Alex Katz

1965

Not on view

Philip Pearlstein’s portrait of Alex Katz is the first gift from Katz to enter The Met’s collection. Both Katz and Pearlstein remained committed to figurative painting during the 1950s and 1960s, decades otherwise dominated by abstraction. Despite this affinity, however, their approaches to representing the figure are quite different. Pearlstein’s painting of Katz exemplifies a degree of realism absent in Katz’s portrait of Pearlstein (MMA 1979.213.1).

Artwork Details

Title: Alex Katz
Artist: Philip Pearlstein (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1924–2022 New York, New York)
Date: 1965
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 29 7/8 in. × 36 in. (75.9 × 91.4 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Alex Katz, 1978
Object Number: 1978.282
Rights and Reproduction: © Philip Pearlstein, Courtesy Betty Cunningham Gallery, New York
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Entrance to Lincoln Tunnel, Night-Time, Philip Pearlstein American, Oil on canvas — Entrance to Lincoln Tunnel, Night-Time
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