Alice Neel facts for kids

Dana Gordon by Alice Neel, 1972

Alice Neel (January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984) was an American visual artist. She was famous for her unique portrait paintings. She painted her friends, family, poets, other artists, and even strangers. Her paintings used strong lines and colors. They showed deep feelings and captured the true spirit of the people she painted.

Alice Neel painted people in a realistic way. This was at a time when many artists preferred abstract art (art that doesn't show real objects). She only started to get a lot of praise for her work in the 1960s. Many people now call her "one of the greatest portrait artists of the 20th century."

Alice Neel's Life and Art Journey

Early Life and Artistic Beginnings

Alice Neel was born on January 28, 1900, in Merion Square, Pennsylvania. Her father, George Washington Neel, worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Her mother was Alice Concross Hartley Neel. When Alice was very young, her family moved to Colwyn, Pennsylvania. She was the fourth of five children. Her oldest brother, Hartley, sadly died when he was eight years old.

Alice grew up in a strict family. At that time, girls had limited choices for their future. Her mother once told her, "I don't know what you expect to do in the world, you're only a girl." But Alice wanted to be an artist from a young age. This was true even though she didn't see much art around her.

In 1918, after high school, she got a good job to help her parents. She took art classes at night in Philadelphia. In 1921, Alice enrolled in the fine art program. This was at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art & Design).

While studying, she did not like the popular style called Impressionism. Instead, she liked the Ashcan School of Realism. This style focused on everyday life. She won awards for her painting skills. Alice graduated in 1925. She often said she chose an all-girls school to focus on her art.

Time in Cuba and Early Family Life

In 1924, Alice met Carlos Enríquez, a Cuban painter. They married in 1925. Soon after, Neel moved to Havana, Cuba, to live with his family. In Havana, Alice met many young writers, artists, and musicians. This time helped her develop strong beliefs about equality. She later said she had her first art show in Havana.

In March 1927, Alice showed her art with her husband in an exhibition. Other artists from the Cuban Vanguardia Movement were also there. During this time, she lived in a large house with many helpers.

Alice's first daughter, Santillana, was born in Havana in December 1926. In 1927, Alice and Carlos moved back to New York. Sadly, Santillana died of diphtheria just before her first birthday. This sad event deeply affected Alice. It made her paint about themes like motherhood, loss, and worry for the rest of her career.

Soon after, Alice became pregnant again. Her second daughter, Isabella Lillian (called Isabetta), was born in New York in November 1928. Isabetta's birth inspired Alice's painting Well Baby Clinic.

Art During the Great Depression

During the Great Depression, Alice Neel worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This was a government program that helped artists. In 1933, she was offered $30 a week to paint. She had been living in poverty before this.

Through these government programs, her art became more known. She painted in a realistic style. Her subjects were often street scenes from the Depression era. She also painted Communist thinkers and leaders. These included people like Mother Bloor and the poet Kenneth Fearing.

Alice's friends were often artists, thinkers, and political leaders. Many of them were part of the Communist Party USA. She painted all of them. In the 1930s, Alice became well-known in her group of downtown intellectuals and Communist leaders. She was never an official member of the Communist Party. However, she always supported their ideas.

In the 1930s, Alice moved to East Harlem. She started painting her neighbors, especially women and children.

Post-War Years and Growing Recognition

Alice's second son, Hartley, was born in 1941. His father was Sam Brody. In the 1940s, Alice drew pictures for a Communist magazine called Masses & Mainstream. She kept painting portraits from her home.

However, in 1943, the WPA stopped working with her. This made it harder for Alice to support her two sons. She sometimes had to shoplift and relied on welfare to get by. Between 1940 and 1950, her art was rarely shown in galleries. She only had one solo show in 1944.

In the 1950s, her friendship with Mike Gold helped her get a show. This was at the Communist-inspired New Playwrights Theatre. In 1959, she even appeared in a film called Pull My Daisy. The next year, her work was shown in ARTnews magazine for the first time.

Her Self-Portrait and Final Years

Alice Neel painted Kate Millett in 1970. Kate Millett was a famous feminist leader. Alice used photos because Millett did not want to pose. Alice Neel's career got a new boost from the feminist art movement. Alice saw herself as a "collector of souls." She wanted to capture Millett's strong presence.

Alice painted her own self-portrait when she was 80 years old. She started it five years earlier but stopped for a while. Her son Richard encouraged her to finish it. She completed it in her early 80s. This was because she was asked to show it in an exhibition of self-portraits. Her self-portrait was very unusual and got a lot of attention.

This self-portrait was one of her last works. Alice Neel passed away on October 13, 1984. She died in her New York City apartment from colon cancer. Her family was with her.

Alice Neel's Achievements and Fame

By the late 1960s, more people became interested in Alice Neel's art. The women's movement helped bring her more attention. Alice became an important figure for feminists. In 1970, she was asked to paint the feminist activist Kate Millett for the cover of Time magazine. Millett did not pose for her, so the cover was based on a photograph.

Her image is also in a famous 1972 poster called Some Living American Women Artists.

By the mid-1970s, Alice Neel was a well-known and important American artist. She was elected to the American Academy and the Institute of Arts and Letters in 1976. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave her an award for her amazing achievements. Alice Neel was very famous when she died in 1984.

A documentary film about her life and work, called Alice Neel, came out in 2007. It was directed by her grandson, Andrew Neel.

Important Exhibitions of Alice Neel's Art

Alice Neel's art has been shown in many important exhibitions:

• In 1943, her portrait of Ethel Ashton was shown for the first time. It received strong criticism.
• In 1971, Moore College of Art held a solo show of her work.
• In 1974, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a large show of her art. They held another one in 2000 after she passed away.
• In 1980, her self-portrait was shown for the first time at the Harold Reed Gallery in New York.
• In 2001, the Philadelphia Museum of Art organized a show called "Alice Neel."
• In 2004, her first exhibition in Europe was held in London.
• In 2010, a major show called Alice Neel: Painted Truths traveled to Houston, London, and Sweden.
• In 2013, her watercolors and drawings were shown in Sweden.
• In 2016, a show called Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life traveled to several European cities.
• In March 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held a huge show of her work. It was called "Alice Neel: People Come First." It was the largest show of her art in New York in 20 years.
• In March 2022, the "Alice Neel: People Come First" show opened at the de Young Museum.
• In 2023, Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle, the largest show of her work in the UK, opened in London.

Where to See Alice Neel's Art (Collections)

Alice Neel's paintings are in many major museums around the world. Here are some of them:

• Art Institute of Chicago
• Blanton Museum of Art
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
• Honolulu Museum of Art
• Jewish Museum, New York
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Moderna Museet, Stockholm
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
• St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Missouri
• Tate Modern, London
• Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts
• Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

See Also

In Spanish: Alice Neel para niños

• The Portrait Now that exhibited her self-portrait
• Elizabeth Neel, her granddaughter and an artist in her own right