Alex Katz
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WorksBiography
I always try to paint in the present tense. If you paint stories, you're painting in the past tense.
Alex Katz (b. 1927, Brooklyn, New York) is an American painter who is celebrated for his iconic portraits of contemporary society and his crisp, confident articulation of colour. Pristine flat surfaces, dramatic cropping, and economy of line are hallmarks of the artist’s work. When Katz first began painting in the early 1950s, his now-signature minimal aesthetic was perceived as a reaction to Abstract Expressionism; it would later register as an anticipation of Pop Art, albeit one that ultimately outlasted the movement.
An iconoclastic painter, Katz has many imitators but remains the undisputed master of cool, composed 20th-century portraiture of which more than 250 feature his wife Ada. He was awarded an honourary doctorate from Colby College in 1984 and currently serves on the Colby College Museum of Art’s board of governors. In addition to his painting practice, Katz is a prolific printmaker who continues to explore three-dimensional space with sculptural cutouts, a technique first established by the artist in 1959. The subject of over 200 solo exhibitions over his career, in 2022, Katz exhibited a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Since 2022, the artist has focused on chronicling seasons and landscapes observed from his studios Maine and New York, with four monumental works from this series occupying the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in New York over summer 2024 in Alex Katz: Seasons.
Exhibitions-
Alex Katz
Spring 12 September - 26 October 2024 LondonThis fall, the gallery will mount an exhibition of new paintings by Alex Katz, titled Spring. The presentation features vibrant new paintings dedicated to the landscape that belong to the same series featured in Alex Katz: Seasons which only recently closed at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.View More -
Dog Days of Summer
20 June - 23 August 2024 New YorkOur summer group show, titled Dog Days of Summer centres on man’s best friend as a timeless subject in art history. Including more than sixty works, this presentation explores the many roles a pup might play in the life of an artist: muse, metaphor, and companion.View More
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Alex Katz
Chippies 13 May - 25 June 2022 LondonSix months away from his career-sweeping retrospective at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York opening October 2022, Alex Katz is a towering figure in contemporary art, internationally recognised for his singular ability to distill disparate elements of the culture – from the gestural power of abstract painting and Modernist poetry to the bold colours of mid-century cinema and advertising – into vibrant depictions of modern life. On display for the first time here, the Birds series (2020–present) represents a new leap into near-pure abstraction with striking avian subject matter, inspired by the chipping sparrows (‘chippies’) seen pecking in the snow outside the artist’s window. Stark and minimal, they are both meditative and disquieting, drawing on the millennium-old art of Japanese scroll painting and the Minimalist exploration of negative space as well as Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic 1962 noir, The Birds.View More -
Alex Katz
Cutouts 1 October 2021 - 1 April 2022 LondonTimothy Taylor is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent cutout sculptures by American artist Alex Katz (b. 1927, Brooklyn, NY), located at the Smithson Plaza in St. James, London, as part of the ongoing public arts program curated by Encounter.View More -
Alex Katz
15 January - 22 February 2020 LondonTimothy Taylor is pleased to present an exhibition of recent paintings by American artist Alex Katz (b. 1927). Illustrating the immense power of a craft honed for over seventy years,...View More -
Alex Katz
Coca-Cola Girls 2 November - 21 December 2018 LondonTimothy Taylor, London, is pleased to present Coca-Cola Girls, an exhibition of new large-scale paintings by Alex Katz inspired by the eponymous, and iconic, figures from advertising art history.View More -
A New Way of Walking
29 June - 27 July 2018 New YorkFor the summer season, Timothy Taylor is pleased to announce the group exhibition A New Way of Walking, which brings together an eclectic mix of artists and works all united by an interest in the impact of the surrounding environment on the individual. In the 1950’s, the theorist Guy Debord defined the term psychogeography to represent enquiries into the impact of geographical location upon the emotions and behaviour of conscious beings.View More -
Alex Katz
3 October - 18 November 2017 LondonTimothy Taylor is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings, new large-scale paintings, studies on board and sculpture by Alex Katz. This is the artist’s eighth exhibition with the gallery and the first solo presentation in London since his retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery in the summer of 2016.View More
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Alex Katz
Subway Drawings 27 April - 30 June 2017 New YorkTimothy Taylor is pleased to announce an historic solo exhibition by Alex Katz, of the artist’s notebook drawings from the 1940s, presented in collaboration with Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York/Rome. This will be the first time these drawings are brought together in an exhibition.View More -
Alex Katz
