Alex Katz
American, 1927
Katz, best known for his figural paintings, sculptures and prints, was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York, as well as the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He is well known for his large paintings, whose bold simplicity and heightened colors are now seen as precursors to Pop Art. Katz’s first solo show took place in 1954 at the Roko Gallery in New York, and his work has been exhibited worldwide at many museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; MMK Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris; and the National Portrait Gallery, London. In 1994 The Cooper Union created the Alex Katz Visiting Chair in Painting with an endowment provided by the sale of ten paintings donated by the artist. In 1996 Colby College Museum of Art opened a wing dedicated to Katz that features more than 400 oil paintings, collages and prints donated by the artist.
“The Abstract Expressionists had that thing of subject matter becomes content, content becomes form. And I always thought there was no room for style. I felt with my painting, the style really is the content. The style holds everything together.”
Photo by Mary Hilliard
