Alex Katz: Revised & expanded edition (Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series) - Hardcover

Storr, Robert; Ratcliff, Carter; Blazwick, Iwona; Schwabsky, Barry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0714867403 ISBN 13: 9780714867403

Publisher: Phaidon Press, 2014

Synopsis

Renowned for his vivid, larger‐than‐life portraits, Alex Katz is a towering figure in contemporary painting. His work can be found in institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, LACMA, and the National Portrait Gallery.

The revised and expanded edition of Phaidon’s landmark survey is the most up‐to‐date overview of Katz’s prolific 50‐year career. Featuring more than 300 gorgeous reproductions of key works, Alex Katz devotes ample space to the artist’s lush portraits while also including his landscapes, sculptures, and painted books. Rounding out the book’s content are writings from the artist himself; contributions from Robert Storr, Iwona Blazwick, Carter Ratcliff; and a new essay by Barry Schwabsky.

About this title

About the Author

Carter Ratcliff is a poet and an art critic. His books include Give Me Tomorrow (1983), a collection of poems with illustrations by Alex Katz; John Singer Sargent (1983); The Fate of a Gesture: Jackson Pollock and Postwar American Art (1998); and Out of the Box: The Reinvention of Art 1965‐1975 (2000). He was awarded the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art Criticism, College Art Association, in 1987, and is a leading world expert on Alex Katz.

Iwona Blazwick is Director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London. As Head of Exhibitions and Display at Tate Modern, London (1997‐2001), as Director of Exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1986‐92), and as an independent curator, she has realized many international exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and has published texts on numerous living artists. From 1993‐97 she was Commissioning Editor for Contemporary Art at Phaidon Press.

Barry Schwabsky is a London‐based writer. Currently International Reviews Editor at Artforum and Art Critic at The Nation, he has contributed to numerous art publications, including Phaidon's Jessica Stockholder (1995) and Vitamin P (2002), and is the author of The Widening Circle: The Consequences of Modernism in Contemporary Art (1997), as well as several volumes of poetry. He has taught at Yale, New York University and Goldsmiths, among other institutions.

Robert Storr is Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, formerly curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Alex Katz has single‐handedly invented a new, essential form of painting for our times. He demonstrates the same kind of clarity and directness in his writings as in his art. Ranging from his 1961 essay "Brand New & Terrific" to interviews with artist colleagues Francesco Clemente and Richard Prince, this is an essential collection of Katz texts.

Review

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"The boldest, best executed, and most far‐reaching publishing project devoted to contemporary art. These books will revolutionize the way contemporary art is presented and written about." – Artforum

"The combination of intelligent analysis, personal insight, useful facts and plentiful pictures is a superb format invaluable for specialists but also interesting for casual readers, it makes these books a must for the library of anyone who cares about contemporary art." – Time Out

"A unique series of informative monographs on individual artists." – The Sunday Times

"Gives the reader the impression of a personal encounter with the artists. Apart from the writing which is lucid and illuminating, it is undoubtedly the wealth of lavish illustrations which makes looking at these books a satisfying entertainment." – The Art Book

"Katz’s art combines the eye‐jarring quality of Matisse with a distinctively American cool." – Independent

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Edition details

• Publisher: Phaidon Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0714867403
• ISBN 13: 9780714867403
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336