Bare Trees: Alex Katz

Alex Katz (American, born 1927) divides his time between figurative work and landscape, spending his summers in Maine and the rest of the year in New York City. He uses a cool, detached style that manages to be both decorative and seductive, and cites the woodcuts of Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro as a major influence. Somewhat surprisingly, Katz says that plein air painting has been an important practice for him, and that he likes to paint "faster than I can think".

These bare tree paintings, many completed during his winters in New York, are less well-known than his figurative work. The last one, "City Night", is my favorite:

Purple Wind  oil on canvas 126"x96" 1995

Winter Landscape  oil on canvas 120"x 240"  1993

City Landscape oil on canvas 120" x 240" 1995

Winter Branch oil paint on hardboard  9" x 12" 1993

City Night oil paint on hardboard 1998

Alex Katz in his studio

Part of what I'm about is seeing how I can paint the same thing differently instead of different things the same way- Alex Katz

The current theme in the Art Room is that of bare trees, and bare tree branches.

If you would like to suggest an artist for this theme, please email your suggestion (not your own work please) with at least one image and a few words to describe why you like it. Be sure to include the title, medium, size and year. If you have a website or blog you may provide a link that will be included in the post.