Black Paintings 28 February - 2 April 2015 LondonTimothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Alex Katz. The subject of over 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group shows internationally since 1951, Katz has been honoured with numerous retrospectives including The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA; Tate St. Ives, UK; Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK; and The Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain. This is the artist’s seventh exhibition with the gallery.View More -
Alex Katz
70s / 80s / 90s 19 March - 23 April 2014 LondonTimothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to announce the sixth solo show at the gallery by the renowned American artist Alex Katz. The exhibition explores the progression and distillation of Katz’s distinct style through the 70s, 80s and 90s, and focuses on the thematic significance of ‘town and country’ during this period.View More -
Alex Katz
5 September - 5 October 2012 LondonTimothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to announce the fifth solo show at the gallery by the renowned American artist Alex Katz. The exhibition will include a new series of portraits and still lifes.View More -
Outside In
18 May - 13 June 2012 LondonOutside In explores how artists reinvent traditional genres including landscape, still life and interiors, and the relationship between these in their current and recent practice – reinvesting these traditional categories with new dynamism and interpretations.View More -
Alex Katz
4 March - 9 April 2010 LondonTimothy Taylor Gallery is proud to announce an exhibition of new paintings by the renowned American artist Alex Katz.View More -
Alex Katz
One Flight Up 12 October - 10 November 2007 LondonTimothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to announce the opening on 12 October 2007 of a new 600 square metre gallery at 15 Carlos Place, W1, designed by Eric Parry architects.View More -
Alex Katz
9 June - 10 July 2004 LondonAlex Katz is one of the most important artists to emerge on the American art scene since 1950. In this exhibition of twelve new paintings Katz shows the vitality that has made him a pivotal figure for so many younger artists.View More -
Alex Katz
Small Paintings 1951–2002 14 June - 20 July 2002 LondonTimothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to present a solo show of small paintings by American artist Alex Katz. For his first exhibition with the gallery, Katz has brought together a selection of forty small paintings that span his career from the 1950s through to recently completed works.View More
Press-
Alex Katz Chronicles the Changing of the ‘Seasons’ at MoMA
Shawn Ghassemitari, Hypebeast, 22 August 2024 -
8 New York and Online Shows to See in August
Rhea Nayyar, Hyperallergic, 2 August 2024 -
Alert the Pupperazzi — These Dogs Have Bow Wow Wow Power
Brian T. Allen, National Review, 1 August 2024 -
Your Dog Wants You to Visit This New York Art Exhibit
Kerensa Cadenas, The Wildest, 29 July 2024 -
Alex Katz at MoMA: A Painter for all Seasons
Brian P. Kelly, The Wall Street Journal, 26 July 2024 -
‘Dog Days of Summer’ Celebrates Humanity’s Favorite Companions in Art and Life
Grace Ebert, Colossal, 24 July 2024 -
See Fetching Portraits of Man’s Best Friend in a New Exhibition All About Dogs
Julia Binswanger, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 July 2024 -
Here Are 3 Buzzy Shows to See in New York This Summer
Richard Whiddington, Artnet, 15 July 2024 -
Dog Lovers Rejoice! NYC Art Gallery Shows 60+ Pup Portraits
Rhea Nayyar, Hyperallergic, 14 July 2024 -
A Seasoned Eye: Alex Katz Explains His Idea of Painting Eternity
Prudence Peiffer, The Museum of Modern Art, 2 July 2024 -
Dog Days of Summer
Paulina Prosnitz, Airmail, 27 June 2024 -
The Most Anticipated Art Shows and Exhibitions of 2024: Dog Days of Summer
Maxine Wally, Andrea Whittle, and Claire Valentine, W Magazine, 21 June 2024 -
Alex Katz’s Love Affair With Maine
Maya Pontone, Hyperallergic, 21 June 2024 -
A New Gallery Show Pays Tribute to Man’s Best Friend. See 8 Featured Artists Posing With Their Dogs
Julia Halperin, CULTURED, 21 June 2024 -
From Titian to Alex Katz, artists and poets have long enjoyed a symbiosis
Ben Luke, The Art Newspaper, 13 May 2024 -
Alex Katz’s New Paintings in Venice Celebrate Grass, Water, and Clothes
Andy Battaglia, ARTnews, 18 April 2024 -
Alex Katz Would Rather Own a 1930s Balenciaga Coat Than a Richard Serra
Stephanie Sporn, Vogue, 17 April 2024 -
Artist Alex Katz: ‘This is the end game. It’s just sleep and paint’
The 96-year-old is opening an ambitious show in Venice with some of his largest paintings to dateJulia Halperin, Financial Times, 13 April 2024 -
Alex Katz: Six Ramps of a Painter’s Progress at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY
Roberta Smith, The New York Times, 20 October 2022 -
Guggenheim Museum to Mount Retrospective for Alex Katz, New York Painter Extraordinaire, in 2022
Andy Battaglia, ARTnews, 17 January 2020
Publications-
Alex Katz
Coca-Cola Girls 2021Hardcover , 58 pagesBuy Now
Publisher: Timothy Taylor -
Alex Katz
Subway Drawings 2017Paperback, 108 pagesBuy Now
Publisher: Timothy Taylor
Dimensions: 200 × 128 mm -
Alex Katz
Black Paintings 2015Hardcover, 36 pagesBuy Now
Publisher: Timothy Taylor
Dimensions: -
Alex Katz
2012Hardcover, 43 pagesBuy Now
Publisher: Timothy Taylor
ISBN:
Dimensions: -
Alex Katz
Portraits 2010Hardcover, 41 pagesBuy Now
Publisher: National Portrait Gallery
ISBN: 978-185514-426-2
Dimensions: -
Alex Katz
Small Paintings 1951–2002 2002Paperback, 58 pagesBuy Now
Publisher: Timothy Taylor
ISBN: 0-9542892-0-x
Dimensions: 23 x 23 cm