ALICE NEELA SELF DESCRIBED COLLECTOR OF SOULS

Women Artist and Their Art

Sarah Olivo

Her life: 1900, born January 28th, Merion Square, PA 1921-25, Philadelphia School of Design for Women

(now Moore College of Art) 1925-27, lived in Havana, Cuba with husband

Carlos Enriquez Had her first show in Cuba Had 4 children, first died, second was taken by her

first husband, and raised 2 sons, one a film maker who created a film about her; Alice Neel, a film by Andrew Neel

1935, jointed WPA/Federal Art Project, Easel Division

1984, died October 13, 1984

Important influence:

Alice NeelNancy and Olivia1967Oil on canvas39 x 36 in (99.1 x 91.4 cm)Private collection, California

Neel’s technique:

Neel zooms in on a person's physical imperfections: the wrinkles of a forehead, the double chin, the big ears. Hands are especially the focus of Neel's characterizations, establishing rhyming connections between figures and revealing emotions or traits that the face might not.

Quote by Ann Temkin in 1962 "At this time Neel also became visible in her paintings through a newly

energized pictorial style. The paintings from this period of reawakening are physically thrilling to look at. Neel poured into them her own agitation, her own excitement at a turning point. The lines are fluid and lively, swooping, drooping, darting, and curling across the canvas. Neel never had liked to use flesh colored paint and had freely described figures and backgrounds with vivid hues. Colors were now mixed in newly intense combinations, at the same time as raw patches of pinks, purples, mustards, and grays defined areas of faces and hands. The palette of Robert Smithson, painted in 1962 when the subject was still a young painter, is exceptionally beautiful, juxtaposing the dark purply tones of his suit with the pinks and reds of his damaged skin. Long, messy brushstrokes crowd the surface of Neel's canvases, conspicuously representing the work of the artist's arm, and by extension herself, in the painting. Her paintings became physically larger, growing about fifty percent to a median size of three by two feet. Neel's signature remained as it had always been, inscribed at a diagonal and underlined in a lower corner of the canvas, but now it was painted in big, bold letters that became an active part of the composition.”

Alice NeelAfter the Death of the Child

1927/28Watercolor on paper11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in (29.8 x 22.2 cm)Private collection, New York

Alice NeelThe Pregnant Woman 1971oil on canvas40 x 60 in.

"It's treating woman as sex object. But you know, sex results in something."

Alice NeelAndy Warhol1970Oil on canvas60 x 40 in (152.4 x 101.6 cm)Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Alice NeelHartley1965Oil on canvas50 x 36 in (127 x 91.4 cm)National Gallery of Art, Washington

Alice NeelSelf-Portrait1980Oil on canvas54 x 40 in (137.2 x 101.6 cm)National Portrait Gallery, Washington

Public collections: Apostolic Delegation, Embassy Row, Washington,

DC Art Institute of Chicago, IL Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art Gallery, University of

Texas Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY Brown University, Providence, RI Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, CA The Museum of Modern Art, NY  Many others are listed at

http://www.cheimread.com/files/12ba3eb7.pdf

Internet sources: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/N/neel.ht

ml

http://www.cheimread.com/files/12ba3eb7.pdf

http://www.emergingpictures.com/movie_pages/alice_neel.htm

http://www.reviewpainting.com/Alice-Neel.htm

http://www.tvguide.com/movies/alice-neel/review/287462