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Museum of Fine Arts Boston opens Alex Katz Prints

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston presents Alex Katz Prints, an exhibition on view from April 28 through July 29 in the Ann and Graham Gund Gallery.


Alex Katz, Orange Hat, from the portfolio Alex and Ada: 1960’s to 1980’s

Alex Katz’s bold portraits and lyrical landscapes are among the most recognizable images of contemporary art. Quintessentially American and characterized by cool detachment, his works spark a dialogue between abstraction and representation.

This retrospective—conceived and drawn from the collection of the Albertina Graphic Collection in Vienna, which received the gift of a major Katz print archive—will showcase approximately 125 works. Included among them will be portraits of Ada, Katz’s wife and longtime muse, family members, and figures from the worlds of art and culture; landscapes of Maine; portfolios; and illustrated books of poetry. In Boston, additional works from the MFA’s collection and promised archive will be included, and a special highlight will be Rush (1971), a series of 37 paintings given by Katz to the MFA in 2011, which will make its Boston debut during the exhibition. Alex Katz Prints will have its only US showing at the MFA. The exhibition is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation, with additional support from the Shelly and Michael Kassen Fund. The media sponsor is Stuff Magazine.
“New York artist Alex Katz, who has spent his summers in New England since the 1950s, has a longstanding relationship with the MFA,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum. “Over many years, he has been exceptionally generous, helping us to build our contemporary collections in exciting and meaningful ways. We are delighted to celebrate his long and distinguished career as a printmaker, as well as his promised gift to the Museum of an archive of his prints with this beautiful exhibition.”

The Boston showing of Alex Katz Prints is curated by Clifford Ackley, Chair, Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, and Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Curator of Prints and Drawings at the MFA, together with Edward Saywell, Chair, Linde Family Wing and Arthur K. Solomon Curator of Modern Art at the MFA. Marietta Mautner Markhof is the curator for the Albertina. The exhibition showcases Katz’s distinctive style as a printmaker through which he distills his subjects down to their essence with an arresting simplicity of line, color, and form. His works are notable for their radical cropping, dramatic close-ups and expressive color, from vibrant hues to subtle greys and bold blacks. The images are crisp and clean, devoid of non-essentials. Katz’s portraits are iconic and intentionally avoid anecdote and psychological interpretation. Drawing on the language of billboards and films, his works bridge the worlds of art, advertising, and fashion.

For more information, visit www.mfa.org or call 617.267.9300.

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