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Basic data

Alex Katz is a contemporary U.S. painter best known for his distinctive minimalist portraits and landscape paintings, characterized by their

flat aesthetic and vibrant colors. He is considered a pioneer and influencer for many later Pop art and Conceptual artists.

  • Born: July 24, 1927
  • Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York
  • Nationality: American
  • Studied at: Cooper Union Art School, New York City; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan
  • Similar artists: Jeff Koons, Robert Indiana, David Hockney
  • Era: Contemporary art
  • Stylistic direction: Pop art, modern realism

Biography

The US painter Alex Katz were born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. Afterstudies at the Cooper Union in New York, he continued his education at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. In the 1950s, Katz began to paint large portraits of family, friends, and other artistspainting. These works are characterized by their reduced, almost abstract forms and often bya flat, monochromatic background. In the 1960s, the artist developedhis characteristic style further and began to create even larger paintings with even moresimplified details and flat color fields. In the 1970s he finally expandedhis repertoire to include landscapes and "cutouts," free-standing or wall-mountedmounted cut figures made of aluminum or wood that were often arranged in groups. Alex Katz has received numerous awards throughout his career and has been exhibited in manymajor museums and galleries worldwide. He currently lives and works in New Yorkand Maine.

 

Exhibitions

  • 10.06.2023 - 01.10.2023 Alex Katz - Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar.
  • 20.04.2023 - 18.01.2024 No Feeling Is Final. The Skopje Solidarity Collection - Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna.
  • 22.03.2023 - 20.05.2023 ALEX KATZ "With the artist's eyes" - Galerie Boisserée, Cologne.
  • 04.02.2023 - 23.06.2023 Alex Katz - Albertina, Vienna.

 

Awards

  • 2007: Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy Museums, New York
  • 2005: Honorary doctorate from Colgate University, Hamilton
  • 2001: Phillip Morris Distinguished Artist, American Academy Berlin
  • 1987: Queens Museum of Art Award
  • 1978: U.S. Government Award for Participation in an Educational and Cultural Exchange with Russia

 

Films

  • What About Style? Alex Katz: A Painter's Painterdocumentary, Hans Peter Schwefel, 56 min., Germany 2008.

 

Literature

  • Alex Katz. Painting the now, Jacob Proctor, Munich 2018.
  • Alex Katz. New York/Maine, Toni Stoos, Munich 2013.
  • Alex Katz, Lisa Grünwald, Klosterneuburg 2012.

 

Collections

Germany

 

England

 

USA

 

Canada

 

Weblinks

  • Website by the artist