This book presents a collection of powerful portraits of women by one of the twentieth century's most intriguing artists. Alice Neel is largely regarded as one of the most important women artists of this century. Her work combines the brutal honesty -- and lush brushwork -- of Lucian Freud with a nod towards the expressionist palette. She first came to prominence in the 1970s when critics recognized the extraordinary power of her portraits which captured, with brilliant color and incisive line, the psyche of her sitters. Alice Neel's Women is the first volume to collect her portraits of women, which are among her most penetrating and accomplished works. Nearly 140 color images reveal every aspect of her impressive oeuvre, from the dark and somber portraits of the 1930s and 1940s, which were inspired by social realism, to the brightened portraits of the 1960s and 1970s. Among her portraits are a host of artworld figures, such as eminent art historians Linda Nochlin and Ann Sutherland Harris as well as artists Faith Ringgold and Annie Sprinkle. Alice Neel's work is collected by major institutions throughout the country, including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The National Gallery of Art, and many more.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Instantly recognizable near-grotesques, Neel's portraits may not be quite flattering, but they are always revealing, of subjects and the psycho-cultural space they inhabit. Collected here by Carr, deputy director of the National Portrait Gallery, these 125 crisply reproduced color plates draw an intense power via their restriction to women and girls: one can feel the artist meditating on (and sometimes seething about) what it means to be a woman. A portrait of the artist Isabel Bishop shows her in a simple blue wool dress, looking wryly askance. "Isabetta" shows a naked, pre-pubescent girl standing and staring directly at the viewer, like a powerfully defetishized Balthus. The paintings are organized by subject ("Mother and Child," "Pose," "Children," "Nudes") rather than chronology, and it's a decision that works-Neel's deliberate looks come across clearly through repetition of gesture and posture. Anyone turned off by Neel (1900-1984), should take a second look via this book; fans looking for a concentrated dose of Neel at her best should look no further.Matisse-Picasso exhibit, opening in New York in February.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"That [Alice Neel] was the finest portraitist of the twentieth-century seems beyond controversy."--James Gardener, New York Post
"Sexually candid and socially inclusive, Alice Neel's paintings were often ahead of her time."--Raphael Rubinstein, Art in America
"Preeminent as a portrait painter, Alice Neel is also notable as one of the most important women artists of her time."--Linda Chase, Naples Museum of Art
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"Sexually candid and socially inclusive, Alice Neel's paintings were often ahead of her time."--Raphael Rubinstein, Art in America
"Preeminent as a portrait painter, Alice Neel is also notable as one of the most important women artists of her time."--Linda Chase, Naples Museum of Art
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