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Ann Lauterbach from Face of the Poet

Ann Lauterbach from Face of the Poet

Alex Katz
American, born 1927
1978
An aquatint from an illustrated book in which Alex Katz renders poet Ann Lauterbach’s head as a cool, pared-down portrait, flattening features into clear planes to capture her presence with immediacy.
You’d first notice the isolated, cropped head set against a vast white field—soft, flat skin tones, sharply outlined dark hair and a bright red collar that punctuates the composition while the subject’s direct, slightly detached gaze holds your attention.
This print exemplifies Katz’s billboard-like reduction of the figure—translating his characteristic flattened, graphic portraiture into print and helping to redefine late-20th-century American figurative art by fusing popular imagery with literary subjects.
Medium
Aquatint from an illustrated book with fourteen aquatints
Dimensions
plate (irreg.): 6 x 7 11/16" (15.2 x 19.5 cm); page: 14 3/16 x 19" (36 x 48.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired with matching funds from James R. Epstein and the National Endowment for the Arts
Accession
180.1979.6
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
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