Alex Katz, the Laughing Cavalier and young Andy Warhol – the week in art

Exhibition of the week: Alex Katz You can hear the breakers against the Newport, Rhode Island shore in the ineffably classy portraits of Alex Katz ... But wait, this is St Ives, not the American East Coast. Guys are surfing, it is true, but it's a bit cold and remote from Fifth Avenue for the hedonistic elite who are often Katz's subjects. The portrait has always included high society. In the Gilded Age, Americans and Britons alike posed for John Singer Sargent . Sargent's paintings reflect the world of Henry James 's novels, as in a golden bowl. In a similar way, the paintings of Alex Katz reflect the steady-eyed perceptions of modern American life you find in the fiction of John Updike . I love Alex Katz and his beautiful people. • Tate St Ives from 19 May to 23 September Other exhibitions this week Ivon Hitchens Rich like loam, painterly like wet earth, this 20th-century British artist is well worth a second look. • Jonathan Clark Fine Art , London from 16 May The Noble Art of the Sword Fencing? Frilly collars? What more do you need? • Wallace Collection , London from 16 May until 16 September Innocence and Experience curated by Marianne Faithfull The 1960s icon paints it black in her selection of Tate works that mirror her life. • Tate Liverpool until 2 September The Queen: Art and Image Warhol and Freud portrayed her, you know. • National Portrait Gallery , London from 15 May until 21 October Masterpiece of the week The Laughing Cavalier (1624) by Franz Hals While the Wallace Collection opens an exhibition about fencing and fashion in the Renaissance (see above) this painting in its permanent collection seems almost an illustration to, or more plausibly an inspiration for, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas . The ruddy-faced 17th-century gentleman – Athos ? Porthos? – is magnificently attired in lace and silk and Hals, with incredibly free, light brushwork, recreates the textures and colours of his garb with virtuoso tracery and dazzle. A painting that seems to live, a masterpiece deserving of its fame. • Wallace Collection , London Image of the week What we've learned this week That Whaam! and glamrock will be keeping punters happy at the Tate in 2013 What Warhol was drawing when he was 11 About the odd death of the art world's kitsch king Exactly what this year's Serpentine pavilion (designed by Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron) will look like How Fiona Rae plans to reach the moon Lastly Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Check out our Tumblr Sign up for our Art Weekly newsletter