Alex Katz

Known for: flat large-scale figurative painting; portraits of the New York art world

Alex Katz developed his signature style in the 1950s — flat, large-scale portraits with simplified, billboard-like clarity — and maintained it without significant deviation for seven decades, producing a body of work that anticipated Pop Art while remaining within a figurative tradition. His subjects are consistently his family, friends, and the landscapes of Maine. He is among the most widely exhibited American painters alive and his work sells at prices that place him among the top-tier market artists.