The artist's practices have been compared by art historians to
painters ranging from Renaissance masters to Modernist titans,
all of whom he has studied in depth. In many respects, his output
has mirrored facets of American art over the five decades of his
prolific career: he has utilized the exaggerated scale of the
Abstract Expressionists, employed vivid color and brilliant light
like Color Field painters, and focused on everyday themes that
are hallmarks of Pop Art. He synthesized these elements into his
own signature style while carving out a special niche in the art
world.
Although he is primarily associated in the public mind with New
York City, where he was born and continues to maintain his
primary residence and studio, Katz has extended and extensive
links to Maine. For more than a half century he has returned
every summer to a home and studio in midcoastal Lincolnville,
where he creates small oil sketches based on observations of
people and land around him. They form the basis for monumental
canvases painted in his Manhattan studio in the fall.
Two current exhibitions, "Alex Katz in Maine" at the Farnsworth
Art Museum in Rockland, (through October 16) and "Alex Katz:
Collages" at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville,
(through September 18) document the artist's ties to the Pine
Tree State. The Farnsworth show, organized by the museum, travels
to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts next summer.
As Farnsworth interim director Suzette Lane McAvoy notes, Maine's
"rural setting provides a dramatic counterpoint to...[Katz's]
milieu in New York City, yet it is no less rich in imagery." His
depictions of everyday scenes, she adds, demonstrate that "Katz's
Maine is not the tourist view of crashing surf and lighthouses;
it is at once more intimate, and more universal."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of art-loving, bohemian parents
who had emigrated from Russia, Katz grew up in an unusual house
in Queens. It was enlivened with rooms painted in vivid colors
and varied patterns. Katz found these decorative touches
"bizarre" and recalls trying to paint the walls of his bedroom in
more sedate, "ordinary" hues.
He started out studying commercial art and then enrolled, from
1946 to 1949, at Cooper Union Art School, where he developed an
interest in painting. "I had a great time and got a grand
education," says Katz. "It was the best time in my life. I
started painting there, and it made me feel like a normal person,
not so strange."
A top student at Cooper Union, young Katz had a chance to attend
summer school at Yale University or at the Skowhegan School of
Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. He chose the latter,
beginning his long association with Maine.
One of the most memorable works on view, "6:30 PM," was painted
with dark, dramatic flair, and was completed last year.
During the summers of 1949 and 1950 at the Skowhegan School,
then what he has described as "a regional art school which knew
nothing about modern art," Katz learned the rewards of working
outside the studio. "At Skowhegan," he recalls, "I tried plein air
painting and found my subject matter and a reason to devote my life
to painting."
He adds that "It was the first time I had done direct painting
and it was a real kick. It was a blast...My talents and instincts
were all towards this explosive, fast painting."
In 1954, Katz purchased a small, more than 200-year-old, somewhat
rundown farmhouse and stable (that initially served as a studio)
in Lincolnville, a bit inland from the coast. Over the years he
has renovated the place, but it retains much of its spartan
interior.
"Yellow House 2," 2001, captures the startling exterior color of
the old structure that makes it stand out in its country site. In
the whopping (48 by 130 inches) "9 PM," 1990, only a corner of
the yellow house appears, backed by the black night sky.
At the Lincolnville site, writes McAvoy in the catalog, "The
surrounding woods, nearby pond, the local lobster pound and sand
beach, the Islesboro ferry slip, and visiting friends...and, of
course, his family...have provided subjects for more than 50
years of painting."
Longtime New York Times art critic Grace Glueck once
described Katz as "New York to the bone: street-smart, wire-taut,
fast and funny on his feet, his accent a local breed." In
Lincolnville, however, the painter is very much down-home and
casual, reveling in the slower pace, fewer distractions and
outdoor attractions of his rural place. He often works wearing a
white T-shirt, shorts and no shoes in the large studio he built
through the woods from his house, fronting on serene Coleman
Pond.
In "Trophy III," 1973, a 71-by-35-inch oil on aluminum, his young
son Vincent proudly displays a fish, perhaps caught in the pond.
"Canoe," 1974, beautifully captures the reflection of a white
birchbark boat on what is undoubtedly the placid surface of
Coleman Pond.
Seagulls, a common sight even somewhat inland along the Maine
coast, are a favorite Katz subject. "Seagull in Morning Sun,"
2000, measuring a sizable 60 by 72 inches, depicts the graceful
flight of a bird against a yellow background.
