Alice Neel: Painted Truths (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) [Hardcover]

Barry Walker (Author), Jeremy Lewison (Author), Robert Storr (Author), Tamar Garb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 2010 | Series: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Widely regarded as one of the most important American painters of the 20th century, Alice Neel is internationally recognized for her contributions to Abstract Expressionism, especially her perceptive portraiture. Neel (1900–1984) was a portrait painter at a time when this was traditionally the role of a male artist. After ascending to prominence in the 1960s as the feminist movement gained momentum, she has remained an iconic figure in the history of American painting.

A self-proclaimed “collector of souls,” Neel often painted friends and family, as well as the celebrated artists and writers of her day, such as Andy Warhol, Frank O’Hara, and Meyer Shapiro, delving into personalities and idiosyncrasies with a rare frankness. Alice Neel: Painted Truths brings together paintings that demonstrate Neel’s range and ability, along with insightful commentary from four leading art historians. Although the book focuses on her portraits, it also covers the artist’s early social realist paintings and cityscapes, tracing the evolution of Neel’s style and examining themes that she revisited throughout her career.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the most interesting aspects of this volume is the inclusion of a series of reflections on voices, testifying to the continued relevance of Neel’s work, renders an already outstanding collection truly superb.” — S.L. Hoglund, Choice

 

(S.L. Hoglund Choice )

"A penetrating look at the portraits. . . . Lavishly illustrated. . . . Will be essential reading for anyone interested in her career. . . . There is plenty here to engage both the eye and the brain. While the paintings still might be unsettling, the materials presented here will go along way to helping us understand them."—Pamela Simpson, Woman''s Art Journal

(Pamela Simpson Woman's Art Journal )

About the Author

Barry Walker is the curator of modern and contemporary art and prints and drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. As the director of Jeremy Lewison Ltd., Jeremy Lewison is a curator and advisor to the Estate of Alice Neel. Robert Storr is an artist, curator, and critic, as well as the dean of the Yale School of Art. Tamar Garb is the Durning Lawrence Professor in the History of Art at University College London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (April 20, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300163320
• ISBN-13: 978-0300163322
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 10.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > Arts & Photography > Painting > Portraits
  • #66 in Books > Arts & Photography > Museum Exhibition Catalogs

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but not great., May 13, 2010

By 

Claude Reich (Florianopolis, Brazil and Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alice Neel: Painted Truths (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) (Hardcover)

The visibility of figurative painter Alice Neel has increased lately, with a record price paid at auction last year by the Cleveland Museum of Art for one of her paintings and with this retrospective, currently held at the Houston Museum of Art, which will then travel to England and Sweden and which is accompanied by this catalogue.

The book is a high-quality publication, with many very good reproductions of the 68 paintings in the show (from the 1920s to the 1980s), that traces the artist's career chronologically and studies such themes as the psychological portrait, the portrait from memory,the nude, the cityscapes, the relationship between parents and children, the old age, in short presents her work as a sort of chronicle of her time. It also dwells on her stylistic qualities, especially on her mastery of line and color, through numerous portraits of friends and celebrities (Andy Warhol...) and also some interesting landscapes in the tradition of Edward Hopper. The artist, herself influenced by various masters (Beckmann for example,) has in turn influenced many of today's figurative painters (Elizabeth Peyton comes to mind) and this is well shown here, even though one may question her real place among America's greatest artists of the XXth century...

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Keen Observations by Alice Neel, December 9, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alice Neel: Painted Truths (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) (Hardcover)

Alice Neel, for many art lovers, is an artist primarily known for her rise to importance with the Feminist movement. Prior to that she had been admired for her courage to paint in the genre of portraiture usually carefully guarded by male artists. This book goes a long way in dismissing the myth that Alice Neel was just an interesting outsider and instead places her where she belongs - in the mainstream of American art. Born in 1900 and died in 1984 her paintings have ranged from observations of nature and cityscapes and landscapes, but her primary importance is centered in her vivid portraits of well known people as well as artist models her 'collection of souls'.

Some Neel's most famous paintings are her depictions of nudes one would never expect to be attractive enough to paint, children, strange appearing people with considerable personality in their body stance and facial expression, as well as her portraits of pubic figures, such as Frank O'Hara, Meyer Shapiro, Annie Sprinkle, Andy Warhol (both Andy with Friends and the very famous 'Andy Warhol, 1970' that shows the surgical wounds from his near fatal gunshots from the 1968 attempted assassination by Valerie Solanas) and the controversial painting of Joe Gould (more a study in male genitalia than a portrait of Gould).

Om addition to a fine sampling of Neel's paintings this book contains excellent essays by Barry Walker, curator of modern and contemporary art and prints and drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Jeremy Lewison who is a curator and advisor to the Estate of Alice Neel, Robert Storr, the dean of the Yale School of Art, and Tamar Garb, Professor in the History of Art at University College London. It is a scholarly study and at the moment the definitive work on this amazing artist. Grady Harp, December 10

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wonderful Paintings, May 19, 2010

By 

Wimberley - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alice Neel: Painted Truths (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) (Hardcover)

As always, Alice Neel's figurative portraits reveal the inner soul of her models as well as herself. Sometimes awkwardly painted but always truthful, Alice Neel gets to the angst of her sitters. The essays in the book are very interesting and I wish that I could see the exhibit.