Like so much of Katz’s work, Purple Wind is a study in vivid color contrasts as well as dramatic visual and spatial effects. Here the artist depicts a haunting image of a barren tree set in relief against an apartment building at night. The windows of the structure, which appear to be illuminated from within, are not so much represented as they are suggested through the application of ten perpendicular brushstrokes on a purple ground. The branches of the tree are similarly rendered with single swipes of the brush. The composition that results is as much musical as it is visual: Katz carefully choreographs the relationship between diagonal, horizontal, and vertical lines in order to create a sense of rhythmic movement.
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Inscription: Signed (verso, bottom canvas surplus): alex Katz; inscribed (verso, on stretcher): Purple Wind
the artist, New York (1995–ca. 1996/97; sold in 1996/97 to Saatchi Gallery); [Saatchi Gallery, London, ca. 1996/97–2003; sold in 2003 to Alex Katz Studio]; Alex Katz Studio, New York (2003–15, sold to MMA)
New York. Marlborough Gallery, Inc. "Alex Katz: Recent Paintings," April 17–May 11, 1996, unnumbered cat.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Alex Katz Under the Stars: Landscapes 1951–1995," June 12–September 8, 1996, unnumbered cat. (p. 64; lent by the Marlborough Gallery, New York).
Valencia. IVAM Centre Julio González. "Alex Katz," October 29, 1996–January 12, 1997, unnumbered cat. (p. 73; lent by Collection Saatchi, London) [erroneously reproduces smaller version].
West Palm Beach. Norton Museum of Art. "Alex Katz Under the Stars: Landscapes 1951–1995," March 15–May 3, 1997, unnumbered cat.
Portland, Me. Portland Museum of Art. "Alex Katz Under the Stars: Landscapes 1951–1995," July 19–September 14, 1997, unnumbered cat.
Queens. Institute for Contemporary Art/P.S. 1 Museum. "Alex Katz Under the Stars: Landscapes 1951–1995," October 5, 1997–January 12, 1998, unnumbered cat.
London. Saatchi Gallery. "Alex Katz: Twenty Five Years of Painting from the Saatchi Collection," January 1–April 1, 1998, unnumbered cat. (pl. 23) [erroneously reproduces a smaller version of this painting].
Bonn. Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. "Alex Katz: In Your Face," May 9–August 18, 2002, unnumbered cat. (p. 65; lent by the Saatchi Gallery, London) [erroneously reproduces a smaller version of this painting].
Dublin. Irish Museum of Modern Art. "Alex Katz: New York," February 27–May 20, 2007, unnumbered cat. (p. 56; lent by the artist) [erroneously reproduces a smaller version of this painting].
Tampere, Finland. Sara Hildén Art Museum. "Alex Katz: An American Way of Seeing," February 21–May 31, 2009, no. 28 (lent by the artist) [erroneously reproduces a smaller version of this painting].
Musée de Grenoble. "Alex Katz: An American Way of Seeing," July 4–September 27, 2009, no. 28.
Museum Kurhaus Kleve. "Alex Katz: An American Way of Seeing," October 11, 2009–February 21, 2010, no. 28.
Museum der Moderne Salzburg. "Alex Katz: New York/Maine," March 3–July 7, 2013, unnumbered cat. (p. 124; lent by the artist) [erroneously reproduces a smaller version of this painting].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Alex Katz at The Met," October 9, 2015–November 6, 2016, no catalogue.
Merlin James inAlex Katz: Twenty Five Years of Painting from the Saatchi Collection. Ed. David Sylvester. Exh. cat., Saatchi Gallery. London, 1997, pp. 40, 91–93, 98, ill. and colorpl. 23 (smaller version).
Peter Schjeldahl inAlex Katz: Twenty Five Years of Painting from the Saatchi Collection. Ed. David Sylvester. Exh. cat., Saatchi Gallery. London, 1997, p. 198, ill. (smaller version).
Irving Sandler. Alex Katz: A Retrospective. New York, 1998, p. 122, ill. p. 141 (color, smaller version), identifies the subject as a New York building at dusk.
Brooks Adams and Lisa Liebmann. Young Americans 2: New American Art at the Saatchi Gallery. Exh. cat., Saatchi Gallery. London, 1998, unpaginated.
Carter Ratcliff. "Survey: The Art of Alex Katz." Alex Katz. London, 2005, p. 128.
Juan Manuel Bonet in David Barro. Alex Katz: Casi Nada. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Contemporanéo Gas Natural Fenosa. [A Coruña, Spain], [2012], p. 13.
David Barro. Alex Katz: Casi Nada. Exh. cat., Museo de Arte Contemporanéo Gas Natural Fenosa. A Coruña, Spain, [2012], p. 24.
Tina Teufel inAlex Katz: New York/Maine. Ed. Toni Stooss. Exh. cat., Museum der Moderne Salzburg. Salzburg, 2013, pp. 48–49, ill. pp. 124 (color, smaller version), 237 (smaller version).
Karen Wilkin. "Art, Alex Katz at the Met
." New Criterion 34 (February 2016), pp. 44–45.
Alex Katz (American, born Brooklyn, New York, 1927)
1979 (printed 1980)
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