Morris Katz Art
Polish, 1932-2010
Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 in Galicia, Poland, died November 12, 2010 at age 78 in The Bronx, New York) was a Jewish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist.
He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue instead of a paintbrush. Katz was born in 1932 in Galicia, Poland. At age 13 he studied under Dr. Hans Fokler of the Munich Academy. After World War II, he lived for a while in a displaced persons camp, where he earned a diploma in carpentry, and he has since said that toilet paper is his "diploma in art."
He moved to the United States in 1949, when he took a job in carpentry while maintaining a sideline with his art. While working on his unpublished Dictionary of Color in 1956, he decided to try painting with his palette knife instead of his brushes. After some time he also began experimenting with the use of rags; when he ran out of rags he turned to toilet tissue. As of February 2007, over his career he had painted more than 280,000 paintings.
Over his long career, he has established himself as a painter, comedian, and television personality. Katz describes his method as "Instant Art," as he has completed entire paintings in as little as 30 seconds. In a 1987 event to benefit the Boy Scouts of America, Katz completed 103 paintings (selling 55 of them on the spot) in 12 hours. He is listed as a human oddity in Ripley's Believe It Or Not because of his ability to paint full works of art in less than five minutes.to
3
1
2
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
5
2
1
1
1
1
1
6
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
7
7
1
1
1
7
7,789
4,999
2,504
1,373
6
7
Artist: Morris Katz
Morris Katz painting 2002
By Morris Katz
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Morris Katz Painting 2002:
Oil paint on wood board. Unique.
8x10 inches.
Very good overall vintage condition.
Polish born Morris Katz (1932 – 2010) survived World War II in a Disp...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Morris Katz Art
Materials
Wood, Oil
“Snow scene”
By Morris Katz
Located in Warren, NJ
Morris Katz original oil on board unique colors. Some minor frame wear . Measures 17x15
Category
20th Century Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Morris Katz Set of Three of Original Seascape Oil Paintings C.2001
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz (Ukraine / New York 1931-2010)
Set of Three of Original Seascape Oil Paintings c.2001
A nice collection of original oil paintings by Morris Katz.
Seagulls flying over crashing waves.
Each painting measures 5" x 7"
One frame measures 7" x 9" The other two frames measure 8" x 10"
Signed, dated and framed by Morris Katz
Very good vintage condition
Offered as a matching trio only
Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 – November 12, 2010) was a Polish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist. He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
“Untitled”
By Morris Katz
Located in Warren, NJ
This is a Morris Katz painting on board. In good condition measures 68x46. Buyer must pay and cover all shipping cost.
Category
20th Century Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Red Roses, Late 20th Century Impasto Floral Still-Life, Record Breaking Artist
By Morris Katz
Located in Soquel, CA
Beautiful impasto still life of a vase of red and white roses on a table by Morris Katz (American, 1931-2010).
Signed and dated "Morris Katz 1997" lower right.
Presented in a gilt...
Category
1990s Contemporary Morris Katz Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
“Ocean scene”
By Morris Katz
Located in Warren, NJ
Morris katz oil painting 1978. In good condition measures 32x28
Category
20th Century Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Landscape with people fishing
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork "Landscape with People Fishing" 1978, is an oil painting on hard board by Polish/American artist Morris Katz, 1932-2010. It is signed and dated at the lower right corner by the artist. The artwork (Hard Board) size is 20 x 24 inches, framed size is 28 x 31.75 inches. Framed in original wooden gold frame, with fabric liner and gold trim. The artwork is in excellent condition, the frame is in very good condition.
About the artist:
On May 9th, 1988, the New York artist set a new world record by painting a 12- by 16-inch canvas of a child in the snow in just half a minute. (It took an additional eight seconds to frame it.) And that wasn’t the only distinction granted to Katz by the Guinness Book of World Records—his name appeared alongside Pablo Picasso’s under the heading for “Most Prolific Painters.” The Spanish master is estimated to have completed some 13,500 paintings in his life; when Katz died in 2010 at age 78, he was credited with 225,000.
Katz’s preposterously productive career began in the small Polish village where he was born in 1932. He started studying under a German painter at age 13, but following World War II he earned a diploma in carpentry instead. In 1949, at the age of 17, he travelled to the United States. It was there that he picked up a paintbrush again, while studying at the Art Students League of New York and showing in the Village. “Soon, I decided I was good enough—compared to others, excellent enough—to make my living as an artist,” he said.
It was during those years that he developed the techniques that would eventually land him in the record books. He tossed out his paintbrushes and replaced them with palette knives and toilet paper, which he used to stipple the paint. “Soon I picked up speed,” Katz said. “If you know which way you’re travelling, then you can run.” He made art in bulk, buying up canvases by the thousands and paint by the gallon. He went through some 10,000 rolls of toilet paper per year; he often wore out palette knives.
Katz branded his method as “instant art.” Charles Salzberg, writing in New York magazine in 1978, urged readers, “Think of him, if you will, as the McDonald’s of the art world”—fast, cheap, and ubiquitous.
