Alex Katz
Orange Hat, from the portfolio Alex and Ada: 1960’s to 1980’s,
Alex Katz Prints -at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston In celebration of the 60-year career of Alex Katz (born 1927), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents ‘Alex Katz Prints’, showcasing approximately 125 works. From April 28 through July 29, 2012.]]>
Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)
The exhibition will begin with a “family room” featuring prints of the artist,his wife Ada, poet and art critic son Vincent, and daughter-in-law Vivien.The centerpiece will be the dramatically cropped image “Ada: Orange Hat”(1990). For more than five decades, Katz’s wife has been his muse, herelegant visage captured in a variety of poses. Throughout the exhibition,in works such as Blue Umbrella (1979-80), Ada assumes many differentguises and costumes, evoking the ever-changing fashions and styles ofrecent decades. An adjoining space will feature portfolio images of Alexand Ada, including Self-Portrait (Passing) (1990) and the life-size, freestandingsilkscreened aluminum cutout Ada (1999). Elsewhere in theexhibition, additional images of Ada will be showcased, including Brisk Day (1990), three identical, sequential portraits of her in ared coat printed in woodblock, aquatint, and silkscreen.
Among the highlights of Alex Katz Prints are the artist’s evocative landscapes thatcapture the quiet majesty of Maine, where the Katzes have summered for decades inLincolnville. The woods, beaches, and ponds of Maine have provided rich subject matterfor Katz since he first visited the state in 1949. Many of the works show his keen interestin the effect of changing light and shadow on a particular setting, such as the early LunaPark I (1965) and Twilight I, II, and III (1978). In addition, Katz’s large painting Poplars(2003), a 2009 gift to the MFA from the Alex Katz Foundation, will be on view as oneleaves the Gund Gallery
A native of Brooklyn, NY, Katz was one of the pioneering artists who moved in the late 1960s to Soho. He graduated from TheCooper Union in 1949 and subsequently studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, where he wasexposed to painting from nature. Early in his career in the 1950s, Katz began painting numerous portraits, especially of Ada andtheir friends. By the mid 1960s, Katz made a major commitment to printmaking, producing editions in lithography, etching,silkscreen, woodcut, and linoleum cut. During this time and into the 1970s, he became interested in portraying groups offigures—especially the artists, poets, and critics who occupied his cultural sphere. Katz also produced large-scale billboardmurals in Times Square in 1977. Katz’s works have been showcased in countless international exhibitions, and are included in more than 100 museums andcollections worldwide.
Related content
Claes Oldenburg / Coosje van Bruggen at Pace Gallery (exhibition, 2012)
Follow us on:
