Flat color and minimal forms contrast the often monumental scales of the paintings by Alex Katz through which he creates portraits and landscapes of deceptive simplicity. Although the signature stark style that defines his prints and other work is now recognizable at a glance, it took him a decade to develop. During that time, he has said he destroyed hundreds of paintings.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian émigré parents, Katz’s family moved to Queens when he was a baby and that is where his family’s passion for the arts supported his early creative interests. In 1946, he enrolled at the Cooper Union in Manhattan where he studied painting under Morris Kantor. While he was influenced by the bold colors and hard edges of modernism, he shifted away from the then-dominant Abstract Expressionism movement to figurative scenes of life that have an inherent cool in their pared-down approach. Especially impactful were Katz’s summer studies between 1949 and 1950 at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, a place where, as he later wrote: “I tried plein air painting and found my subject matter and a reason to devote my life to painting.”
Katz’s first solo show was in 1954 at Roko Gallery in New York. He experimented over the course of the following years with collage and painting on aluminum sheets, with his work in the 1960s drawing inspiration from film and advertising. In the 1970s, Katz expanded into portrait groups that regularly depicted the cultural scene of New York; in the 1980s, he extended his focus to fashion and its supermodels. Since the late 1950s, an enduring muse for his portraits has been his wife, Ada, while others have painted friends and famous figures. The intimate closeness of the frequently cropped faces in Katz’s portraits exudes a sense of tension with the subjects’ enigmatic expressions and planes of color.
In the 1960s, Katz collaborated with American dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor on sets and costumes. His concentration on landscapes emerged in the late 1980s, with atmospheric night views joining his practice, which had previously been defined by bright colors. Always finding new perspectives on his work, he has explored using iPhone photographs as the basis for large-scale compositions in recent years.
Katz’s prolific career has spanned sculpture, prints and public art along with his paintings and drawings, and his works can be found in the collections of leading museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of Modern Art. He has had over 250 solo exhibitions around the world and continues to be acclaimed. In 2022, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened a major retrospective of his art.
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Alex Katz Gray Day Signed Color Screenprint 1992 Edition of 75
By Alex Katz
Located in Minneapolis, MN
Artist: Alex Katz (American, b. 1927) Title: Gray Day Medium: Color Screen-Print on Arches Paper Year: 1992 Sheet Size: 22" x 72" Frame Size: 35" x 83.25" Edition: 6/75 Publisher: Ch...
Screen
$16,000
Reflection 2
By Alex Katz
Located in Fairfield, CT
Edition of 100 Archival pigment ink on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper
Archival Ink, Rag Paper
The Raft, Monumental 84 x 64 Canvas By Alex Katz
By Alex Katz
Located in New York, NY
At seven feet wide, Raft brings Katz’s landscapes to monumental scale: a single raft floats in a field of green water that holds the reflections of trees and sky, in the flat, cool c...
Screen
1946 "Untitled" oil on canvas painting signed and dated by artist Alex Katz.
By Alex Katz
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Untitled" oil on canvas painting by artist Alex Katz. Signed and dated A. Katz 46 recto lower right. Painted in 1946, during the period when Katz was studying at Cooper Union in New...
Canvas, Oil
$16,000
H 31 in W 25 in
Henry Gasser American Scene Realism Regionalism Mid-20th Century Modern WPA
Located in New York, NY
Henry Gasser American Scene Realism Regionalism Mid-20th Century Modern WPA Henry Martin Gasser (1909-1981) "Village in Snow" Oil on canvas laid on artist's board, c. 1930s 28 x 22...
Canvas, Oil, Board
Marilyn Chanel Diamond. (Palm White)
By Russell Young
Located in Östermalm, Stockholms län
Unique. Artwork size: 160x122 cm. Frame size 167x130x5 cm. Signed, titled and dated on the back. Acquired directly from the artist. Free shipment worldwide Russell Young, born in 1959 in Yorkshire, is a British-American artist best known for his large scale silk screen paintings...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Linen, Ink, Screen
$7,800
H 45 in W 45 in D 1.5 in
Abstract Landscape Mixed Media Canvas Painting 45x45" The clarity of a shore
By Irena Orlov
Located in Los Angeles, CA
One of a kind Mixed Medium on Canvas Artwork: Original abstract mixed media work on canvas, which combines new media - digital original hand painting, printed on canvas, then hand p...
