Alex Katz. Prints

Alex Katz. Prints, presented by the Albertina in summer 2010, offers a major survey of the artist’s printed works. In autumn 2009 Katz donated his complete graphic oeuvre to the Albertina. The exhibition shows a representative selection of it, with works dating from the 1960s to the present. The show comprises about 150 prints, cut-outs (painted or printed aluminum silhouettes), and artist books. Born in New York in 1927, Alex Katz ranks among today’s most important US artists.

Printed works are of crucial importance within Katz’s oeuvre. It is the medium in which he reproduces, reflects, and reduces his motifs in further stages, using mainly ideas from his paintings and cut-outs. The synthesizing effect of his printing techniques – mainly silk-screen printing, aquatint, and lithography – which the artist refines together with outstanding printers contributes to the two-dimensional and artificial appearance of the represented motifs.