Alex Katz

ALEX KATZ (Brooklyn, New York, 1927)
“Ada with Flowers,” 1980.
Color silkscreen on Grammercy paper, print no. 64/65.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Co-published by the artist and Simca Print Artists, Inc., New York.
Reference: Maravell 123.
Measurements: 121.9 x 91.4 cm (paper); 138 x 108 cm (frame).

*Ada with Flowers* (1980) is one of the most representative silkscreen prints in Alex Katz’s body of work, in which the artist revisits one of the central motifs of his career: the portrait of Ada Del Moro, his wife and recurring muse since the late 1950s. Through a large-format composition and a refined visual language, Katz transforms the figurative image into a synthesis of precise lines, flat chromatic surfaces, and a sophisticated formal economy. In this work, Katz exemplifies his ability to transform an everyday subject into an iconic image, where elegance, modernity, and graphic precision are in perfect balance.
In it, Ada’s face appears partially hidden behind a cluster of wildflowers occupying the foreground, creating a dialogue between figure and nature. The tight framing, reminiscent of the cinematic language of the close-up, reinforces the sense of immediacy and transforms the composition into an image of great visual impact. The flowers, rendered with simplified forms and vibrant colors, function not only as a decorative element but also as a compositional structure that both fragments and harmonizes the pictorial space.
Graphic art occupies a central place in Katz’s career. Since the mid-20th century, the artist has explored techniques such as lithography, silkscreen printing, and woodcut as autonomous creative media, using printmaking to delve deeper into his investigations of perception, the synthesis of the image, and the relationship between color and form. Far from being reproductions of his paintings, his prints constitute a field of experimentation in their own right, where formal reduction and chromatic intensity achieve a particularly refined expression.

Alex Katz is one of the most influential figures in American art of the second half of the 20th century and one of the leading innovators of contemporary figurative painting. Trained at the Cooper Union in New York and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, he developed his own artistic language beginning in the 1950s, characterized by formal synthesis, large formats, and the use of expansive areas of flat color. His work emerged as an alternative to the gestural style of the dominant Abstract Expressionism, anticipating many of the visual techniques that Pop Art would later establish, although he always maintained an independent stance with respect to that movement. His portraits, landscapes, and scenes of contemporary leisure—often featuring his wife and muse, Ada Del Moro—are distinguished by their cinematic framing, economy of means, and an elegant refinement of the image. At the same time, he produced a notable body of graphic work in lithography, silkscreen, and woodcut, considered an essential part of his artistic exploration. His work is part of the permanent collections of institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.