Supper

Label

Katz’s signature flat and muted blocks of color and blank background bring a sterile plasticity to this mealtime scene. The stiff gestures and blank expressions of the figures contrast with the expressive precision of the items spread across the table. Folded and bunched napkins, shiny glassware, textured placemats, a casserole dish, and a knife knocked askew bring a friendly warmth to the otherwise cold painting, evoking a familiar scene of comfort and community. With his wide-angle perspective, coupled with the off-center table, Katz appears to be offering us an opening. Are we being invited to take a seat at this table?

From the 2026 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 129, A Seat at the Table, curated by Emeline Moss ‘26, Erbe Intern

Course History

SART 31, SART 72, Painting II, III, Colleen Randall, Spring 2013

ITAL 10.06, Culture of Food in Italian Literature, Matteo Gilebbi, Winter 2020

SART 25.01, Painting I, Danielle Genadry, Summer 2022

Art History 38.04, Food and Art: Global History, Nicola Camerlenghi, Spring 2023

Art History 38.04, Food & Art: A Global History, Nicola Camerlenghi, Fall 2024

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 129, A Seat at the Table, Emeline Moss ‘26, Erbe Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 7 - May 3, 2026.

Acquisitions 1974-1978, Jaffe-Friede, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 8, 1978-Janaury 21, 1979.

Candid Painting: American Genre 1950-1975, De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, October 11-Decmeber 7, 1975.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 4, 2011-August 2011.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 6, 1993-March 14, 1994.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 22-September 7, 1992.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 15-April 8, 1998.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 5-September 25, 1995.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 22-December 17, 2000.

Second Stage of Modernism: Art from 1945 to the present, William B. Jaffe, Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall, Churchill P. Lathrop, Friends and Owen Robertson Cheatam Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 6-August 16, 1987.

Selections: Contemporary Art, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Gallery, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 12, 1975-February 15, 1976.

The Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, April 11, 2016-June 30, 2018.

Top of the Hop, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 9-December 1978.

Publication History

Irving Sandler, Alex Katz: A Retrospective, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998, p. 58, ill. p. 62

John C. Cavanaugh, Adult Development and Aging, second edition, Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1993.

Vincent Rotheschild and Gustafson Taylor, ART what thou EAT, Weintraub & Institute of Wine and Food, Bard College: the Edith C. Blum Art Institute, 1990.

John C. Cavanaugh, Development and Aging, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co, 1989.

Joseph Brodsky, "Boredom's Uses," Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Trustees of Dartmouth College, October 1989.

Brian P. Kennedy and Emily Shubert Burke, Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2009 p.68, no.44.

Provenance

Joachim Jean Aberbach (1910-1992), Old Westbury, New York; given to present collection, 1975.

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