He wore a green beret, paint-splattered pants, and a shirt emblazoned with the words “Morris Katz - World’s Most Prolific Artist.” It was a title that came with a price—he worked 18-hour days into his 60s, sometimes from his Greenwich Village studio and other times as a performer at hotels across the Catskills. He would often visit three different hotels in the same day, waking up at 7 a.m. and returning home as late as 1 a.m.
His show was as much about the painting as it was the one-liners: “These are the highlights—you can tell because they’re high up on the painting,” he might say. Audiences gobbled up the jokes and the works, often paying less than $50 for a painting. “I give them a fresh painting like a fresh bagel,” he said.
Photographer David M. Spindel first met Katz on assignment. “They’d call him mashugana—that’s the Yiddish word for a little bit crazy,” he told Artsy. The pair soon became friends, and Spindel ended up attending several of the artist’s hotel shows.
“There were a lot of people from the hotel who were sitting in the room and he set up his easel and his toilet paper and paints and knocked out paintings one after another,” Spindel said. “Just a couple of minutes for each painting, usually. If he was kibitzing with the people in the audience then it took a lot longer. He was always clowning around.”
His act was ready-made for television; he appeared on 60 Minutes, David Letterman, and Oprah, among other programs. And Katz didn’t just make instant art—he taught it as well. In 1987, the New Yorker sent a writer to attend one of his speed-painting classes at the Notre Dame School on West 79th Street. A dozen eager students watched in admiration as he whipped up a mountain landscape, asking for advice on how, exactly, to hold their toilet paper for maximum artistic effect. For those who couldn’t make it to Manhattan for a lesson, he published a book—Paint Good & Fast (1985)—with a title as straightforward as his philosophy on art.
“Life goes faster and faster,” he wrote. “The fine arts must keep pace. This art will one day be...
Category
Late 20th Century American Impressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Related Items
Pocket Peacock Butterfly 2, Original painting, Still life, Butterfly, Insect
By Dani Humberstone
Located in Deddington, GB
Pocket Peacock Butterfly 2 is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a nod to baroque ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Morris Katz Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 5.91 in W 5.91 in D 0.99 in
Mid-Century Paleolithic Hunt Scene
By Nan Street Fowler
Located in Soquel, CA
A wonderful mid-century interpretation of prehistoric, Paleolithic cave paintings; done in reddish earth tones and rich in visual texture by Sausalito, California artist Nan Street F...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Antique American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Large Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive early American modernist abstract expressionist oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas.
Category
1960s Abstract Morris Katz Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Very Shiny Very Red Apple
By Dani Humberstone
Located in Deddington, GB
Very Shiny Very Red Apple is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her series of realistic oil paintings of fruit with a nod to baroque still life painting. The pai...
Category
2010s Contemporary Morris Katz Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Portrait of a woman, circa 1950, oil on canvas
Located in PARIS, FR
Jacques BERLAND (1918-1999)
Portrait of a woman, circa 1950
Oil on canvas
34 × 25 cm
A figurative painter of the Paris School, Jacques Berland's work was brought back into the limel...
Category
Mid-20th Century Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Seaside landscape at Quiberon (France), oil on canvas
Located in PARIS, FR
Andre KAUFFER (1893-1971)
Seaside landscape - Quiberon, circa 1940
Oil on canvas
Signed lower left
Located “Quiberon” on the back
23 x 46 cm
Old frame in painted wood
Born in Nancy ...
Category
1940s Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Sandra Pratt 'Untitled' - Unframed Contemporary Oil On Board Winter Scene 2024
By Sandra Pratt
Located in Denver, CO
This original, unframed oil on board requires a frame to hang. Created by Sandra Pratt in 2024, it measures 6 x 8 inches (15.24 x 20.32 cm) and captures a serene winter landscape in ...
Category
2010s Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
Dance
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this vibrant oil painting, I've unleashed a wave of dynamic energy and emotion. The abstract forms blend with expressionist fervor, as the figures—a synthesis of impressionist and...
Category
2010s Abstract Impressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Julia Adams, Sweet Things Happen, Original Interior Painting, Affordable Art
By Julia Adams
Located in Deddington, GB
Julia Adams
Sweet Things Happen
Original Interior Painting
Oil, Acrylic and Ink on Canvas
Canvas Size: H 30cm x W 30cm
Sold Unframed
Please note that insitu images are purely an indi...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Morris Katz Art
Materials
Ink, Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
'Spring Landscape', Paris, Danish Post-Impressionist oil, Charlottenborg Palace
By Ejnar Kragh
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A substantial, sunlit landscape showing a fruit-tree in blossom in the foreground with verdant fields receding towards rolling hills beneath turquoise and lavender clouds.
Signed ...
Category
1940s Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
H 26.5 in W 33.5 in D 0.75 in
'Woman Walking Beside the Seine', Pont Neuf, Paris, French Post-Impressionist
By Ejnar Kragh
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Ejnar Kragh' (Danish, 1903-1981) and dated 1950.
A substantial, mid-century Impressionist oil showing a view of Paris with a figure strolling beside the Seine. ...
