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Lot Essay
"Ada in Blue Umbrella #2, is surprisingly similar both in feeling and compostion to a frame in Fellini's La Dolce Vita and, like the cinematic figure, is a singular, striking, and clear image that elicits multiple, ambiguous meanings. Ada can be read as a symbol of beauty, sorrow, mystery, coldness, or desire."
(R. Marshall, Alex Katz, New York 1986, p. 22)
Alex Katz has often been referred to as a quintessential American painter. Bright, optimistic and direct--the gestures in his works characterize what the world expects from an American sensibility. Having emerged from the New York art world of the 1950s, Katz's artistic direction was bold and defied the conventions of the time. While respectful of abstract expressionism, he shied away from the movement's heroism and sweeping manifesto style, and instead built his career championing commonplace moments of the daily life of family and friends. Borrowing from the abstraction he admired, Katz often treated details of a composition as if they were individual paintings themselves--a lock of hair, an eyebrow, the neckline of a shirt--each of these elements can feel as structural as a Barnett Newman. Single-handedly, Katz managed to reconcile abstraction and realism in the post-World War II era.
While his works are obviously representational, the subject of his works are often more complex than they appear. In Blue Umbrella #2 (1972), the center of the composition is his wife Ada standing under a blue umbrella in the rain. She is his most frequent muse, ageless, familiar in her repeat appearances yet wholly unknowable. While she dominates the canvas, close inspection reveals that she is no more the subject than the paisley print of her scarf, her pressed hair, the looming umbrella or the pelting rain. Like her parallels in cinema verite films of the 1960s and early 1970s, Ada in Blue Umbrella #2 is calm and confident about being the subject of a work of art. Unlike her female predecessors in the history of art, she is not the least bit self-conscious about being perceived and addresses the spectator with her head raised, appearing to look just past us. Ada is a distant figure, standing alone against the hacked background of modern life. She appears aloof and vulnerable and at once warm and mysterious. A figure standing in the rain under an umbrella is a ubiquitous subject for twentieth century painting, beginning with the Impressionists. Renoir, Manet, Monet and perhaps most famously Caillebotte, found the ordinariness of the subject matter compelling and a perfect fit for their modern intentions of elevating scenes from daily life to the level of art. Mixing both portraiture and nature, Katz's Blue Umbrella #2 and Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877 share the modern desire to make portraiture relevant to their respective eras. In Caillebotte's painting the streets of life in late nineteenth century Paris are buzzing with commercial activity. For Katz, Ada is nearly one with the background and its flatness is reminiscent of a Robert Ryman, devoid of subject, but full of mood. Though Katz's work of the 1960s and early seventies shares a chronological overlap with Pop Art, his works appear more as flirtations with Pop's visuals, rather than an embrace of the movement's wry commentary of consumer culture. Surely, the brightly colored palette, the flat, clean graphic style and the billboard size Katz is known to work in shows that Pop is present, in the same way perhaps that abstract expressionism is, but somehow these other styles manage not to conflict or overshadow Katz's own style. While Katz is regarded highly among academics and tastemakers, his cool, urbane paintings are perhaps the most highly respected by fellow painters. Fairfield Porter was an early enthusiast. A generation later, Chuck Close was typical of an artist seeking a radical new realism for which Katz's work was a paragon. In the 1980s he became something of a role model for painters such as Eric Fishl, David Salle, and Francesco Clemente. (D. Cohen, "A Sealed Up World", Art in America, May 1998, p. 102) Now, his work serves as point of departure for many younger artists, including John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton, Karen Kilimnik, Kerry James Marshall, and Richard Phillips.
Katz's Blue Umbrella #2 is a signature example of the artist's work--billboard size, bright hues, and Ada looking, as she has been referred to, as "the first lady of the art world".
(R. Marshall, Alex Katz, New York 1986, p. 22)
Alex Katz has often been referred to as a quintessential American painter. Bright, optimistic and direct--the gestures in his works characterize what the world expects from an American sensibility. Having emerged from the New York art world of the 1950s, Katz's artistic direction was bold and defied the conventions of the time. While respectful of abstract expressionism, he shied away from the movement's heroism and sweeping manifesto style, and instead built his career championing commonplace moments of the daily life of family and friends. Borrowing from the abstraction he admired, Katz often treated details of a composition as if they were individual paintings themselves--a lock of hair, an eyebrow, the neckline of a shirt--each of these elements can feel as structural as a Barnett Newman. Single-handedly, Katz managed to reconcile abstraction and realism in the post-World War II era.
While his works are obviously representational, the subject of his works are often more complex than they appear. In Blue Umbrella #2 (1972), the center of the composition is his wife Ada standing under a blue umbrella in the rain. She is his most frequent muse, ageless, familiar in her repeat appearances yet wholly unknowable. While she dominates the canvas, close inspection reveals that she is no more the subject than the paisley print of her scarf, her pressed hair, the looming umbrella or the pelting rain. Like her parallels in cinema verite films of the 1960s and early 1970s, Ada in Blue Umbrella #2 is calm and confident about being the subject of a work of art. Unlike her female predecessors in the history of art, she is not the least bit self-conscious about being perceived and addresses the spectator with her head raised, appearing to look just past us. Ada is a distant figure, standing alone against the hacked background of modern life. She appears aloof and vulnerable and at once warm and mysterious. A figure standing in the rain under an umbrella is a ubiquitous subject for twentieth century painting, beginning with the Impressionists. Renoir, Manet, Monet and perhaps most famously Caillebotte, found the ordinariness of the subject matter compelling and a perfect fit for their modern intentions of elevating scenes from daily life to the level of art. Mixing both portraiture and nature, Katz's Blue Umbrella #2 and Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877 share the modern desire to make portraiture relevant to their respective eras. In Caillebotte's painting the streets of life in late nineteenth century Paris are buzzing with commercial activity. For Katz, Ada is nearly one with the background and its flatness is reminiscent of a Robert Ryman, devoid of subject, but full of mood. Though Katz's work of the 1960s and early seventies shares a chronological overlap with Pop Art, his works appear more as flirtations with Pop's visuals, rather than an embrace of the movement's wry commentary of consumer culture. Surely, the brightly colored palette, the flat, clean graphic style and the billboard size Katz is known to work in shows that Pop is present, in the same way perhaps that abstract expressionism is, but somehow these other styles manage not to conflict or overshadow Katz's own style. While Katz is regarded highly among academics and tastemakers, his cool, urbane paintings are perhaps the most highly respected by fellow painters. Fairfield Porter was an early enthusiast. A generation later, Chuck Close was typical of an artist seeking a radical new realism for which Katz's work was a paragon. In the 1980s he became something of a role model for painters such as Eric Fishl, David Salle, and Francesco Clemente. (D. Cohen, "A Sealed Up World", Art in America, May 1998, p. 102) Now, his work serves as point of departure for many younger artists, including John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton, Karen Kilimnik, Kerry James Marshall, and Richard Phillips.
Katz's Blue Umbrella #2 is a signature example of the artist's work--billboard size, bright hues, and Ada looking, as she has been referred to, as "the first lady of the art world".