Alex Katz Vivien with Black Cap 1 (Smile), 2021

In Vivien with Black Cap 1 (Smile) (2021), Katz explores the subtleties of human facial expressions, as indicated by a faraway gaze, the tilt of a head or the creases created by a smile. This is intensified through the close cropping and cinematic lighting of the portrait, in which the woman’s face nearly fills the pictorial space, framed by her black hair which contrasts with the pale green background. The artist’s minimal aesthetic and the pristine flatness of his painted surfaces anticipated Pop Art in many ways, although Katz defined his work independently of any particular movement. As the designer Calvin Klein has described: ‘His portraits have such strong colour fields and clean lines. And despite their apparent simplicity, they’re extremely expressive and perfectly capture the essence of his subjects.’