New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve

1990
Artist
Alex Katz, American, 1927-
Born: Brooklyn, NY
Work Locations: New York, NY
Country
United States
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Accession Number
1992.226
Credit Line
Funds from 1992 Alliance for Contemporary Art Auction, the NBT Foundation, and George & Joan Anderman

Alex Katz
New Year's Eve, 1990
Oil paint on canvas
Funds from 1992 Alliance for Contemporary Art Auction, the NBT Foundation, and George & Joan Anderman, 1992.226

Dimensions
height: 102 1/4 in, 259.7150 cm; width: 94 1/4 in, 239.3950 cm
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art
Alex Katz works by simplifying, enlarging, and flattening an image, then particularizing the scene through the use of light. Light, Katz maintains, has always been his primary concern, with form and color serving as vehicles to reveal it. Katz witnessed this New York scene on New Year’s Eve, 1989. The city was shrouded in a rosy fog and an uncharacteristic stillness. Buildings seemed to disappear, leaving just a silhouette and a pattern of illuminated windows. Working intensely, Katz was able to capture this evanescent phenomenon. For several weeks, he painted five or six impressions of the scene before the vision dimmed in his memory.
Exhibition History
  • "Contemporary British Artists"--Denver Art Museum, 11/14/1998 - 7/11/1999
  • "Retrospectacle: 25 Years of Collecting Modern and Contemporary Art"--Denver Art Museum, 11/16/2002 - 8/3/2003

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