Press

ALBANY, NY – Alex Katz: Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art opens at the New York State Museum on March 31.

This exhibition, open through August 19 in the Museum’s West Gallery, is the 17th installment of the Bank of America Great Art Exhibition and Education Program, which brings art from New York State’s leading art museums to the State Museum.

Organized by Dana Miller, associate curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the exhibition includes more than 30 objects drawn from the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum. In 1961 the Whitney was the first museum to acquire a painting by Alex Katz (Richard Bellamy, 1960), considered by many to be one of the most important American artists alive today. Since then, the Whitney’s holdings of Katz’s work have grown to more than 65 pieces.

Throughout his career, Katz has been committed to representation – depicting what he sees rather than an invented world or abstract image. This exhibition charts the development of Katz’s career over more than four decades while he moved across various media, from painting, collage and sculpture to drawings and prints and back again.

The exhibition begins chronologically with lesser-known works from early in Katz’s

career – primarily landscape paintings and collages from the 1950s, several created during his summers in Maine. During the late 1950s Katz met his wife during a transitional point in his career. He abandoned collages and began painting contemporary portraits. His wife, Ada, became the subject of more than 250 portraits, several of which are in this exhibition.

Also included are hallmark paintings from the 1960s through the 1980s -- enormous, brilliantly colored images of Katz’s families and friends that he developed while retaining the flat, solid colors from his collages. Two notable examples in the exhibition are Eli and The Red Smile, both painted in 1963. As Katz’s works grew in scale, he abandoned his method of painting directly from life and created small scale paintings on composition board as an intermediary step before launching into his larger paintings.

Several examples of those are also in the exhibition.

The State Museum will sponsor several programs this summer that will allow visitors to learn more about Alex Katz’s work. ARTventures, on August 11 from 1 to 3 p.m., will provide a hands-on

art-making experience as participants explore the style of Alex Katz. Creative Quest: Museum ART Camp will feature two three-day sessions during August in which students will learn history through creative art projects within a daily theme. “Katz and Faces,” one of those themes, will allow participants to explore the sculpture, painting, drawing and collage of Katz. Further information on these programs is available by calling 518/473-7154 or emailing psteinba@mail.nysed.gov.

The New York State Museum expresses its gratitude to Bank of America, the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly for making the Katz exhibition possible. Support was also provided by Hodgson Russ, LLP, a Buffalo-based law firm with an office in Albany.

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Education Department. Started in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the United States. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the Museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

# # #