Alex Katz is an American figurative painter known for his large-scale, reductive images of family and friends. His iconic paintings document the American scene and landscape through understated but monumental glimpses of the vernacular world. Katz developed his signature style as a reaction against the Abstract Expressionism that dominated the mid-20th century, when his career began. Instead, he embraced narrative, figurative clarity, and the accessible pleasures of Pop Art, though he remains apart from any particular school or movement.