Vivien in Black Hat is a screen print by Alex Katz and part of the “Black Hat” series, which also includes Ulla in Black Hat. It shows the film director Vivien Bittencourt, who is also the artist’s daughter-in-law. Together with her husband, Bittencourt filmed the artist’s work with the documentary: Alex Katz: Five Hours, documenting the production of his painting on January 3. “I instinctively choose the people I portray. They have an idea and the person somehow fits in. I don’t try to paint everyone, just people who fit what I’m trying to do.” – Alex Katz Vivien is shielded by a large black hat and sunglasses, her image is playfully aloof and mysterious. This 34 color screenprint showcases Katz’s clean lines and minimal approach to portraiture. The solid monochrome background, typical of his compositions, clearly emphasizes the silhouette of the portrait. The composition conveys an intriguing, bright and fresh feeling. Alex Katz is particularly famous for his figurative paintings: The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he was born in New York in 1927. As a pioneer of Pop Art, he always concentrated on the essentials and explored simplified forms and high-contrast color composition early on. His art is diverse, but always has beauty as its central theme. The artist can now look back on more than 200 solo and around 500 group exhibitions and numerous awards; his diverse artworks are part of over 100 collections and exhibitions worldwide. Alex Katz lives and works in New York and Maine. His work contains numerous historical references, from Japanese block prints, Matisse and Monet to Jackson Pollock, Degas and, of course, Pop Art. The influence of Japanese art is particularly evident in his landscape paintings. FRANK FLUEGEL GALERIE has been presenting the artist Alex Katz with prints and originals in numerous exhibitions from the very beginning. Alex Katz has long been completely underestimated in Europe. Now that he is over 90 years old, his work is increasingly coming to the attention of collectors. Like Picasso, Katz develops more and more creativity as he gets older and seems to be unstoppable in the creation of new works. His muse and wife Ada Katz was always there. The auction record to date for one of his paintings is over US$ 1 million, a far cry from the prices of his American colleagues such as Tom Wesselmann or Andy Warhol. Many Alex Katz exhibitions have been dedicated to his talent in recent years. Including at the Serpentine Gallery in London, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. 2019 in Munich/Germany at the Museum Brandhorst; Daegu/Korea Daegu Art Museum, Paris/France Musée de L’Orangerie. In 2022, there was a new Alex Katz exhibition at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid/Spain. In October 2022, the major Alex Katz retrospective entitled “Gathering” opened at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.