Alex Katz

In her first book-length work of non-fiction, novelist Ann Beattie has made a personal selection of 26 paintings from which to discuss their painter, Alex Katz. Recently given a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum, Katz has enjoyed a good deal of critical attention, to which Beattie's graceful, penetrating, and engaging portrait is a welcome addition. A critical meeting of two of contemporary art and literature's most interesting figures in a well-designed volume.