Ada

Alex Katz

1957 · Oil on Masonite · Modern and Contemporary Art

Seen here is Katz’s first portrait of his wife, Ada, shown seated in a chair in a three-quarters pose. The couple met in 1957 and married in 1958, and it was around this time that Katz began to focus on painting portraits. All of Katz’s portraits involve a degree of idealization and generalization, particularly those depicting Ada. Invariably serene, stylish, and introspective, equally parts bemused and inscrutable, the Ada of Katz’s painting is more icon than flesh. The effect is exaggerated here thanks to the composition, which alludes to a long tradition of painted portraits of seated subjects by artists such as Raphael, Velazquez, and Rembrandt.

Artist

Alex Katz

Date

1957

Medium

Oil on Masonite

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of the artist, 2015