Alex Katz
Throughout art history, there have been a number of notable artists to fall through the cracks of categorization -- Robert Rauschenberg, Vincent van Gogh, Joseph Beuys -- presumably because they were not part of a distinctive art movement but rather an independent creator with a unique vision. Sam Hunter, in his biography of Katz, has accused Alex Katz of such innovation, describing what Katz does as "reconciling realism with both Modernism and Postmodernism." For an artist who has been prolifically creative and academically respected during Abstract Expressionism's grip on the art world and later through the reign of Pop Art, Katz has remained true to his own school of thought.