Alex Katz: Out of Sight

Tom McGlynn, The Brooklyn Rail, September 15, 2026

As Out of Sight makes plain, drawing has always been integral to Alex Katz’s investigations into quotidian subjects; those that project large across his grand ambition to synthesize the conventional with the uncanny. The exhibition’s curator, Kiko Aebi, notes in the catalogue that Katz’s unique style is a product of the artist, “working in a deliberately anachronistic manner, sourcing inspiration and techniques—especially in the case of his drawings—from earlier art historical moments in order to push his work in new directions.” The artist’s lifelong studio conversations with an expansive range of aesthetic progenitors have ranged from Piero della Francesca to Paolo Veronese to Pierre Matisse and, in some of the drawings on display, a passing affinity with Manet and Degas can be detected.