Coming of age as an artist in the 1950s, Alex Katz set out to reinvent representational painting in the wake of Abstract Expressionism. At first, Katz struggled to find an audience, destroying hundreds of canvases. This exhibition surveys the artwork that survived from this momentous decade, one in which he first painted outdoors, innovated with collages and met Ada del Moro, his wife and muse. The author's contextualise Katz's painting, consider how he and his peers looked at one another, mined 19th-century portraiture, and borrowed from television, advertising and cinema. The result is a fascinating study of a young artist laying the groundwork for an astonishingly successful career. Fans of Katz will be astonished by the radicalism of his early work, and those being introduced to the artist will be struck by its freshness and relevance. Published in association with the Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME. AUTHOR: Diana Tuite is the Katz Curator at the Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME. 150 colour illustrations

Alex Katz (born 1927) is best known as a painter--specifically, as a painter of his family and his distinguished circle of friends, including poets, writers and artists. In the early 1950s, he began experimenting with printmaking, but it was not until the mid 1960s that he intensified his interest and production in the medium. Pushing at the limits of various printing techniques, Katz tested out pictorial ideas first conceived for his paintings, retaining planes of matte color but further simplifying his forms and dramatically cropping his images. These reduced compositions were wonderfully compatible with the graphic clarity of printmaking, and by effectively translating his paintings into prints, the artist achieved what he called the "final synthesis of painting." This publication provides insight into an often-neglected yet vital aspect of Katz's work, from the early 1950s to the present day.

The definitive statement of the achievement of Alex Katz (b. 1927), a major contemporary artist with a large and and devoted following, this retrospective presents a sound and straightforward explication of the artist's evolution that reaffirms his stature in 20th-century art. 213 illustrations, 75 in color.

This enlightening and thought-provoking look at New York City’s postwar art scene focuses on the galleries and the artists that helped transform American art. While the achievements of New York City’s most renowned postwar artists—de Kooning, Pollock, Rothko, Franz Kline— have been studied in depth, a large cadre of lesser-known but influential artists came of age between 1952 and 1965. Also understudied are the early, experimental works by more well- known figures such as Mark di Suvero, Jim Dine, Dan Flavin, and Claes Oldenburg. Focusing on innovative artist-run galleries, this book invites readers to reevaluate the period—uncovering its diversity, creativity, and nuances, and tracing the spaces’ influence during the decades that followed. Inventing Downtown charts the development of artist-run galleries in Lower Manhattan from the early 1950s to the mid-1960s, showing how the area’s multicultural spirit played a major role in shaping the artworks exhibited there. The book explores 14 key spaces in which styles such as Pop, Minimalism, and performance and installation art thrived. Excerpts from 33 revealing interviews with artists, critics, and dealers, conducted by Billy Klu&̈ver and Julie Martin, offer unique personal insight into the era’s creative milieu. Taken together, the book’s essays and interviews provide a distinctly new assessment of how downtown New York’s fertile environment nurtured an innovative art scene.

This exhibition catalog examines the figurative aspects of New York School painting at the height of abstract expressionism. It represents 13 artists who countered the prevailing abstract mode in favor of the figure. The volume also includes four informative essays that elucidate the illustrations, and provides a list of exhibits for each artist from 1950 to 1965. ISBN 0-8478-0942-0: $37.50 (For use only in the library).