Canvas, Varnish, Archival Ink, Acrylic, Mixed Media
$13,500
H 40.5 in W 50.5 in D 3 in
“Washington Square Park, 1938” NYC Social Realism Female American Artist Oil
By Dorothy Eisner
Located in Yardley, PA
An exceptional, large, early work by American artist Dorothy Eisner (1906-1984). This painting was recently exhibited at Gracie Mansion in 2019 as part of “She Persists” - a show de...
Canvas, Oil
$29,000
H 40 in W 43 in
"Winter Landscape" William Lester Stevens, Cape Ann Snowy Landscape
By William Lester Stevens
Located in New York, NY
William Lester Stevens Winter Landscape Signed lower right Oil on canvas 32 x 36 inches Born on June 15, 1888, in Rockport, Massachusetts, Stevens displayed his artistic abilities ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,483
H 21.66 in W 17.72 in D 0.79 in
"Shady pond". summer landscape in oil of Volskya Lilya.
By Lilya Volskaya
Located in Zofingen, AG
Shady pond."summer landscape in oil of Volskya Lilya. Have you ever traveled in the woods? Go into the most secret corners? To discover very beautiful landscapes? It's amazing. You'...
Canvas, Lacquer, Oil
$2,900
H 15 in W 19 in
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism
By Henry Ernst Schnakenberg
Located in New York, NY
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism Henry Schnakenberg (1982 - 1970) Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape 11 1/2 x 15 1/2 sight Oil on Canvas Signed lower left 14 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches, Framed Bio In many cases, American artists visited the Armory Show in New York in 1913, and returned to their studios to react to or against what they saw. However, for Henry Ernest Schnakenberg it was much more life altering. Prior to visiting this important exhibition of American and European modernist art...
Canvas, Oil
$5,000
H 72 in W 60 in
Bella Nuotata, Snoopy /// Jack Graves Contemporary Pop Pool Painting Surreal Art
By Jack Graves III
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Jack Graves III (American, 1988-) Title: "Bella Nuotata, Snoopy" Series: Eclecticism *Signed by Graves lower left. It is also signed, dated, and titled on verso Year: 2026 Me...
Canvas, Paint, Acrylic
"City of Kyiv"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
In "City of Kyiv", I treat the canvas as an archive of memory, where linear time dissolves into absolute absurdity. The brutalist silhouette of Kyiv's Salyut Hotel—a heavy monument o...
Canvas, Acrylic
"Cows Looking for Pineapples"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
This vibrant and playful painting combines surrealism with humor and warmth. Two cows, rendered with expressive brushwork, appear to wander through a tropical landscape, surrounded b...
Canvas, Acrylic
$450,000
H 20 in W 20 in D 1 in
Soup Box - Onion Unique Acrylic Painting, Pop Art, Signed, 20x20 in.
By Andy Warhol
Located in Aventura, FL
Unique acrylic painting and silkscreen on canvas. Hand signed and dated by Andy Warhol on verso. Martin Lawrence provenance label on verso. Canvas size 20 x 20 inches. The artwor...
Screen, Canvas, Acrylic
$6,500
H 45 in W 30.5 in
Venice Beach, California - Pop Art Acrylic Painting by Linnea Pergola
By Linnea Pergola
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Linnea Pergola Title: Venice Beach, California Medium: Acrylic Painting on Silk, Signed Size: 31 x 20.5 in. (78.74 x 52.07 cm) Frame: 45.25 x ...
Acrylic
$1,350Sale Price|25% Off
H 31.5 in W 31.5 in
Landscape with cacti , 80x80cm, acrylic on canvas
By Nina Tsoriti
Located in Yerevan, AM
Landscape with cacti , 80x80cm, acrylic on canvas
Canvas, Acrylic
$9,500
H 32 in W 42.5 in
"Tugboat in New York Harbor" Ernest Fiene, Modernist, WPA, Cloudy Horizon
By Ernest Fiene
Located in New York, NY
Ernest Fiene Tugboat in New York Harbor Signed lower right Oil on canvas 24 1/2 x 34 1/2 inches Ernest Fiene was born in Elberfeld, Germany in 1894. As a teenager, Fiene immigrated...
Canvas, Oil
$35,000
H 30 in W 30 in D 2 in
FLIGHT American Futurism Modernism Scene WPA Mid-Century Oil Painting Realism
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
FLIGHT American Futurism Modernism Scene WPA Mid-Century Oil Painting Realism Daniel Celentano (1902-1980) "Flight," 26 x 26 inches. Oil on canvas, c. 1940s. Signed lower right. Ori...
Canvas, Oil