Alex Katz is an American painter born in New York in 1927.
Alex Katz at a glance
- Born: 1927, New York City
- Nationality: American
- Known for: Flat, boldly simplified portraits and landscapes, often of family and friends
- Medium: Painting and printmaking
- Education: Cooper Union and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
- Based in: New York City
- Collections: Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum, among others
- Website: alexkatz.com
“Alex Katz’s strategic success in capturing, in his words, ‘the immediate present’ suffused with ‘quick light.’”
Alex Katz studied at the Cooper Union and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and he has been a leading figure in American art for over six decades.
Alex Katz is known for his flat, stylized depictions of figures and landscapes, often using large-scale canvases and bold, simplified forms to capture the essence of his subjects.
Alex Katz’s work has been influenced by photography, film, and advertising, and his compositions often reflect an acute awareness of camera angles and cropping to heighten tension and balance.
Alex Katz has created a “Homage to Degas” series featuring dancing female nudes, which combines the frontality of classical friezes with the sequential progression of Muybridge’s locomotion studies.
- Born in New York City in 1927.
- Known for his distinctive flat, stylized style.
- His works often feature family and friends as subjects.
- Has been the subject of over 200 solo exhibitions worldwide.
- His work is in the collections of major museums like MoMA and the Whitney.
Alex Katz’s practice flips between the archaically tectonic and the photographically oblique, a signature strategy for keeping his familiar subject matter abstractly engaging and renewed.
Alex Katz continues to paint and exhibit new work, and his influence on contemporary art remains significant, with his bold, graphic style inspiring generations of artists and his dedication to his vision remaining unwavering. For another major American artist associated with bold graphic imagery and popular culture, see Andy Warhol.
You can see more of Alex Katz’s paintings on his official website, alexkatz.com.