
Ada
34 works

Brisk Day Triptych, 1990
Complete set of Woodcut, Aquatint, Silkscreen print on Somerset paper
36 × 29 1/10 in ; 91.5 × 73.9 cm
Edition of 150 + 15 AP
The Brisk Day Series (1990) is a complete set of woodcut, aquatint, silkscreen print on somerset paper by Alex Katz, measuring 36 × 29 1/10 in ; 91.5 × 73.9 cm. Edition of 150 + 15 AP. This work is part of the Brisk Day series — studies in the quality of light on a cold, clear day. The cool palette of blues and greys conveys the physical sensation of cold air with Katz's characteristic economy, demonstrating his ability to evoke atmosphere through colour alone. Alex Katz (b. 1927, Brooklyn, New York) is one of the most significant American figurative artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His prints are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Tate Modern, and over 100 institutions worldwide. Works from the Brisk Day series are among the most actively traded in the contemporary prints market, with recent auction results at Christie's, Phillips, and Sotheby's confirming sustained collector demand. Guy Hepner represents Alex Katz editions from our New York gallery, with access to works across all major series. Contact us for pricing, availability, and condition reports.
Price on Application

Brisk Day series: one plate · Alex Katz · Phillips · 2018-07 · $6,250
BRISK DAY SERIES · Alex Katz · Sotheby's · 2018-04 · $27,500
Brisk Day Series · Alex Katz · Phillips · 2018-04 · $22,500
Brisk Day Series · Alex Katz · Phillips · 2017-10 · $13,125
Brisk Day Series · Alex Katz · Phillips · 2017-06 · $11,986

The Brisk Day series captures the particular quality of light on a cold, clear day — the kind of light Katz has studied on the Maine coast and in the streets of New York across six decades of sustained observation.
These works are studies in tonal cool: blues and greys sharpened to clarity by cold air, the palette drained of warmth but not of atmosphere. They demonstrate Katz's ability to convey sensation through colour alone — the physical feeling of cold air and bright light rendered as a chromatic event rather than a narrative one.
The Brisk Day works sit within Katz's broader engagement with light as a subject — an engagement that encompasses the gold of late summer afternoons, the silver of overcast skies, and the particular hard clarity of winter. They are among the most atmospherically specific works in his print production.
Contact Guy Hepner for current availability and pricing across the Brisk Day series.

Alex Katz prints for sale at Guy Hepner Gallery in New York span over seventy years of one of the most significant and sustained printmaking practices in American art. Katz's editions — screenprints, lithographs, aquatints, etchings, and woodcuts produced across dozens of major series — translate his distinctive flat-colour figurative style into formats that have attracted dedicated collector attention worldwide. For collectors seeking Alex Katz paintings for sale, Alex Katz art for sale, or specific print editions, Guy Hepner at 177 Tenth Avenue, New York offers expert guidance, authenticated works across all his major series, and deep knowledge of a market that has demonstrated remarkable consistency over decades.
Alex Katz (b. 1927, Brooklyn, New York) is one of the great survivors and pioneers of American figurative art — an artist who, in the 1950s, refused the prevailing tide of Abstract Expressionism and committed himself to a reinvention of figuration so radical in its formal ambitions that it would take decades for critics and historians to fully appreciate what he had achieved. Katz studied at Cooper Union and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, and the landscapes of the Maine coast — along with the faces of his wife Ada, his friends in the New York art world, and the dancers of the Paul Taylor Dance Company — have remained his primary subjects across a career spanning more than seventy years.
Katz's signature style is deceptively simple and unmistakably his own: flat planes of even colour, bold simplified forms, compositions cropped dramatically close and scaled to monumental dimensions, with the meticulous refinement of a painter who has spent decades eliminating everything unnecessary. His influences are wide — the scale and commercial directness of billboard advertising, the flat colour and compositional authority of Japanese woodblock prints, the radical economy of Matisse — but the synthesis is entirely original. His work looks fast and effortless; it is the result of deep, systematic labour.
Katz's printmaking practice, which began in the 1950s, encompasses all major graphic media and is among the most important and extensive of any American artist of his generation. Key series include:
While Katz's paintings occupy the upper tier of the market — major canvases selling for $500,000–$5,000,000+ at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips — his prints offer an accessible and historically significant alternative entry point. Recent auction results confirm sustained print market strength: Orange Hat achieved $27,940 at Christie's in February 2026; Vivien X 5 sold for $30,000 at Artsy in September 2023; Standing Ada has been estimated at $12,000–$18,000 at Phillips. For collectors who want genuine engagement with Katz's practice at more accessible price points, the print editions represent a compelling and well-documented market.
His work is held in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, and over one hundred other major institutions. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2011 and a major retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2022 introduced his work to a new generation of collectors.
Series and subject: Ada prints consistently outperform peripheral subjects. The Flowers, Brisk Day, and Dancers series also carry strong long-term demand. Works from before 1990 carry particular historical significance as examples from his formative printmaking campaigns.
Medium: Screenprints are the dominant medium in Katz's edition output and where the flatness and colour authority of his style translate most directly. Aquatints and etchings offer a more intimate register; woodcuts have attracted increased collector interest as the Japanese influence in his practice has received greater critical attention.
Edition size and impression quality: Smaller editions and artist proofs carry premium. The quality of colour registration and ink density varies between impressions; viewing proofs directly is valuable for significant acquisitions.
Condition: Works on paper require attention to UV exposure and framing. Screenprints are vulnerable to fading; works framed and stored correctly hold value most reliably.
Provenance: Exhibition history and reproduction in major catalogue publications strengthen value for significant acquisitions.
Guy Hepner has been buying and selling Alex Katz prints and editions for over twenty years, building one of the most comprehensive private inventories of his work in New York. Our gallery at 177 Tenth Avenue offers collectors authenticated works across all his major series — Ada, Flowers, Brisk Day, Vivien, Dancers, and more — with expert guidance on acquisition, valuation, and collection development.
Whether you are seeking Alex Katz paintings for sale, a specific print from the Ada or Flowers series, or a comprehensive view of his edition output, Guy Hepner provides the expertise, provenance documentation, and market access to support every acquisition. We offer free, confidential valuations for those looking to sell Katz works and maintain active connections to a global network of collectors and institutions seeking his output across all media and price points.