Alex Katz’s Quiet Philanthropy Has Made a Huge Impact By buying midcareer artists’ work and putting it on museum walls—while at the same time donating millions in funds and art to the institutions—the painter has been supporting an entire ecosystem under the radar.

BY JAMES TARMY

At 96, Alex Katz is one of the oldest and most famous American artists alive. His critically lauded retrospective earlier this year filled the rotunda at the Guggenheim, and a major show of new work is on view at the Gladstone Gallery in New York until Jan. 6.

Less well known is his role as an arts patron whose under-the-radar philanthropic giving in the form of artworks by other artists is possibly unrivaled. To date, the Alex Katz Foundation has donated more than 700 works to institutions and millions of dollars to various arts organizations. The foundation is based in New York and helmed by Katz; his wife, Ada; his son, Vincent; and his daughter-in-law, Vivien.

Unlike many artist foundations, which dole out grants and prizes, Katz’s takes a novel approach. It tends to buy the works of midcareer or young, up-and-coming artists from their galleries and then donates them to museums—particularly a small group of institutions in Maine, where Katz has had a vacation house since 1954.