The United Gas Pipe Line Company Collection

UGPL 0120 Katz, Alex, Good Morning, 29/91, serigraph, 37½” x 28½,” 1974 illus: p 79

UGPL 0123 Katz, Alex, Luna Park II, 6/60, serigraph, 29¾” x 40,” 1973

Alex Katz (1927- )

Written in 1976 for the catalog and reproduced as printed, with spelling corrected. Not current.

Katz’ dramatic interpretation of light and shade, the simplified flat planes of color—an object lesson in what light does to perception—brilliantly qualify him as a stage designer as well as a practitioner of classic fine art. He designed stage sets and costumes for the Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Spoleto Festival in 1960 and later for the same group in 1964 and 1969. He also acted as stage and costume designer for Kenneth Koch’s George Washington Crossing the Delaware and for Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf at the Artists’ Festival Theatre in Southampton, Long Island.

Katz was born in 1927 in New York City. He studied at Cooper Union and at the Skowhegan, Maine, School of Painting and Sculpture. He has had one-man shows at major New York galleries: Martha Jackson, Stable, Fischbach, and others, between 1954 and the late 1960’s. Retrospective exhibitions of his work were held from 1971 through 1973 at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts; Reed College, Oregon; Marlborough Galleries, New York; and the Whitney Museum and Wesleyan University.

Recent group shows that have featured Katz’ work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, Milwaukee Art Center, Vassar College. Many private and public collections include his work.

From The Art Collection of United Gas Pipe Line Company (Houston, 1976), curated by Susan Rush.