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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Alex Katz - American Dance Festival 1976 Original Vintage Poster
By Alex Katz
Located in Winchester, GB
Brilliant poster promoting the American Dance Festival 1976. With artwork from American Figurative artist Alex Katz, this warm and wonderful piece captures the kinetic energy and mov...
Paper
Alex Katz - American Dance Festival 1979 Original Vintage Poster
By Alex Katz
Located in Winchester, GB
Brilliant poster promoting the American Dance Festival 1979. With artwork from American Figurative artist Alex Katz, this brilliant monochrome piece captures the kinetic energy and m...
Paper
$272Sale Price|20% Off
H 39.77 in W 27.56 in D 0.04 in
La Dance Limited Edition, Villemot Original Vintage Poster
By Bernard Villemot
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Bernard Villemot was a French graphic artist known primarily for his iconic advertising images for Orangina, Bally Shoe, Perrier, and Air France. The original study was personally...
Paper
'Taxi Driver' Original Vintage Movie Poster, Australian, 1976
By Guy Peelleart
Located in Devon, GB
Set amidst the moral decay of New York City following the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal, Martin Scorsese's 1976 psychological thriller "Taxi Driver" starred Robert De Niro as a lonely and disturbed anti-hero cab driver and war vet growing increasingly alienated and unhinged as his dreams of cleaning up the corrupt and sleazy city lead him down a path of violence, plotting to assassinate both a presidential candidate and the pimp of an underage prostitute, played by a 12 year old Jodie Foster. Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, it was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor for De Niro and Best Supporting Actor for Foster. De Niro's "You talkin' to me?" scene, where he imagines a confrontation in front of a mirror, gave us one of the most iconic quotes in movie history. This Australian Daybill poster features the same atmospheric Guy Peellaert...
Linen, Paper
'Manhattan' Original Vintage Us Lobby Card Movie Poster, 1979
Located in Devon, GB
An international style US lobby card for Woody Allen's 1979 romantic comedy "Manhattan," starring co-writer and director Allen as a twice-divorced middle-aged comedy writer dating a ...
Paper
$168Sale Price|20% Off
H 22.05 in W 15.75 in D 0.04 in
Festival de Jazz de Paris 1989 Original Vintage Poster
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Festival de Jazz de Paris 1989.
Paper
$1,227
H 30.71 in W 21.26 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Railway Travel Poster Shinto Itsukushima Island Japan Festival
Located in London, GB
Original vintage travel poster issued by the Hiroshima Railway Bureau for a festival at the historic Shinto Itsukushima Shrine on Itsukushima island in Japan featuring fireworks and lanterns with the famous sacred torii gate...
Paper
$3,956
H 49.61 in W 37.41 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Poster Strandfest Buhne Strandbad Lido Festival Danube River
Located in London, GB
Original vintage travel poster advertising the Strandfest Buhne festival on Sunday 11 July 1926 at Strandbad Klosterneuburg featuring a fun design depicting a smiling lady in a fashi...
Paper
$750
H 23.23 in W 16.54 in
Original Vintage Sports Poster Leipzig German Gymnastics And Sports Festival
Located in London, GB
Original vintage sports poster for the II. Deutsches Turn- und Sportfest / 2nd German Gymnastics and Sports Festival held in Leipzig from 2 to 5 August 1956 featuring a great design ...
Paper
$1,023
H 25.99 in W 18.9 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Advertising Poster Rotterdam Ahoy Haven Festival Midcentury Art
Located in London, GB
Original vintage mid-century design advertising poster for the Rotterdam Rhineport Reconstructed Haven Tentoonstelling Haven Festival held from 15 June to 15 August featuring a fun n...
Paper
$1,295
H 40.16 in W 25.01 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Travel Advertising Poster Edinburgh Festival SAS Jean Cocteau
By Jean Cocteau
Located in London, GB
Original vintage travel advertising poster for the Edinburgh International Festival held from 22 August to 11 September 1965, featuring a colourful design by the French poet, writer ...
Paper
$1,040Sale Price / item|20% Off
H 62 in W 42 in D 0.1 in
Mid-1970s Original Vintage French Festival Poster, 'Festival D'automne', 1973
By Arman
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Mid-1970s original vintage French festival poster, 'Festival D'automne', 1973 Artist: Arman Dimensions: 158 x 109 cm Year: 1973.
Paper
$3,410
H 40.36 in W 25.2 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Poster Australia Victorian Melbourne Sydney Festival Tall Ship
Located in London, GB
Original vintage travel poster promoting “Discover Australia During the Celebrations”, (1934-1935) Victorian & Melbourne Centenary (1934-1935 commencing October) Sydney Festival Fortnight (1934 November). Great artwork by the only Australian artist to attend the New York School of Art John Vickery, (1906-1903) featuring a tall ship in full sail sailing on an ocean against a dramatic cloudy sky in the background with the stylized lettering and kangaroo logo against the sea below. Issued by the National Australian Travel...
Paper
$1,023
H 38.98 in W 24.41 in D 0.04 in
Original Vintage Poster Bloemen Flora Flower Festival Exhibition Plants Haarlem
Located in London, GB
Original vintage railway travel poster advertising safe quick and affordable travel by rail to Haarlem for the Flower Festival Exhibition - Bloemententoonstelling Flora reist per spoor naar Haarlem veilig vlug voordelig - from 15 March to 19 May 1935 featuring a great Art Deco illustration of red, yellow and purple flowers...
Paper
Sold
H 60.5 in W 32.25 in D 2 in
Contemporary Modern Framed Poster Signed Alex Katz Brooklyn Academy of Music
By Alex Katz
Located in Keego Harbor, MI
For your consideration is a framed, numbered A.P poster for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 125th Anniversary, circa 1986, signed by Alex Kat...
Sold
H 61 in W 31.5 in D 2 in
Contemporary Modern Framed Poster Signed Alex Katz Brooklyn Academy of Music
By Alex Katz
Located in Keego Harbor, MI
For your consideration is a framed, numbered A.P. poster for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 125th Anniversary, circa 1986, 1/8. In excellent...