Alex Katz
Dawn, 1995
Information about the artwork
- MaterialOil on canvas
- Dimensions117 x 119.2 cm
- Year of acquisition1997
- Inventory numberUAB 211
- On viewGround floor
- Copyright© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn [2024], Photo: Haydar Koyupinar, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich
More about the artwork
Despite the dramatically reduced palette, the silhouette of the treetops in “Dawn” is immediately recognizable, forming the dividing line between the painting’s two fields of nearly monochromatic gray. Uniform areas of color have been present in Katz’s work since the late 1950s, yet they have generally served as neutral backgrounds for more sharply rendered figures. In “Dawn,” however, they take center stage, challenging us to consider just how much visual information is (or is not) necessary to create a recognizable image.
