LONDON.- A signature work by one of the definitive American painters of the 20th century, Alex Katz, leads Bonhams’ Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on Thursday 16 March in London. Yvonne with Flowers is completed in Katz’ characteristic and instantly recognisable style. The work, which has never before been offered at auction, has an estimate of £700,000 - 1,000,000.

Leonie Grainger, Head of Department for Post-War & Contemporary Art, commented: “Yvonne with Flowers is a truly exceptional work of portraiture by the one and only Alex Katz. Featuring a simplified figure, definitive lines, and bold colours, the work contains many of the most recognisable elements employed within Katz’ signature works. With a recent career-spanning retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, an already strong demand from collectors and institutions internationally has only been enhanced. Yvonne with Flowers offers the opportunity to buy a stellar example of the artist's oeuvre.”

Growing up in the New York art world of the 1940s and 50s, when abstraction dominated the art scene, Katz resisted the dogma of the period and developed his own form of figuration, inspired by artists such as Paul Klee, Édouard Manet and Henri Matisse. In the early 1960s, influenced by films, television, and billboard advertising, Katz began painting large-scale paintings, often with dramatically cropped faces.

Painted in 2001, Yvonne with Flowers contains many of the most recognisable elements of Katz’ work. The sitter is Yvonne Force Villareal, Co-Founder of Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects. She is also the wife of the artist Leo Villareal, and a leading figure in the Maine arts community. A friend of Katz since the early 1990s, she is one of his most painted models after his wife Ada. The inclusion of flowers showcases another of Katz's signature themes, whilst the composition is evocative of the billboards and cinema screens that influenced the artist in the 1960s.

Having been featured in nearly 500 group shows internationally and in over 200 solo exhibitions since 1951, Alex Katz has been honoured with numerous retrospectives around the globe. His work has been shown in some of the most prestigious museums in the world, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Tate, London, the Albertina Museum in Vienna and The Guggenheim in Bilbao.

Other highlights of the sale include:

Frank Auerbach (B. 1931), J.Y.M. Seated V, 1989. Estimate: £400,000 - 600,000.

Josef Albers (1988-1976), Study for Homage to the Square, 1965. Estimate: £250,000 - 450,000.

Anish Kapoor (B. 1954), Untitled, 1995. Estimate: £200,000 - 300,000.

Richard Hambleton (1952-2017), Standing Shadowman Profile, 2012. Estimate: £130,000 - 180,000.

Leon Kossoff (1926-2019), Head of Heinz I, 1997. Estimate: £90,000 - 120,000.