Alice Neel (Hardcover)

by Ann Tempkin (Author), Richard Flood (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
About half of her career, the superior figurative painter Neel (1900-84) found herself working against the tide of abstractionism, producing searing portraitsDimages of souls, largely acquaintances and friends. She specialized in the nude portraitDincluding one that revealed her at the age of 80Dbroadcasting the stark personal traits of each sitter: vulnerability, frank sexuality, open aggression, and the demonic. This exhibit catalog of the proud feminist's work accompanies a centennial show traveling from New York to Andover, MA, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis in the coming year. With 224 illustrations, 86 in color, and essays by curators from various museum venues, this is the most comprehensive and up-to-date view of her work, complementing Pamela Allara's biography, Pictures of People (Univ. Pr. of New England, 1998), and several filmed interviews, including Alice Neel, Painter (1989). Highly recommended for most collections.DMary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson Univ., MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The centennial of painter Neel's birth has inspired the first retrospective of her unsettling, psychologically acute portraits in 25 years, a reaffirmation of the sly power of her work, her unusual personality, and her courageously artistic life at a time when women artists were much maligned. As the enlightening essays gathered here attest, her bourgeois background and pleasant, blond good looks belied Neel's determination, penetrating vision, and tribulations. Her marriage to Cuban artist Carlos Enriquez ended in divorce and the loss of her two daughters, one to diphtheria, the other to her husband's relatives. Several years later, a jealous lover destroyed hundreds of her drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings. But Neel persevered, raising two sons on her own in Spanish Harlem, where she labored in near obscurity for two decades, painting portraits of neighbors, family, and acquaintances until finally achieving the serious attention she deserved. In her later years, Neel, always attuned to the outrageous and significant, painted the likes of Andy Warhol, Kate Millett, and Annie Sprinkle. Neel herself is fascinating, and her paintings startle, challenge, and engage. --Donna Seaman Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First Edition edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810942151
• ISBN-13: 978-0810942158
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 8.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #786,992 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 1983- (Patricia Hills)Alice Neel monograph MUCH better!, July 30, 2000

By	Miles G Ladin (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This new monograph has been released to coincide with the Whitney's retrospective. Both the long over due retrospective and the new monograph are lacking in quantity and depth needed in doing justice to this amazingly prolific and important artist. Abrams' previous Neel monograph had many more images and excerpts of important interviews with Neel throughout the book (provided by the forsight of Patricia Hills.) The new book, under the Whitney museums' auspice, includes interviews with some of the sitters. While these anecdotes are interesting it doesn't make up for the total superiority of the 1983 monograph (reprinted in 1995.) If you can find a used version of the previous monograph, you would be wise to aquire it. I also recommend Pamela Allara's "Pictures of People, Alice Neel's American Portrait Gallery" which puts Neel's work in a cultural context (from the depression through the feminist movement.)

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, November 18, 2000

By	Marvella (United States) - See all my reviews

Alice Neel has certainly inspired me to paint again. The book is wonderful and chronicles her personal story, along with paintings corresponding to those periods of her life and essays by those who knew her well. It's also a treat to get the insight of many of her famous sitters, including "Nancy". This book is also a catalogue of her work which accompanies her centennial exhibition touring the country. I can't wait to see her work up close and personal in 2001. This publication has wet my appetite to experience more and more of the artistry of Alice Neel.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a beautiful book!, October 10, 2000

By A Customer

I've compared this edition virtually plate by plate to the previous (1983 - Patricia Hills) edition and I must say that I find the selections as well as the quality of the color printing to be far superior in this edition. Perhaps if one found a first edition of the Patricia Hills publication this would not be the case. But I far prefer this edition and can find no reason to criticize it, other than having a vested or political interest.