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Have a Happy 4th of July! Here’s a thread about a great American artist, Alice Neel (1900-84). She was famed for her emotive & psychologically intense expressionist portraits. Her work deserves greater awareness - take a look!
Born in Pennsylvania, she graduated from high school in 1918 & joined the Civil Service. She took art classes at night before enrolling in the Philadelphia School of Design in ‘21. Initially she embraced realism. Mother & Child, Havana (1926) & Beggars, Havana (1926)
Like Neel I love colour & emotion & you can see some of my drawings for sale in my Etsy Shop: http://etsy.com/ie/shop/robbohan
She married in 1924 & graduated a year later & moved to Havana. She was influenced by ideas of equality & was a member of the Cuban avant-garde. Contrasts (1927), Requiem (1928), Degenerate Madonna (1930) & Ethel Ashton (1930)
Neel returned to NY where her 1y old daughter died of diphtheria. This informed her treatment of motherhood, loss & anxiety. The birth of her 2nd child inspired the bleak ‘Well Baby Clinic’ (1928). Carlos (1926), After the Death of a Child (1927-8) & Nadja (1928)
In 1930 her husband took her daughter to Cuba & the trauma led to Neel having a breakdown. She was released from hospital in 1931. She returned to NY. Circus (1932), Martin Jay (1932), Movie Lobby (1932) & Symbols (1932)
During the Depression she worked for the WPA. She began to gain some recognition. Nadya & Nona (1933), Ninth Avenue EL (1935), the Dream (1936) & Sheila (1938)
Her work was influenced by her politics & included portraits of intellectuals & left wing characters. Her work depicted subversion & sexuality. Elenka (1936), Isabetta (1934), Woman with Cat (1932) & the polyphallic Joe Gould (1933)
In the 1930s she moved to Spanish Harlem & painted neighbours & her first nudes. In the latter she challenged the standard view of how a naked woman should look. My Mother (1930), Nadya & the Wolf (1932), Alice (1932) & Joe Gould (1933)
Woman on a Train (1940), T.B., Harlem (1940), Sam & Richard (1940) & Nadiya Nude (1933). The latter shows her commitment to exploring the nude as a non-sexual vehicle but as the lived experience of a body.
Neel’s sitters were drawn from friends, neighbours & family. She was equally interested in everyone around her. Hers is a universal vision. Baby on Blue Sofa (1939-40), Central Park (1946), Dick Bagley (1946), the Sea (1947)
Post WWII she became more involved in Communist circles, including illustrating works. Her politics led the WPA to withdraw support & she lived on the edge, even shoplifting. Ballet Dancer (1950), Richard & Hartley (1950), Phyllis Rubin (1952) & Richard (1952)
We have relatively few political works by her as to live her life was a political act in itself. Each picture is imbued with the sense of union in diversity. Eisenhower, MacCarthy & Dulles (1953), Rita & Hubert (1958), Skull (1958) & George Arce (1959)
By the end of the 50s her work was gathering interest amongst the avant-garde. Two Girls, Spanish Harlem (1959), Tree (c1959), Sam (1958) & Boys on 108th Street (1955). Children were always central to her work & she explored their depiction with equal psychological intensity
In the 60s, with the pregnancies of her friends she began a series of pregnant nudes. She wanted to show a fact of life & normalise a reality. She became a feminist icon. Nancy & Olivia (1967), Richard Gibbs (1965), Hugh Hord (1964) & Hartley (1966)
Her portraits are striking in their expressionist & psychological intensity. They each have a life of their own. Richard Gibbs (1968), Mrs Paul Gardner & Sam (1967), Ginny (1969) & Hartley with Cat (1969)
By the 70s Neel gained celebrity & recognition - even getting an award from Jimmy Carter! John Perreault (1972), Dana Gordon (1972), Benjamin (1976) & Faith Ringgold (1976). Her nude of Perreault is a striking examination of flesh depicted with considered & non-sexual care.
Her portraits are some of the finest of the modern age. She painted how she saw from an empathy based viewpoint. Linda & Daisy (1973), Men from Rutgers (c1980), Don & Jonathan (1982) & the Family (1982)
Aged 80, she painted her self-portrait, fully nude (1975-80). It was one of her last works & gathered attention. It was the culmination of her documenting the female nude. Pregnant Woman (1971) & Margaret Evans (1978). Each is a masterpiece
Neel was an artist of great empathy & genius. Her fundamental love of her fellow man is shown in her portraits of women, men & children. Frank Gentile (1948), George Arce (1955), Timothy Collins (1971) & George Arce (1955)
It is in her portraits of women that her work is unique. Here is the female gaze of the female by a master. Her work is not only astonishing but life enhancing. Female portraits Sarah (1966), Vera (1972), Carmen & Judy (1972) & Nancy & the Twins (1971)
You can see more of my drawings for sale here & in my Etsy Shop: http://etsy.com/ie/shop/robbohan I explore the world influence both by my scientific studies as well as my love of nature & early medieval history.
