Farnsworth Presents Alex Katz: New Work

Rockland , Maine -- 27 May 2010

Alex Katz, Maple 2 , 2009, oil on linen, 72" x 144", ©Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

On Saturday, June 12, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, will open a major exhibition in the museum’s Morehouse Wing, entitled Alex Katz: New Work. The opening will be celebrated at a Live at Night at the Farnsworth party on Friday, June 11, with a members-only preview and reception from 6 to 7 p.m. followed by a free public party from 7 to 8 p.m. The primary sponsors of Live at Night at the Farnsworth are Bangor Savings Bank and VillageSoup. Alex Katz: New Work will run through January 2, 2010. The primary media sponsor for the exhibition is Down East Magazine, books and online.

Alex Katz is regarded as one of the most important artists of his generation. His works have been collected and exhibited internationally. Painter, printmaker, sculptor and draftsman, Katz has explored two main themes over the course of his long and successful career: landscape and the figure. It is his commitment to an essentially representational approach combined with his interest in rendering his subjects in flat, essentially unmodulated forms that sets him apart from many of his contemporaries. These simultaneous interests, in landscape and portrait, and realism and abstraction, have guided his work for more than sixty years.

Every summer since 1954, Alex Katz has lived and painted in the town of Lincolnville. In addition to his signature figure paintings, much of his work has concentrated on the land- and seascape of midcoast Maine. In recent years in particular, Katz’s work has included lushly painted, subtly colored large-scale canvases intimately connected to the place he has called home for more than five decades. The exhibition Alex Katz: New Work focuses on Katz’s most recent works from his annual Lincolnville sojourns; all of the paintings are from the artist’s own collection.

In association with this exhibition, on Wednesday, June 23 at 6 p.m. there will be a lecture in the museum auditorium by Farnsworth Chief Curator Michael K. Komanecky entitled Alex Katz: New Work. On Tuesday, August 3, at 6 p.m., scholar Mark Rosenthal will conduct a lecture entitled Placing Alex Katz. There will be a Curator’s Choice Gallery Talk entitled Sitting for Alex Katz with Zofia Lamprecht and Michael K. Komanecky on Wednesday, August 11, 1 p.m. in the Morehouse Wing. On Wednesday, August 25, at 6 p.m., Alex Katz and Michael K. Komanecky will be featured in A Conversation with Alex Katz, also in the museum auditorium. For more information regarding these events, please call 207-596-0949 or visit the museum’s website at farnsworthmuseum.org

The Farnsworth Art Museum celebrates Maine’s ongoing role in American art. It offers a nationally recognized collection of works from many of America’s greatest artists, with 20,000 square feet of gallery space and over 10,000 works in the collection. The Farnsworth has the second-largest public collection of works by premier 20th-century sculptor Louise Nevelson, while its Wyeth Center features the works of Andrew, N.C. and Jamie Wyeth. Please visit www.farnsworthmuseum.org for more information on current exhibitions, programs and events.

Summer Hours: Monday through Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Wednesdays open till 8 p.m., First Fridays from June – October open till 8 p.m. Admission Prices: Members Free. Adults $12; Seniors $10; Students age 17 and over $10. Museum Store Hours: 7 days a week – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Children 16 and under and Rockland residents Free.

About Farnsworth Art Museum:

Celebrating Maine’s Role in American Art, the Farnsworth Art Museum offers a nationally recognized collection of works from many of America’s greatest artists. With 20,000 square feet of gallery space and over 10,000 works in the collection, there is always something new on view at the Farnsworth. The museum houses the nation's second-largest collection of works by premier 20th-century sculptor Louise Nevelson. Its Wyeth Center exclusively features works of Andrew, N.C. and Jamie Wyeth. The Farnsworth's library is also housed in its Rockland, ME, campus. Two historic buildings, the Farnsworth Homestead and the Olson House, complete the museum complex.