Alex Katz

Pink Sweater

previous next

About this artwork

Relaxed and casually dressed, Katz’s sitter has been captured in a private moment of reverie, suggesting a shared intimacy with the artist. The close-view and cropped frame lend it the quality of a photographic snapshot. Katz has been painting portraits of his family and friends in New York since the 1950s; these are now seen as precursors of Pop Art. Often grand in scale, they have a slick finish and detached manner with undercurrents of melancholia. 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

see media
  • artist:
    Alex Katz (born 1927) American
  • title:
    Pink Sweater
  • date created:
    1981
  • materials:
    Oil paint on hardboard
  • measurements:
    40.50 x 30.20 x 0.30 cm; Framed: 42.70 x 32.10 x 3.40 cm
  • object type:
  • 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 Art Fund, 2008
  • accession number:
    AR00017
  • gallery:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
This artwork is part of Artist Rooms
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? Tell us what you think.

Alex Katz

Alex Katz