I've decided to choose Alice Neel as the debut entry subject for Paintings, Flowers and Furniture because her work is SO good and she's one of my favorite artists too. The first time I saw her work was somewhere around Pinterest and I remember how moved I was. Seeing her work made me want to start painting portraits despite the fact I've never been particularly interested in that area. To me, portrait painting leaves very little room for error. You need to have a fine understanding of how one area of a persons face, composure and body relates to the other to create a harmonious flow that has the same weight and logic as the laws of physics or maths. On top of that, you need to capture that very illusive part of them which I like to call their 'vibe'.
Alice Neel lived the kind of lifestyle that now remains a lost relic of the 60's and 70's. A lifestyle of languid, gypsy nomadicness carried by wind and whimsy. There were a lot of lovers, a lot of travel, a lot of drama and if I might add, a lot of children too. There were stays in mansions with a wealthy cuban artist ( he fathered two of her children ), a failed suicide attempt, a stint in a Mental Institution and a volatile, opium using partner who slashed her paintings in a jealous rage.
She lead the kind of lifestyle where her heart was very much in charge. There was no foresight, only forward onward going. This was the impression imparted when I watched the documentary made about her by her grandson, Andrew Neel. When it came to her work, she was a woman who plunged herself deeply into her subjects. She wanted there to be no barrier, no film and no guard between her and them. She wanted the full package, complete and un-abridged.
" Like Chekhov, I am a collector of souls... if I hadn't been an artist, I could have been a psychiatrist."
Like most artists, she was never rich during her career and only began to see the pin dot dawn of fame towards the latter end of her life. But where fame was lacking, she held a bounty of richness in artistic growth, insight and emotional acumen. She was like a living nerve, exposed without protection from the elements. That's what I like about her, she was intense as a person and as an artist. And she didn't shy away from the intensity. She lived for it.
"She'd say very belligerent things, and people yelled at her." - Alex Katz |
“I don’t care for bohemian culture. Innocent people are hurt by it.” - Richard Neel |
" The place where I had freedom most was when I painted. I was completely and utterly myself. " - Alice Neel |
“She could hold an image in her head for something like 16 hours.” - Hartley Neel |
Hartley Neel in Alice's apartment much of which has been left as is when she passed away |
The documentary gave a more intimate glimpse inside her life told by members of her family ( the documentary was made by her grandson ) as well as members of her inner circle. It reiterated to me the plight of female artists as well the lives of the women of which I admire and identify with. Lives like Alice's are almost soul destroying when they are being lived out. But they offer so much for people like us as a way of understanding what ordains great art and the ordeals which most artists themselves go through in order to make their canon's possible.
" It's a privilege, you know, to paint and it takes up a lot of time and it means there's a lot of things you don't do. But still, with me, painting was more than a profession, it was also an obsession. I had to paint. "
Alice's art for me isn't just something of an Aesthetic thing, even though it very much is that. She painted lives so well because she knew what it meant to have one and to live one. She understood the innermost complexities of being alive and she captured other peoples well because of this. And how can we really be surprised when her life was so chaotic? So emotional? So frenzied in its anguish as well as its joys? Portraiture is about being able to fix the soul of the subject onto the canvas. Alice hasn't only managed to do that for herself, but to help fix the souls of others through her talent but also through understanding her own life.
From Top to Bottom :
Martha Mitchell, 1970, Oil On Canvas, 76.2 x 55.8cm ( 30 x 22in. )
Nancy, 1966, Oil On Canvas, 127 x 102cm ( 50 x 40.2in. )
The Family, 1982, Lithograph on Paper, 80 x 68.6cm ( 31.5 x 27in. )
Portrait of Hartley Stockton Neel, 1981, Lithograph in colours on wove paper,
72.4 x 55.9cm ( 28.5 x 22 in. )
David Bourdon & Gregory Battcock, 1970, Oil On Canvas, 151.8 x 142.2cm, ( 59 4/5 x 56in. )
Men From Rutgers, 1980, Colour Lithograph, 72.7 x 56.4cm ( 28.6 x 22.2in. )
Portrait of Girl in Blue Chair, 1970, Colour Lithograph, 53 x 68.58cm, ( 27 x 21 in. )
Mary Shoemaker, 1965, Oil on Canvas, 98.8 x 66cm ( 38.9 x 26 in. )
Abdul Rahman, 1964, Oil On Canvas, 50.8 x 40.6 cm ( 20 x 16in. )
The Family : John Gruen, Jane Wilson & Julia, Oil on Canvas, 153 x 147.3cm, ( 60 1/4 x 58in. )
Ethel Ashton, Oil on Canvas, 61 x 55.9cm, ( 24 x 22in. )
Benny & Mary Ellen Andrews, Oil On Canvas, 152.2 x 127cm ( 60 x 50 in. )
https://www.aliceneelfilm.com/
Benny & Mary Ellen Andrews, Oil On Canvas, 152.2 x 127cm ( 60 x 50 in. )
https://www.aliceneelfilm.com/
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