Alex Katz Prints

I don’t want to paint someone else’s world, I want to paint my world”
—Alex Katz

Alex Katz has enjoyed a very prolific career as a painter, printmaker and sculptor. His paintings are known for their flatness of color and clean lines and generally the artist likes to do portraits and landscapes. The artist was born 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. When the Katz was born, New York wasn’t yet known for being the center of modern art as it is today, but in the mid-twentieth century the art world was changing, and both Katz and his place of birth would become unforgettable in the minds of art lovers the world over.

 

A View of Katz’s Artwork

The flatness of color and subject matter of Katz’s work make him a very unique figure in modern art. Not many other artists would be daring enough to go against flow, but Katz has been able to do just that and get away with it for many years. And as if it isn’t daring enough for that Katz decided to do his own thing in his art, about 250 of his paintings are of his wife, Ada Katz. It’s clear that the artist has a strong sense of individualism and enjoys to do art on his own terms. In Katz’s landscapes, he often paints the places he spends his time, like neighborhoods in New York City, where he lives and other places he visits regularly.

 

Katz described his choice of subject matter well when he said, “I don’t want to paint someone else’s world, I want to paint my world” during an interview with The Telegraph. He added to that explaining that the world he lives in is a “high Bohemia.”

 

What makes the artist’s work so appealing to look at, is the brightness of color and the beautiful pictures that he chooses to paint. Many of his most well-known work, like Ana Wintour and The Red Smile, make use of bright backgrounds with a the model’s face displayed from an up close perspective.

 

But Katz has also created many pieces that are absolutely breathtaking through using colors that are slightly more neutral. For example, the painting Blue Umbrella depicts a woman (his wife, Ada) standing out in the rain holding a blue umbrella. The faraway look in her eyes draws the viewer in and makes them wonder what she’s thinking about. Somehow it seems as if she might be sad, but she could also be looking fondly at something that brings back good memories.

 

Prints Made By Alex Katz

Katz has reproduced many of his beautiful paintings through printmaking, in fact, he has been more prolific in printmaking than many of his peers, and has produced more than 400 editions to date. The artist has used a wide variety of various techniques for the production of his prints, such as lithography, silkscreen, linoleum cut and woodcut.

 

At Vertu, we enjoy collecting prints by the Alex Katz and other modern artists. Katz’s work is both stylish and modern, a combination that, we are sure you’ll agree, is irresistible. If you’re interested in selling or acquiring prints by Alex Katz, don’t hesitate to contact us, or visit our Boca Raton gallery. Our passion is modern art and we’ll help you find the right piece to suit your home and personality.

July 1, 2016