Alex Katz, prints

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Alex Katz's clear planes of color and simplicity of line are famously well suited to printmaking. For Katz himself, the medium also holds the appeal of distributing his work in greater quantity. His embrace of printmaking was consolidated in the mid-1960s, and led to a voracious exploration of print technologies, including the latest state-of-the-art reproduction processes. Each of these elicits different qualities from Katz's artistic vocabulary: woodcut, for example, yields an emotional tenor not commonly seen elsewhere in his oeuvre, as the traces left by chisel and burn are left legible and accepted by the artist. However, the primary effect of Katz's prints is to enhance his art as a coolly Baudelairean "painting of modern life." Though he frequently works with professional printing companies, Katz often undertakes the full run of manual labor himself. This volume assesses Katz's history with printmaking and editions, including collaborations with writers.