The Butler Institute of American Art to present Alex Katz: Collaborations with Poets, the first exhibition to bring together the full range of materials that display Katz’s extensive collaborations with poets of the New York School. First exhibited at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago in 2023, Alex Katz: Collaborations with Poets opens at the Butler Institute on September 15, 2024, with an expanded presentation that includes paintings and cutouts new to this venue. This exhibition traveled from the Poetry Foundation in Chicago and was organized with guidance from Alex Katz, Vincent Katz, and GRAY.
Collaborations with Poets offers an intimate look at Alex Katz’s long-time collaborative engagement with poets, and spans work created over the past 60 years, including prints, portfolios, special-edition books, paintings, and unique cutouts, all which center on Katz’s communion and intersection with poets throughout his career.
“The career of Alex Katz has been one of inspiration and innovation,” says Executive Director of The Butler Institute of American Art, Dr. Louis Zona. “Forever remaining in my memory is the large self-portrait which graced the entrance gallery at the Museum of Modern Art. Generations of artists have been inspired by his unique approach to portraiture and by his long-time influence on the New York School. The Butler Institute of American Art rolls out the red carpet in welcoming this genius of American art.”
One of the most recognized and widely exhibited artists of his generation, Alex Katz came of age between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. The artist began exhibiting his work in 1954, and since that time has established himself as a preeminent painter of modern life whose distinctive portraits and lyrical landscapes bear a flattened surface and consistent economy of line. As Katz entered the art world in the 1950s, a new style of American poetry emerged, and the painter found natural affinities to the poets in their shared interest in expressing contemporary living. Katz’s developed a deep interest in poetry, an art form whose methodologies and tactics he considered “more stimulating than painting.”
Alex Katz: Collaborations with Poets, Sep 15th – Nov 17th, 2024 The Butler Institute of American Art
A reception will be held September 15th, 2024, from 1-3 PM, with a reading from Vincent Katz, an acclaimed poet, translator, curator, and critic. Vincent Katz is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Broadway for Paul, Southness, Swimming Home, and Rapid Departures. He is also coauthor of Fantastic Caryatids, a collaboration with Anne Waldman. The reception will also feature the screening of a video, In Dialogue with Alex Katz and Vincent Katz, to be shown in Zona Auditorium. The poetry reading will take place after the video.
PUBLICATION The exhibition at The Butler Institute also marks the reprint of the comprehensive exhibition publication, Alex Katz: Collaborations with Poets. This expanded volume features an in-depth essay written by art historian and curator Debra Bricker Balken and comprehensive illustrations of Alex Katz’s book covers, print portfolios, and unique artworks that center on his work with poets such as John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara, Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, and Ron Padgett.
About
Alex Katz (American, b.1927) is one of the most recognized and widely exhibited artists of his generation. His earliest work took inspiration from various aspects of mid-century American culture and society, including television, film, and advertising, and over the past five and a half decades he has established himself as a preeminent painter of modern life, whose distinctive portraits and lyrical landscapes bear a flattened surface and consistent economy of line. Utilizing characteristically wide brushstrokes, large swathes of color, and refined compositions, Katz created what art historian Robert Storr called “a new and distinctive type of realism in American art which combines aspects of both abstraction and representation.”
Since the 1950s, Alex Katz’s work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions around the world. His work can be found in nearly 100 public collections worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Tate Gallery, London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among many others.
The Butler Institute of American Art is an accredited, non-profit art museum that provides art classes, tours, events, and world-class exhibitions. Termed “America’s Museum,” the Butler Institute is devoted to celebrating America’s visual arts heritage. Founded in 1919, the Butler is one of the earliest museums dedicated exclusively to collecting, exhibiting, and preserving the art of America’s past, present, and future. The Butler Institute was formed for the purpose of establishing and operating a museum dedicated exclusively to the collection, exhibition, and preservation of American art locally, nationally, and internationally. The Butler strives to promote and cultivate aesthetic values in the visual arts by creating awareness and appreciation of the contributions of American artists, both historical and contemporary, in a range of 2- and 3-dimensional mediums. The Butler also provides quality educational programming for the community, including instruction in the creation of visual art. Admittance is free and open to the public.
