One of America’s greatest living artists, Alex Katz, has a new seaside exhibition

With flat colours and forms in his cool and care-free paintings, Alex Katz has become one of America’s most-respected living artists.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1927, work from his six decade career is going on show at Margate’s Turner Contemporary.

The artist’s seaside portraits have never had a more appropriate exhibition space, inspired by family holidays painted in his seaside retreat of Lincolnville, Maine, where he continues to spend his summers.

Deep down, his style is quite classical, painting portraits, landscapes, beach scenes and flowers. Yet his paintings are bright, bold and capture an everyday America at play.

To add to the exhibition of his own work, entitled Give Me Tomorrow, Alex has selected a number of works from the Tate Collection, which are going on display in the Turner Contemporary’s West Gallery.

Alex Katz on Painting: Masterpieces from Tate brings together works by George Stubbs, Walter Sickert, William Nicholson, Henri Rousseau, Piet Mondrian and Marlene Dumas. They span more than 200 years and reveal a keen interest in the European tradition of art.

“Alex Katz is one of the foremost artists of his generation and we are thrilled to have this exhibition here,” said Turner Contemporary director Victoria Pomery.

“His work is vibrant, thoughtful and very relevant to our seaside location – I am sure that visitors will love this exhibition and his selection of great paintings from the Tate Collection.”

To mark the opening of the exhibition, Alex will be at the gallery for a talk at 3pm on Saturday, October 6. With questions posed by art critic Matthew Collings, tickets cost £10.

The gallery opens at 12.30pm instead of the usual 10am for the opening of the exhibition, so it will stay open until 8.30pm with live jazz from 6.30pm.

Alex Katz - what you need to know

:: Alex Katz’s paintings are defined by their flatness of colour and form, their economy of line and their cool but seductive emotional detachment.

:: Influenced as much by style, fashion and music as he is art history, he remains a very classical painter, working in the tradition of European and American artists like Manet, Matisse and Hopper.

:: Alex began exhibiting in the 1950s, emerging at a time when abstract expressionism was still the dominant force in American art.

:: His paintings are considered a reaction to the work of the previous generation of artists including Pollock, Rothko, Guston and De Kooning.

:: He is acknowledged as a hugely influential precursor to the pop art movement, which he became associated with throughout the 1960s.

:: Alex is attributed with influencing senior painters like David Salle, Peter Halley and Richard Prince, as well as younger artists like Peter Doig and Elizabeth Peyton.

Breathe in the joys of Brazil

The Turner Contemporary is also home to Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno’s exuberant installation Tempo para Respirar (Breathing Time.)

Found in the double-height Sunley Gallery, it is a giant weave of straw, strings and piles beads, sewed into draping coils and flower-like forms.

Aimed at emulating the colour and energy of Brazil, it is a landscape dotted with ceramic shapes and giant beads.

Visitors can be a part of the artwork as they sit amongst its colours and textures or relax in a hammock looking out to sea.

It is at the gallery until March 24.

Alex Katz: Give Me Tomorrow runs from Saturday, October 6 to Sunday, January 13. Alex Katz on Painting: Masterpieces from Tate runs from Saturday, October 6 to Sunday, January 20. Admission to both exhibitions is free. Alex Katz in Conversation with Matthew Collings takes place at 3pm on Saturday, October 6. Tickets £10. Call 01843 233000.