Horse, No. 1

Leo Katz was a Czech-born American painter, muralist, printmaker, and teacher, who studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Vienna, Austria, and later in Germany, Mexico, and South America. He began his career in Europe, specializing in traditional portraiture. Katz immigrated to the United States in 1921, and became an American citizen in 1930. He settled in New York, where he taught art and art history at New York University, Cooper Union, and the New School of Social Research. Katz was active as a printmaker from 1932 to 1946, serving as director of Stanley William Hayter’s celebrated experimental print workshop Atelier 17 during its temporary relocation to New York from Paris between 1940 and 1950.