Even those diehard aficionados of Jack Katz’s work probably don’t know that he is also a prolific painter. He paints in oils and the canvases are, as you might have guessed, usually large and highly detailed. There are probably 200-300 of them, all done over the last 15 or 20 years. If you’re expecting the same visual themes as The First Kingdom, think again. Most of these borrow from a visual lexicon of 1930s movies and/or are inspired by classical music composers, particularly American classical composers. The subject is always the human form and the human condition. As Jack is fond of saying, “The purpose of art is the glorification of excellence.” All of these paintings exist in one place, the Jack Katz estate. He states that they were not created to sell; they were created to teach. Jack is still teaching, at the age of 85, figure drawing at the Park and Recreation Department in Albany, California as well as master classes in figure painting.
