Alex Katz Purple Hat Ada / Pigment print / signed, numbered / edition 125

Year: 2017
Format: 56,6 x 116,8 cm / 22 x 45.7 inch
Material: Fine Art Paper
Method: Archival pigment inks
Edition: 125
Other: handsigned, numbered

Alex Katz Purple Hat, Pigmentdruck, signiert, nummeriert, Auflage 125
Alex Katz Purple Hat Ada Detail
Alex Katz Purple Hat Framed Artwork

Alex Katz Purple Hat Ada / Pigment print / signed, numbered / edition 125

Year: 2017
Format: 56,6 x 116,8 cm / 22 x 45.7 inch
Material: Fine Art Paper
Method: Archival pigment inks
Edition: 125
Other: handsigned, numbered

Alex Katz – Purple Hat Ada 알렉스카츠

Year: 2017
Format: 56,6 x 116,8 cm / 22 x 45.7 inch
Material: Fine Art Paper
Method: Archival pigment inks
Edition: 125
Other: handsigned, numbered

Alex Katz - Purple Hat Ada.

Purple Hat Ada is a original print by Alex Katz. Alex Katz wife Ada is his most important model and muse. He is known for his linear and simplified portraits, characterized by an economy of gesture or, as the artist describes it, the rapid passing of things. His paintings focus on the attitude of a present moment, regardless of the specifics of the subject portrayed.

There are numerous historical references in his work, from Japanese block printing, Matisse and Monet to Jackson Pollock, Degas and, of course, Pop Art. The work Purple Hat is taken from a large-scale oil painting that contains Ada’s portrait on one half of the painting and a snowy winter landscape on the other. There are several similar paintings all titled January 2 or Alex Katz January 4th. In all of them Ada can be seen in Purple Hat.

Alex Katz’s compelling Ada in Purple Hat represents a bridge between Katz’s earlier, highly stylized portraits and his later, large-scale landscapes. Created from a 1992 oil painting titled January 2, the present work is imbued with a nostalgic feeling that is both familiar and cold. It consists of a single 90 square centimeter canvas divided into two distinctly asymmetrical planes that create a trompe l’oeil diptych effect. This dramatic detail, archetypal of Alex Katz’s best work, is cinematic in nature, presenting both interior and exterior spaces on the same picture plane.
On the right, a tranquil winter scene in Manhattan unfolds in various shades of gray. The few remaining leaves of the multi-story tree are covered with a light blanket of snow and gently ruffle in the deep winter breeze. The soothing sight of New York’s first snow stands in stark contrast to the technicolored Ada, Katz’s wife and eternal muse. Her porcelain skin, rosy from the chilly weather, is accented by bold crimson lips, hazel eyes that beckon, and piercing purple accents that set this particular muse apart from all other women. For Katz, Ada is everything: she is both unattainable beauty and trusted confidante, aloof unknown model and warm mother. She is Roy Lichtenstein’s idealized comic heroine and Cindy Sherman’s damsel in distress.

Alex Katz’s January 2 sold at auction at Sotheby’s in New York on November 15, 2019 for $1,700,000 US.

Ihr Ansprechpartner
Frank Fluegel
E-Mail: info(at)frankfluegel.com
Ihr Ansprechpartner
Frank Fluegel
E-Mail: info(at)frankfluegel.com
Alex Katz Purple Hat Ada / Pigment print / signed, numbered / edition 125


Year: 2017
Format: 56,6 x 116,8 cm / 22 x 45.7 inch
Material:Fine Art Paper
Method:Archival pigment inks
Edition:125
Other:handsigned, numbered
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