Women Artist and Their Art Sarah Olivo

Her life:  1900, born January 28 th, Merion Square, PA  , Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art)  , lived in Havana, Cuba with husband Carlos Enriquez  Had her first show in Cuba  Had 4 children, first died, second was taken by her first husband, and raised 2 sons, one a film maker who created a film about her; Alice Neel, a film by Andrew Neel  1935, jointed WPA/Federal Art Project, Easel Division  1984, died October 13, 1984

Important influence: Alice Neel Nancy and Olivia 1967 Oil on canvas 39 x 36 in (99.1 x 91.4 cm) Private collection, California

Neel’s technique:  Neel zooms in on a person's physical imperfections: the wrinkles of a forehead, the double chin, the big ears. Hands are especially the focus of Neel's characterizations, establishing rhyming connections between figures and revealing emotions or traits that the face might not.

 Quote by Ann Temkin in 1962  "At this time Neel also became visible in her paintings through a newly energized pictorial style. The paintings from this period of reawakening are physically thrilling to look at. Neel poured into them her own agitation, her own excitement at a turning point. The lines are fluid and lively, swooping, drooping, darting, and curling across the canvas. Neel never had liked to use flesh colored paint and had freely described figures and backgrounds with vivid hues. Colors were now mixed in newly intense combinations, at the same time as raw patches of pinks, purples, mustards, and grays defined areas of faces and hands. The palette of Robert Smithson, painted in 1962 when the subject was still a young painter, is exceptionally beautiful, juxtaposing the dark purply tones of his suit with the pinks and reds of his damaged skin. Long, messy brushstrokes crowd the surface of Neel's canvases, conspicuously representing the work of the artist's arm, and by extension herself, in the painting. Her paintings became physically larger, growing about fifty percent to a median size of three by two feet. Neel's signature remained as it had always been, inscribed at a diagonal and underlined in a lower corner of the canvas, but now it was painted in big, bold letters that became an active part of the composition.”

Alice Neel After the Death of the Child 1927/28 Watercolor on paper 11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in (29.8 x 22.2 cm) Private collection, New York

Alice Neel The Pregnant Woman 1971 oil on canvas 40 x 60 in. " It's treating woman as sex object. But you know, sex results in something."

Alice Neel Andy Warhol 1970 Oil on canvas 60 x 40 in (152.4 x cm) Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Alice Neel Hartley 1965 Oil on canvas 50 x 36 in (127 x 91.4 cm) National Gallery of Art, Washington

Alice Neel Self-Portrait 1980 Oil on canvas 54 x 40 in (137.2 x cm) National Portrait Gallery, Washington

Public collections:  Apostolic Delegation, Embassy Row, Washington, DC  Art Institute of Chicago, IL  Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD  Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art Gallery, University of Texas  Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY  Brown University, Providence, RI  Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH  Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, CA  The Museum of Modern Art, NY  Many others are listed at

Internet sources:  ml ml  pdf pdf  ages/alice_neel.htm ages/alice_neel.htm  Neel.htm Neel.htm  neel/review/ neel/review/287462