Washington
Date1975
Mediumlithograph (eight colors) on paper
DimensionsImage: 20 × 40 inches (50.8 × 101.6 cm)
Sheet: 20 × 40 inches (50.8 × 101.6 cm)
Matted: 36 × 48 inches (91.4 × 121.9 cm)
Portfolio/SeriesKent Bicentennial portfolio, "Spirit of Independence"
Credit LineGift of Lorillard, a Division of Loew’s Theatres, Inc.
Object number1977.20
Copyright© 2023 Alex Katz / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
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Label TextAlex Katz, a painter known for his simplified, large-scale paintings, extends the Pop lineage of artists such as Andy Warhol, who often portrayed everyday objects as commentary on order and status in art. Here, Katz portrays George Washington as a general during the American Revolutionary War, in contrast to the many post-war portraits that imagine him instead as a wisened Founding Father. Washington is depicted in profile in Katz’s distinctive style—a background of one large swath of unmodulated color—with a smooth, almost generic face.
Text written for Spirit of Independence, July 1-December 1, 2020.
