It was impossible for me to look at Alex Katz’s paintings at the Guggenheim without imagining back stories for his stylized portraits — all so vivid and apparent. I photographed the paintings as I made my way up the spiral for a second time, then converted them into black and white images, complementing the day’s overcast sky, and the predominant color worn by museum visitors — black — the most aristocratic color of all. The following pages contain images from the Alex Katz Retrospective along with a collection of sketches all written with a reference to the color black.