Alice Neel (1900-1984) was one of the most important portrait artists of the 20th century. Her honest depictions of family, friends, artists and intellectuals, and particularly female nudes continue to make her an extraordinarily influential artist today.
Alice Neel (1900-1984) was one of the most important portrait artists of the 20th century. Her honest, depictions of family, friends, artists and intellectuals, and particularly female nudes continue to make her an extraordinarily influential artist today.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
Today, we’re talking about one of the most important portrait artists of the 20th century. Her honest depictions of family, friends, artists and intellectuals, and particularly female nudes continue to make her an extraordinarily influential artist today. Let’s talk about Alice Neel.
Alice Neel was born on January 28, 1900 in Merion Square, Pennsylvania to George Washington Neel, an accountant, and Alice Hartley Neel. She was the fourth of five children. Soon after her birth, the family moved to the small rural town of Colwyn, Pennsylvania, where Alice spent most of her early life living a typical lower-middle-class existence.
Though Alice’s family had limited expectations for her education and any future career, she was determined to become an artist from a young age. After graduating from high school in 1918, she moved to Philadelphia where she found a well-paying clerical job and started taking art classes at night. After three years of working and saving up money, she enrolled in the fine art program at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women in 1921. She excelled in the program. Her work embraced realism, rather than impressionism, which was the prevailing artistic movement at the time.
After graduating in 1925, Alice married Carlos Enriquez, a wealthy Cuban artist who she had met at summer school. They moved to Havana, where they quickly became celebrated members of the Cuban art scene and had at least one major exhibition together. At this point in her career, Alice was mostly painting portraits of friends, family, people she met on the street, and other artists in the community.
In 1926, Alice gave birth to her first child, Santillana, but just before the child’s first birthday she died of diphtheria. This deeply traumatic experience had a major impact on Alice’s work, which soon began to revolve around themes of motherhood, grief, loss, and anxiety- themes that would carry throughout the rest of her career.
In 1927, Alice and Carlos moved to New York City, and the following year their second child, Isabetta, was born. Three years later, Carlos returned to Cuba with Isabetta in tow. Abandoning Alice. As a result of this loss, Alice suffered a major nervous breakdown, attempted suicide, and was hospitalized for nearly a year.
Still, Alice reflected on this period in her life as one of her most productive artistically. In the summer of 1930, she began painting female nudes. Female nudes historically represented women’s bodies through the male gaze, often in vulnerable and passive poses, but Alice was determined to free the female body from this gaze and to give it authentic identity and representation. Though her nude portraits were not necessarily totally realistic depictions, they captured an emotional and psychological realism that was utterly arresting.
In 1933, Alice took a job as an artist in the Public Works of Art Project and was later hired onto the Federal Art Project. In this role, she mostly painted Depression-era street scenes, and American Communist leaders. These jobs provided Alice with some newfound recognition in the art world and allowed her to surround herself with a community of like-minded artists and intellectuals.
In 1941, Alice gave birth to a son, Hartley, whose father was communist activist Sam Brody. When Alice’s time with the Works Progress Administration came to an end in 1943, she was left without a means to support her young family. She turned to shoplifting, and eventually welfare, to stay afloat.
Starting in the mid-1960s, Alice began painting a series of groundbreaking female nudes of pregnant women. Inspired by her many pregnant friends, she wanted to show the physical and emotional truths of pregnancy. When later asked why she chose to paint pregnant women, Alice stated,
“It's a very important part of life and it was neglected. I feel as a subject it's perfectly legitimate, and people out of a false modesty, or being sissies, never show it, but it is a basic fact of life. Also, plastically, it is very exciting ... I think its part of the human experience. Something that primitives did, but modern painters have shied away from because women were always done as sexual objects. A pregnant woman has a claim staked out; she is not for sale.”
With the growth of the women’s movement in the 1960s, new and intensified interest in Alice’s work grew. By the 1970s, Alice was a bona fide celebrity. She was even presented with an award for artistic achievement by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
One of Alice’s very last paintings was a nude self-portrait she did at 80 years old. She depicted herself sitting in a chair in a studio with her paintbrush in hand, not idealized but fully realistic and unabashedly honest.
Alice died in New York City on October 13, 1984 of colon cancer. She was 84 years old.
All month, we’re honoring incredible, artistic visionaries.
For more information and pictures of some of the work we’re talking about, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. And another special thanks to Alesandra Tejeda who curated this month’s theme.
As always, we’ll be taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday!