Alex Katz Ada For Sale

Ada Prints by Alex Katz | Buy & Sell | Guy Hepner

The Ada series represents one of the most sustained and intimate bodies of work in American art — a portrait project spanning more than sixty years, dedicated entirely to Alex Katz's wife Ada Del Moro, whom he married in 1958. Ada has appeared in more Katz works than any other subject: in screenprints, aquatints, etchings, and paintings, rendered in every season of light and mood, always with the same economy of means that defines Katz's practice.

Market Performance

Ada works command consistent results at auction. Standing Ada (S. 216) carried estimates of US$12,000–18,000 at Phillips in April 2026. Small Head of Ada (S. 58) presented at US$1,000–2,000 at the same sale, demonstrating the breadth of the market across edition sizes and periods. Earlier, more limited works in the series routinely exceed these benchmarks. Yvonne — a portrait closely related in format — sold for £444,500, demonstrating the ceiling this vein of Katz's portraiture can reach for exceptional examples.

About the Ada Series

What makes the Ada series remarkable is not simply its longevity but its refusal to sentimentalise. Katz approaches Ada as a formal problem as much as a personal subject. The face is reduced to essential planes — the angle of a jaw, the weight of a hat brim, the precise tonal relationship between skin and shadow — and presented with a graphic clarity that owes as much to Japanese woodblock prints and American billboard culture as it does to the Western portrait tradition.

The works range from intimate single-head compositions to multi-figure arrangements where Ada appears alongside other sitters. They vary in palette from the saturated primaries of summer to the cool greens and greys of winter. But the approach remains constant: everything that is not necessary has been removed.

Collecting Ada Works

The Ada series is considered foundational to any serious Katz collection. Edition sizes vary significantly: earlier works from the 1960s and 70s tend to be more tightly limited and command the highest prices; more recent editions in larger runs are accessible to a broader range of collectors. Condition, the presence of the artist's signature, and original documentation are key considerations in valuation.

Guy Hepner maintains an active inventory across the Ada series and can source specific works on request.