In 1959, Alex Katz began painting figures on canvas, cutting them out and then pasting them onto wooden boards. Two years later the playwright Kenneth Koch saw an exhibition of these and asked Katz to produce the props and sets for his one-act play George Washington Crossing the Delaware.

Washington Crossing the Delaware: American Revolutionary Soldier Alex Katz, 1961 Born: New York, New York 1927 painted plywood 49 x 16 1/2 x 6 1/4 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of the artist 2002.65

Washington Crossing the Delaware: Table and Cake Alex Katz, 1961 Born: New York, New York 1927 acrylic on plywood 35 x 19 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (88.9 x 49.5 x 31.7 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection 1980.137.73

Washington Crossing the Delaware: Tea Cup Alex Katz,1961 acrylic on wood plywood mounted on wood with steel 5 1/8 x 7 5/8 x 3 in. (13.0 x 19.4 x 7.6 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection 1981.72.2

"This morning I found Alex Katz in a very unusual place: my J. Crew catalogue, which faithfully arrived with its usual thud in today's mail. " -- Posted by Howard on April 2, 2009 Read more on the American Art Museum's Blog at Eye Level.

(Untitled) Carl Holty, 1932 pen and ink on paper sheet: 9 3/8 x 6 1/2 in. (23.7 x 16.5 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum purchase 1979.90 Other American artists were influenced by European Cubism. One such artist was Carl Holty. Learn more about Carl Holty, his life and his work at the American Art Museum.

Black Scarf Alex Katz, 1995 72 x 48 in. (182.9 x 121.9 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Partial and promised gift of Julie Walters and Samuel Rose 2001.38 Katz has, throughout his career, rendered portraits of his wife, Ada. The portrait is like a film still that conveys the past, present, and future in one frame. Behind it lie the hundreds of images he had made of her since the 1950s as well as the history of their lives together.

The Swimmer 1974 Alex Katz Born: New York, New York 1927 Brooke Alexander, Inc. (Publisher) Marlborough Graphics, Inc. (Publisher) Prawat Laucharoen (Printer) aquatint and drypoint on paper sheet: 28 1/8 x 36 in. (71.4 x 91.4 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum purchase 1975.2