Ada
1966
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
charcoal on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 46.7 x 56.8 cm (18 3/8 x 22 3/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Parnassus Foundation
Accession Number
1998.31.2
Art Historical Context
### Ada by Alex Katz Created in 1966, *Ada* is a striking charcoal drawing on wove paper by American artist Alex Katz (b. 1927), 18⅜ × 22⅜ inches. Housed in the National Gallery Art's Department of Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper (CG-W), intimate portrait captures Katz's wife and lifelong muse, Ada del Moro Katz, whose poised presence recurs throughout his oeuvre. Gifted by the Parnassus Foundation, it exemplifies Katz's mid-1960s exploration of portraiture amid the vibrant New York art scene. Katz, a pivotal figure in post-Pop figurative painting, distilled his subjects into bold, fl...
About the Artist
Alex Katz
Alex Katz, born on July 24, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian émigré parents, grew up in St. Albans, Queens, in a family immersed in the arts—his mother had been an actress in Yiddish theater. Katz honed his skills at Woodrow Wilson High School's arts program before enrolling at The Cooper Union in 1946, where he studied painting under Morris Kantor, absorbing modern art theories and techniq...