Alex Katz

Alex Katz (United States, 1927). He studied at the Cooper Union in New York from 1946 to 1949 and at the Skowhagen School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. His figurative painting focuses primarily on portraiture, although he also depicts landscapes, flowers, and seascapes.

Considered a precursor of Pop Art, he distanced himself from Abstract Expressionism through large-scale figurative works. He begins with sketches that he reworks and expands upon the canvas, employing the fragmentation and repetition of motifs. His figures appear against abstract backgrounds of flat, bright colors, with an emphasis on gazes, fashion, and other symbols of his era. In the 1980s, he ironically explored the joie de vivre associated with leisure and carefree living.

His first solo exhibition was held in 1954, and since then he has enjoyed both institutional and commercial success. His work is included in more than one hundred public and private collections internationally, including those of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Tate Gallery, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. He lives and works in New York.