William P. Katz Decorative Objects

This monumental and beautifully carved Mid-Century Modernist White Marble Amorphic Sculpture on Rotating Base and Black Pedestal Entitled "In The Beginning" is by the artist William ...

William P. Katz American, 1926-2003 “Abstract Sculpture” Height 12 in. William Katz was born in New York, studied at The Art Students League and with Sebastiano Mineo of New York City. For five years he worked and lived in the home that was once occupied by the great American sculptor Gutson Borglum. His works are in many private collections in the United States, Norway, England, Canada and Greece. Best known for sculptures, he also created paintings and designed textiles and jewelry. Alexander Kirkland called him an abstract "figurist-fantasist." He has had one-man exhibits at many galleries including: 1964, Miami Museum of Modern Art, Miami, FL; 1965, Fordham University, NYC; 1969 Hiram Halle Library, Pound Ridge, NY. This particular work is a fine example of the `drip and splash' style for which Jackson Pollock was best known, emerged with some abruptness in 1947. Instead of using the traditional easel Katz in his “Homage to Jackson Pollock” affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured and dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it with `sticks, trowels or knives' (to use his own words), sometimes obtaining a heavy impasto by an admixture of `sand, broken glass or other foreign matter'. This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist. The painting “Homage to Jackson Pollock” is also associated with the introduction of the All-over style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape or size of the canvas -- indeed in the finished work the canvas was sometimes docked or trimmed to suit the image. All these characteristics were important for the new American painting which matured in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Museums and collections: Miami Museum of Modern Art, Miami, FL; Fordham University, New York City; Stratmar Marleting Group, NYC; Paul Associates...