Alice Neel

Alice Neel was an American painter, born on January 28, 1900.
She mainly painted portraits (of artists, poets, political personalities, lovers, neighbours and strangers), but she also painted landscapes and still lifes.
She had a highly distinctive style, and her paintings are notable for their emotional intensity, her style reminds me a bit of Egon Schiele's.
She became a painter with strong social conscience, and equally strong left-wing beliefs.
Neel's fame was at its height at the time of her death in 1984.



Alice Neel - Loneliness 1970

 

Alice Neel - Andy Warhol 1970

Alice Neel - Robert Smithson 1962

Alice Neel - Hartley 1965

Alice Neel - Nancy Selvage 1967

Alice Neel - Anthony Barton 1968

Alice Neel - Ginny in Striped Shirt 1969

from 'Down and Out in Paris and London' by George Orwell :

'And there is another feeling that is a great consolation in poverty. I believe everyone who has been hard up has experienced it. It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs -- and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off alot of anxiety.'

an extract from chapter III