About this artwork
In this small study Katz has combined two of his favourite subjects: flowers and landscape. He has been painting American landscapes since the 1950s, often during summer residencies in Maine. The broad bands of colour and expressive marks reveal an interest in abstract expressionist painting. Katz is well-known for his large-scale paintings whose bold simplicity and unmodulated colours are now seen as precursors of Pop Art. Small oil paintings such as this one are sketched from life and often intended to be scaled up into larger works, but their economic execution and visible brushstrokes reveal an intimate side to his practice. He says, "A sketch is very direct. It is working empirically, inside of an idea."
Updated before 2020
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artist:
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title:Ocean View
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date created:1992
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materials:Oil paint on fibreboard
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measurements:23.10 x 32.00 x 0.60 cm; Framed: 25.10 x 31.50 x 3.40 cm
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object type:
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credit line:ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
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accession number:AR00007
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gallery:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve

Alex Katz
Alex Katz
Brooklyn born Katz emerged as a figurative artist when abstract expressionism was the reigning style. He studied at Cooper Union School of Art, New York, from 1946-9, before completing a scholarship in Skowhegen, Maine. While Katz has experimented with collage and printmaking, it is for his...