Neel, Alice

NEEL, ALICE (1900––1984). Alice Neel, an accomplished 20th century American portrait artist, used her outstanding visual talents to reflect her strong commitment to radical and progressive causes throughout her life. Her stunningly diverse portraits of progressive political, cultural, artistic, and intellectual figures spanning several generations of U.S. history present a vivid picture of the nation throughout its tumultuous history during that century.

She painted and drew throughout the Depression, the resistance to Nazism, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights Movement, 1960s upheavals, especially feminism, and the 1980s turbulence near the end of her life. She also portrayed personal themes, including her children, lovers, and others, including Black people, all in her unique visual style.

She grew up in Pennsylvania with a middle class, patriarchal background. Early on, she undertook art studies at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. There, she found the Ashcan School of Realism influential, especially with faculty member Robert Henri, whose iconic book The Art Spirit advocated an art focusing on everyday events and activities.

Neel spent most of her life in bohemian New York’s Greenwich Village, becoming, among other things, a serious feminist. Her personal life was often turbulent, involving a troubled and ultimately failed marriage, time in Cuba, the death of her first child, and multiple instances of emotional instability. In Cuba, she developed an enduring political consciousness that pervaded her artwork, especially her portraits.

The Depression catalyzed her art and her politics. She joined the Works Progress Administration through the Public Works of Art Project in 1933. She began painting street scenes and images of Communist Party officials and cultural figures. This began her informal association with the Party and with radical political and cultural activities that lasted her lifetime. She exhibited with leftist members of the American Artists’ Congress in the 1930s

Neel’s artworks tell her story. Her 1934 portrait of writer Kenneth Faring revealed her sympathy with his strong expressions about the suffering of working-class people. “Nazis Murder Jews” from 1936 reflected her anti-fascism and her personal participation in protests. In the 1940s, she illustrated for the communist Masses & Mainstream.

For the remainder of her life, Neel produced compelling portraits, both of women and men. Her 1955 drawing of Aaron Kramer continued her focus on social activist writers. By the 1960s, she began painting nude women, many pregnant, showing them in realistic, non-sexualized ways, making her a feminist icon. Her 1970 Time Magazine portrait of feminist activist Kate Millett garnered national attention. She also continued doing portraits of longtime progressive artist friends like Rafael and Moses Soyer. And in 1981, she depicted American Communist Party leader Gus Hall.

By late age, Alice Neel had gained considerable recognition, including numerous exhibitions and critical reviews. Her most provocative nude portrait was of herself, made in her 80th year. Seated in her chair in her studio, glasses, a paintbrush, and a rag, it reveals her aging, white-haired body, sagging belly and breasts, its facial expression pointed directly at the viewer. The painting directly challenged the American fetish of youthful “beauty” that denies what is acceptable as an artistic subject. Rather, it is a celebration of old age. It now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery––a fitting tribute to one of America’s most intriguing 20th century artists.

Hills, Patricia. Alice Neel. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995.

Hoban, Phoebe. The Art of Not Sitting Pretty. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010.

Lewison, Jeremy. Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life. Belgium: Mercatorfonds, 2016.

Tremkin, Ann, ed. Alice Neel. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2000.