of Provincetown paintings...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$7,800
H 45 in W 45 in D 1.5 in
The Blue Sea Wave, Coastal Contemporary Painting Mixed Media Canvas 45x45"
By Irena Orlov
Located in Los Angeles, CA
One of a kind Mixed Medium on Canvas Artwork: Original abstract mixed media work on canvas, which combines new media - digital original hand painting, printed on canvas, then hand p...
Canvas, Varnish, Archival Ink, Acrylic, Mixed Media