Self Portrait (Primary Title)
Alex Katz, American, born 1927 (Artist)
Style and appearance are things I’m more concerned about than what something means. I’d like to have style take the place of content, or the style be the content. —Alex Katz
Katz was one of the first artists to return to figurative painting following the dominance of abstract art at midcentury. Katz’s simplification of forms and elimination of detail relates to hard-edged Color-Field painting and to Pop Art’s emulation of commercial graphics—two early 1960s styles that influence him.
Self-portraits appear periodically throughout Katz’s career. He considered his portraits—of both self and others—as representing symbols more than subjects. Rather than depict himself as an artist, Katz often “disguises” himself behind character types. In this painting, for instance, he mimics the smooth Latino film and television icon Ricardo Montalbán.
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