Category
1950s Post-Impressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 23.5 in W 29 in D 0.75 in
Bird. 2019, hardboard, oil, 41x28 cm
By Dmitry Lavrentjev
Located in Riga, LV
Bird. 2019, hardboard, oil, 41x28 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
Previously Available Items
American Artist Morris Katz Large painting on board, Autumn Landscape, Signed
By Morris Katz
Located in Palm Coast, FL
This is a beautiful vintage original painting on cardboard, depicting a rural autumn landscape.
Signed in a lower-right corner Morris Katz.
Presented in a solid wood frame with ...
Category
20th Century Impressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
H 32 in W 44 in D 2 in
1974 Morris Katz Japanese Landscape
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz: 1932-2010. This has to be the finest Morris Katz painting we have ever owned. It is an oil on masonite measuring 36 inches wide by 24 high. It is unframed. It is signed ...
Category
1970s Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
American Abstract landscape 1971
By Morris Katz
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
3832 Impasto oil on board of an abstract landscape
Category
1970s Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Morris Katz Pair of Original Outdoor Landscape Oil Paintings C.1991
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz (Ukraine / New York 1931-2010)
Pair of original oil paintings on masonite
One shows a country landscape with a house - The other a coastal scene with seagull
Each painting measures 9" wide x 12" high
Each frame measures 10" wide x 13" high
The paintings were done in 1991
Very good vintage condition
Offered as a pair only
Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 – November 12, 2010) was a Polish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist. He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue...
Category
Late 19th Century Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
H 13 in W 10 in D 1 in
Morris Katz Set of Three Natural Landscape Oil Paintings C.2001
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz (Ukraine / New York 1931-2010)
Set of Three of Original Natural Landscape Oil Paintings c.2001
A nice collection of original oil paintings by Morris Katz.
Trees and Flowers
Each painting measures approximately 5" x 7"
Signed, dated and framed by Morris Katz
Very good vintage condition
Offered as a matching trio only
Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 – November 12, 2010) was a Polish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist. He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
H 7 in W 5 in D 1 in
Morris Katz "Winter Ski Trip" Pair of Original Oil Paintings C.2001
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz (Ukraine / New York 1931-2010)
Pair of original Winter ski trip oil paintings
Skiers riding the slopes through the trees!
Each painting measures 7" wide x 5" high
Each oak frame measures 9" wide x 7" high
The paintings were done in 2001
Very good vintage condition
Offered as a pair only
Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 – November 12, 2010) was a Polish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist. He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Oil
Morris Katz Pair of "Fall Colors on the Coast" Oil Paintings C.1991
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz (Ukraine / New York 1931-2010)
Pair of original coastal forest with Fall colors landscape oil paintings
Each painting measures 9" wide x 12" high
Each oak frame measures 10" wide x 13" high
The paintings were done in 1991
Very good vintage condition
Offered as a pair only
Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 – November 12, 2010) was a Polish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist. He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue...
Category
Late 20th Century Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Masonite, Oil
H 13 in W 10 in D 1 in
Morris Katz Pair of "Forested Landscape" Oil Paintings C.1991
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz (Ukraine / New York 1931-2010)
Pair of original forested landscape oil paintings
Each painting measures 9" wide x 12" high
...
Category
Late 20th Century Expressionist Morris Katz Art
Materials
Masonite, Oil
H 13 in W 10 in D 1 in
Morris Katz Pair of Original Outdoor Landscape Oil Paintings C.1991
By Morris Katz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Morris Katz (Ukraine / New York 1931-2010)
Pair of original oil paintings on masonite
One shows a seagull flying over crashing waves, the other trees by a lake
Each painting measures 9" wide x 12" high
Each oak frame measures 10" wide x 13" high
The paintings were done in 1991
Very good vintage condition - One painting (the seagull) shows a minor fleck of paint loss at the extreme upper edge. (see pics)
Offered as a pair only
Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 – November 12, 2010) was a Polish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist. He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue...
Category
Late 20th Century Morris Katz Art
Materials
Masonite, Oil
H 13 in W 10 in D 1 in
Cityscape Painting
By Morris Katz
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
#5-2937 Cityscape ,abstract painting,acrylic on artist board displayed in a silver- wood frame ,signed on verso Morris Katz. Image size 11.5 H x 15.5 W
Age wear on the frame
Category
1970s Morris Katz Art
Morris Katz art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Morris Katz art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Morris Katz in oil paint, paint, wood and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Morris Katz art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska, Noel Howard, and Duane Albert Armstrong. Morris Katz art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $400 and tops out at $1,516, while the average work can sell for $545.
Artists Similar to Morris Katz
Questions About Morris Katz Art
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022To find the artist of an oil painting, look on the back of the canvas. Sometimes, you will find the artist’s name and the year of production on the back. If the canvas is in a frame, gently peel away the paper covering the back to access the canvas. In the event you cannot find any identifying information, seek the help of a licensed art appraiser. Shop a selection of oil paintings on 1stDibs.