Fellow artist Elaine de Kooning once joked to Katz, "You continuously paint Ada because her face has quite a mild outline, and she never changes her hairstyle." Katz praised his wife describing her as "like Dora Maar for Pablo Picasso, but Ada has prettier shoulders and she can easily win the title of 'Miss America'".

Blue Umbrella, 1972, by Alex Katz [Photo/Artron.net]

Ada stands in front of the painting Blue Umbrella at an exhibition in 2006. [Photo/Artron.net]