"Katz’s portraits are true to the way we experience others. They eloquently convey the tension between the determinate outer appearance and the indeterminate inner reality of someone known only from the outside… For all their everydayness, Katz’s figures have an air of transient strangeness to them, suggesting the mystery of their inner existence, perhaps even to themselves.”
C hromatically resplendent and executed at grand scale, Kym in the Birch of 2004 is a paragon of Alex Katz’s distinctly stylized aesthetic that has defined the world of contemporary figurative painting. Set against a fluorescent green background, a woman stands gracefully between two white birch trees; hands on her hips, she looks over her shoulder at the viewer, beckoning us into Katz’s idyllic forest scene. The present work exemplifies Katz’s rich history depicting the leisurely scenes of Maine, the birthplace of his passion for painting and a destination to which he travels every summer with his wife, Ada. In works such as Kym in the Birch, Katz reimagines the coastal Maine landscape with glimpses into intimate personal moments surrounded by vivid planes of color.
Recently the subject of a major retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Katz was born in Brooklyn in 1927. Katz matured as an artist during the heyday of Modernism and the New York School. Resisting the prevailing trend toward nonrepresentational abstraction and gestural vigor, the painter forged his own path that paid homage to artists such as Renoir and Matisse. He was also taken by the graphic work of early Pop artists who prioritized consumer and advertisement images of the new modern age. Though often associated with Pop, Katz remained distinctive in his use of figuration to delve into more personal themes and subjects. While best known for his large-scale portraiture, Katz has remained prolific in landscape works throughout his practice, which mark some of the most pivotal turning points in his oeuvre.
Right: Edouard Vuillard, Girl in Grey in a Lane, 1913. Private collects ion.
Katz first went to Maine 1949, when he received a Cooper Union scholarship to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. While at Skowhegan, Katz developed a passion for the light and scenery of the area as he was encouraged to compose landscape works. Describings this new focus, Katz explained, "At Skowhegan I tried plein air painting and found my subject matter and a reason to devote my life to painting. The sensation of painting from the back of my head was a high that I followed until the present" (Alex Katz, “Starting Out,” New Criterion 21, no. 4, December 2002, (online)). The small, pond-side farmhouse he acquired in 1956 and painted bright yellow became an immediate stimulus, as did the nuanced natural environment that surrounded him. Now at the age of 96, Katz has painted in Maine for over fifty years and has canvassed nearly every facet of the property as inspiration for his artistic practice – capturing the diverse flora and fauna of the surrounding land, including the iconic white birch trees native to the region.
"At Skowhegan I tried plein air painting and found my subject matter and a reason to devote my life to painting. The sensation of painting from the back of my head was a high that I followed until the present"
The present work equally resides in the genres of portraiture and landscape, a signature quality of Katz’s best known and revered paintings. Displaying the artist’s deep connection to nature, Katz renders this woodland scene with fluid application of paint, deftly creating a sense of movement and energy within the flatness of the picture plane. Katz sprinkles small hints at the narrative yet still denies a more complete interpretation of the scene, creating a fascinating push-pull in our engagement with the subject matter. It is both the inclusion and absence of clues in Katz’s paintings that make this work as elusive as irresistible, drawing the viewer’s eye and captivating our attention long after our initial impression of the scene. The scant marks of the birch trees’ leaves and wispy brushstrokes of its branches are imbued with a sense of speed and duration, creating a sublime image that recalls the passing of nature’s breeze, and elegantly juxtapose the rigid tree trunks which frame the subject. This inherent dynamism within the present work is thus contrasted with the sudden stillness of the subject and cool color palette.
Conjuring a sense of nostalgia, Kym in the Birch captures a blissful moment of introspection preceding narrative action in Katz’s beloved summer destination in Maine. Through his highly individualized mode of realism, Katz cultivates a palpable intimacy and serenity framed within an idyllically bright summer day. Within his compelling portrayal of everyday life, the present work seeks to instill a sense of wonder and intrigue, allowing the enigmatic essence of his subject to shine through. Infused with a breathtaking vitality, Kym in the Birch showcases Katz’s unparalleled ability to capture a moment, if not a second, in t.mes .
