Timothy Taylor Gallery

Born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, Alex Katz is one of the most significant artists of his generation. A graduate of the prestigious Cooper Union Art School in Manhattan in 1949, Katz was subsequently awarded a scholarship by the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine. In 1968, Katz moved into an artists’ cooperative building in SoHo, where he has lived and worked ever since, spending his summers in Lincolnville, Maine.
 
Common to both Katz’ celebrated portraits and immersive landscapes is a pristine flat surface and an economy of line, first developed by the artist in the 1950s. Katz’ minimal aesthetic was, at this time, both an anticipation of Pop Art and a reaction to the abstract expressionist movement.
 
In tandem with his painting practice, Katz continues to explore three dimensional space with sculptural cutouts – a technique first established by the artist in 1959; and is also a prolific printmaker.
 
The subject of over 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group shows internationally since 1951, Katz has been honoured with numerous retrospectives at museums including The Whitney Museum of America Art, New York; The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; The Jewish Museum, New York; The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Colby College Museum of Art, Maine; Staaliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden; Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga and The Saatchi Gallery, London. Alex Katz is also represented in over 100 public collections worldwide.
 
Throughout his career, Alex Katz has been the recipient of numerous awards, including The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for Painting in 1972, and in 1987, both Pratt Institute’s Mary Buckley Award for Achievement and The Queens Museum of Art Award for Lifetime Achievement. Inducted by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1988, and the recognised with honorary doctorates by Colby College, Maine (1984) and Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, (2005). In 2007, he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy Museum, New York. 

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