Wednesday 15 September 2010Glorious Sky: Herbert Katzman’s New York
Glorious Sky
Herbert Katzman (1923–2004), produced some of the most lyrical representations of contemporary New York City. Glorious Sky: Herbert Katzman’s New York to be published by D Giles Limited in association with the Museum of the City of New York accompanies an exhibition at the museum of the same title, opening on November 5, 2010 and remaining on view through February 6, 2011. Both exhibition and catalogue highlight a selection of Katzman’s paintings and drawings, and are a stunning tribute to the artist’s fascination with the skyline of his adopted home.
Largely eschewing the prevailing trend towards abstraction in the mid-20th century, the Chicago-born artist first came to public notice in 1952, when Museum of Modern Art curator, Dorothy Miller, included him in her seminal exhibition, Fifteen Americans. Katzman, with other representational painters, was shown alongside many of the leading Abstract Expressionists, including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. Whilst the reputations of the Abstract Expressionists flourished, largely eclipsing Katzman, he continued to develop as an independent expressionist. He became an influential teacher at New York’s School of Visual Arts and exhibited regularly throughout his life, both as part of museum shows and commercially at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery.
This brand new volume centres on Katzman’s primary subject – New York City. considering how Katzman’s art returned repeatedly to the city’s familiar bridges, skyline, landmarks and waterways, atmospherically rendered in sunlight, mist or rain. The authors look at how Katzman, who briefly experimented with abstraction in the late fifties when it was the dominant mode of artistic expression in New York, ultimately remained committed to making representational art. His statement in the Fifteen Americans catalogue would remain relevant throughout his career: “I do not paint abstractly because if I give up the appearance of the world I find I am unable to become involved in it. I am not interested in its abstract or metaphysical aspects as the subject itself is too important to me.” With its emphasis on mood and muted color harmonies, much of his work is reminiscent of 19th century representations of the city by Whistler and members of the Hudson River School. Other works are more redolent of Turner, with their emphasis on the inky blackness of the harbour at night, or the brilliant reds, oranges and purples of New York at sunrise and sunset.
The main catalogue section presents the full range of Katzman’s paintings and works on paper, including both his early drawings, and an important group of tiny, palm-sized drawings produced at the end of the artist’s life when he was confined to his studio. Never published before, these show in extraordinary detail, and with all the power of his larger drawings, the view from Katzman’s studio overlooking the Hudson River towards the former site of the World Trade Center.
The Museum plans a series of public programs associated with the publication and exhibition of Glorious Sky: Herbert Katzman’s New York; for more information, visit http://www.mcny.org
The Authors
Julia Blaut, guest curator at the Museum of the City of New York, was formerly an assistant curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Alison Lurie is the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Foreign Affairs (1984), and professor emerita at Cornell University; Katherine E. Manthorne is professor of Art History at The Graduate Center, the City University of New York (CUNY); Jillian E. Russo is a doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center, CUNY
GLORIOUS SKY: HERBERT KATZMAN’S NEW YORK
144 pages, 229 x 305mm (12 x 9 in.), landscape
110 colour illustrations, hardback
Text: Up to 12,000 words
ISBN: 978 1 904832 83 6
Price: US$45.00/UK£30.00
Publication date: November, 2010
Publisher: D Giles Limited, London
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