Red Coat
The best of Katz’s portraits create a palpable tension between specific and abstract, intimate and remote, near and far. This tension animates Katz’s depiction of both people and space. With Red Coat, an enigmatic portrait of his wife Ada, the artist takes his cue from movies, photography, and advertising, radically cropping and magnifying his wife’s visage, bringing her face to the very front of the picture plane. Yet, despite her proximity to the viewer, Ada’s expression is indecipherable: whatever she might be thinking or feeling remains a mystery. This does nothing to dampen the portrait’s emotional and psychological charge, which derive directly from Ada’s inaccessibility.
Artwork Details
- Title: Red Coat
- Artist: Alex Katz (American, born Brooklyn, New York, 1927)
- Date: 1982
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 96 × 48 in. (243.8 × 121.9 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.605
- Rights and Reproduction: © Alex Katz
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Alex Katz
Brooke Alexander, Inc.
1969
Multiple artists/makers
1979
Alex Katz
1968
Multiple artists/makers
1979 (printed 1980)
Multiple artists/makers
1982
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