Contemporary Champion
How the Alex Katz Foundation Is Transforming the PMA
Shalini Le Gall, Chief Curator, the Susan Donnell and Harry W. Konkel Curator of European Art, on the significance of the Alex Katz Foundation to the PMA and a few of their recent gifts to the museum’s collection.
Sigmar Polke (Germany, 1941–2010), I’ll take care of it, Je$s (Ik Mach Dass Schon Je$s), 1972, acrylic, dispersion, and chalk on felt, 122 1/4 x 106 1/4 inches. Gift of the Alex Katz Foundation, 2022.23. © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne / ARS, New York, 2023.
Founded in 2004 by the artist Alex Katz, the Alex Katz Foundation has a unique mission: to buy the work of contemporary artists for donation to museums. A champion of contemporary painting, Katz and the Foundation have given the Portland Museum of Art over 50 objects, the majority of which are paintings by emerging and midcareer artists, as well as important works in the history of 20th and 21st-century art. It's an especially generous model that supports museum collections, allowing them to grow in certain areas, and gives space and visibility to emerging artists. A rotating selection is continuously on view at the PMA, enabling visitors to explore a wide variety of artistic approaches and styles, including abstract and figurative works that push the boundaries of texture, color, perspective, and scale.
A core of the Foundation’s gifts are by artists with strong connections to Maine, including Fairfield Porter, Rackstraw Downes, and Yvonne Jacquette. Understanding how artists work in our communities is especially significant given Katz’s connections to the state and its cultural identity. Simply stated, the Foundation expands and extends our region’s unique story of contemporary art to national and international audiences. In addition, many of the works bring experiences and ideas from beyond Maine’s borders to Portland and the PMA, specifically reinforcing the deep connections between Maine and New York, two regions with longstanding connections to the artist.
In Central Character by Martha Diamond, from 1983, the forms are immediately identifiable as skyscrapers and towering buildings. In many ways it seems outside the visual language of Maine, but it immediately establishes that Maine-New York connection. The artwork creates a forum for visitors to think about urban life, and how that impacts our understanding and expectations of what it’s like to be in Maine.
Philip Guston (United States (born Canada), 1913–1980), Sunrise, 1979, oil on canvas, 68 x 94 inches. Gift of the Alex Katz Foundation, 2022.12.2. Image courtesy Luc Demers. © The Estate of PhilipGuston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Philip Guston’s Sunrise, 1979, is an especially transformative gift to the PMA. Guston is widely recognized as one of the most influential painters of the 20th century, having worked in both figuration and abstraction, and he inspired generations of artists. Standing in front of Sunrise is a wholly absorbing experience—viewers are entranced by Guston’s strokes and use of color, getting lost in the layers of darkness. It’s a beautifully composed work of art with many interpretive possibilities.
Robert Rauschenberg (United States, 1925–2008), Untitled (Early Egyptian), 1973, sand on acrylic on cardboard with rebar and cement, 29 7/8 x 21 1/8 x 65 3/4 inches. Gift of the Alex Katz Foundation, 2022.27.6. ˝ Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
Robert Rauschenberg’s 1973 work, Untitled, Early Egyptian, has a similar impact. One of the most significant artists of the 20th century, Rauschenberg challenges our expectations through unexpected materials. With sand and cardboard, this work has a gritty texture, and electric orange paint is applied on the back of the base. The work is designed to be installed very close to a white gallery wall to create a reflective glow. It looks like it should be plugged in, but it's not. Rauschenberg is deliberately playing with the traditional museum setting of stark white gallery walls. It’s a masterful understanding of and statement about museum and gallery displays.
Sigmar Polke is part of a generation of postwar artists who tried to understand what it meant to rebuild after the devastation of WWII. In I’ll Take Care of It, Je$s, 1972, Polke explores the influence of American culture and how to manage it, as seen through representations of a cowboy and a military figure. Throughout the work, he uses industrially produced felt, a naturally messy texture and material, and viewers can see areas where Polke stitched the felt together and how the paint doesn't drip in the same way that it would on canvas. It’s a powerful work, enabling us to think more deeply about artistic materials.
These gifts from the Alex Katz Foundation are in dialogue with the PMA collection, and taken together they demonstrate the range and significance of contemporary art and the ideas and issues it can uniquely address. The Portland Museum of Art is proud to be the recipient of such meaningful contributions to the PMA collection and looks forward to sharing these gifts’ transformative impact for generations to come.