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
$7,800
H 45 in W 45 in D 1.5 in
Abstract Landscape Mixed Media Canvas Painting 45x45" The clarity of a shore
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
$20,898
H 21.26 in W 28.75 in D 0.79 in
Lively Paris street. 1973. Oil on canvas. 54 x 73cm
By Hiro Yamagata
Located in Riga, LV
Lively Paris street. 1973. Oil on canvas. 54 x 73cm Hiro Yamagata was born near Kyoto, Japan, went to Paris to study art, and considers himself an American artist. In his Los Angeles studio, Yamagata paints minutely detailed scenes of Paris streets, cafes and parks. He captures the essence of the naif style by presenting life in simple terms, and the world in the happiest light. His creative synthesis of photorealist and neo-folk techniques has won countless admirers and collectors. Yamagata's vision is unequivocally cheerful and his imagery is endlessly inventive. He works from a palette of over 100 shades of acrylic paints, and renders in exacting detail with brushes with as small as two hairs. Serigraphs of some of Yamagata's most popular paintings...
Canvas, Oil
$3,800Sale Price|20% Off
H 47 in W 35 in D 2 in
Antique American Impressionist Framed Young Woman Portrait Exhibited Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Very finely painted early 1900s American impressionist portrait painting by Alexander Oscar Levy (1881 - 1947). Oil on canvas, lain to board. In excellent original condition. Hand...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$615
H 12.11 in W 16.05 in D 0.6 in
Mountain Landscape Oil on Canvas, Modern Style, Late 20th Century
By Isabelle Pardoe
Located in Cotignac, FR
Late 20th Century oil on canvas view of a rugged mountain landscape by Franco British artist Isabell Pardoe. The painting is not signed but came directly from the artist's atelier. ...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
$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
$900
H 22.44 in W 26 in D 2 in
The Blue Trees, Oil on Canvas Painting by Claude Richard Mazier
Located in Atlanta, GA
A charming 1950s modernist oil on canvas by Claude Richard Mazier (France, 1926–2011), this composition captures a poetic village scene where architecture and nature merge into a dre...
Canvas, Oil
$78,000
H 51 in W 33 in D 2 in
Summer Resort in Michigan -Modernist Mid-Century Saugatuck Oil Painting
By William Schwartz
Located in Marco Island, FL
Summer Resort in Michigan is an exceptional work painted by the Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago shortly ...
Canvas, Oil
$4,500
H 25.125 in W 31 in D 1 in
"London" Cityscape Oil Painting on Canvas by Denis Paul Noyer, Framed
By Denis Paul Noyer
Located in Encino, CA
"London," an original oil on canvas by Denis Paul Noyer, is a piece for the true collector. Noyer's capture of the architectural details of the surrounding buildings projects from th...
Oil, Canvas
$675
H 16 in W 21 in D 2 in
Signed 1938 American Modernist Landscape Central Park Bridge Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive early American modernist landscape oil painting. Framed. Oil on board. Signed. Image size, 11H by 16L.
Canvas, Oil
After A Cloudburst, An Evening Out in Paris
Located in San Francisco, CA
You saw the 1950s movie, "The Last Time I Saw Paris." This was painted about the same time. The city still recovering, grateful to be post-war, grateful to drive their 20-year-old au...
Canvas, Oil
$10,502
H 62.6 in W 47.25 in D 1.19 in
Dream. By Alexander Kishchenko. 1997. Oil on canvas. 159/120 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Alexander Mikhailovich Kishchenko (1933–1997) was an outstanding Belarusian monumentalist artist whose work significantly influenced the development of visual arts in Belarus during ...
Canvas, Oil
$13,500
H 40.5 in W 50.5 in D 3 in
“Washington Square Park, 1938” NYC Social Realism Female American Artist Oil
By Dorothy Eisner
Located in Yardley, PA
An exceptional, large, early work by American artist Dorothy Eisner (1906-1984). This painting was recently exhibited at Gracie Mansion in 2019 as part of “She Persists” - a show de...
Canvas, Oil