biography of Alice NEEL (1900-1984)

Birth place: Merion Square, PA

Death place: NYC?

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Painter

Studied: Phila. Sch. Des. for Women, 1921-25, with Paula Himmelsbach Balano; Moore Col. Art, 1971 (honorary Ph.D.)

Exhibited: Havana Cuba, 1926 (about 12 works, depicting Cuban beggers and poor Cuban mothers with children); Graham Gal., NYC, frequently from 1963; Moore Col. A., 1971 (retrospective); WMAA, 1972, 1974 (retrospective); Georgia Mus. Art, 1975 (retrospective). Awards: Longview Foundation Award, 1962; Am. Acad. Arts & Letters Award, 1969; Benjamin Altman Figure Prize, NAD, 1971; National Women's Caucus for Art award.

Member: AEA; NAWA (hon. vice-pres.)

Work: MoMA; WMAA; Robert Mayer Coll., Winnetka, IL; Dillard Inst., New Orleans, LA; Graham Gal., New York.

Comments: One of the most important portrait painters of the 20th-century. Her bold, incisive portrait style, combining aspects of expressionism and realism, kept her out of the mainstream for many years. It was not until the 1960s that she received critical notice (when she was awarded the 1962 Longview Foundation Award for work shown at an exhibition for artists excluded from MOMA's 1962 show, Recent Painting, U.S.A.: The Figure"). Besides her portraiture, Neel's body of work also includes figurative works responsive to social issues. Also an outspoken leader of women artists. Positions: easel painter, Fed. Works Agency, 1935-42. Teaching: lecturer painting seminar, Univ. Pennsylvania Graduate School, 1971-72; lecturer, Skowhegan School Painting & Sculpture, summer 1972.

Sources: WW73; H. Crehan, "Introducing the Portraits of Alice Neel," (Oct, 1962); Ted Berrigan, "Double Portraits" (Jan, 1966), Art News; Jack Kroll, "Curator of Souls," Newsweek (Jan 31, 1966); New York City WPA Art, 66 (w/repros.); Rubinstein, American Women Artists, 383-85; Pisano, One Hundred Years...the National Association of Women Artists, 73;†Baigell, Dictionary.