The Artist - Alice Neel

Paper Summary:

The paper analyzes the artist Alice Neel and her art, specifically discussing several of Neel's artworks, along with her style of painting. The paper comments that Alice Neel was one of the most prolific female artists in American history, as she painted almost continuously from the 1920s to the 1980s, when she died, and her works fill some of the most well-known and notable museums in the country. In addition, the paper notes that she conquered mental illness to continue painting, and is known for her modern, impressionistic art approaches to portraits most of all. The paper highlights that her portraits embody the themes of motherhood, loss, and apprehension, and these themes continued throughout her career. Examples of her work are included in the paper.

From the Paper:

"The 1940s and 50s continue this progression into more cartoonish art, with people who seem surreal and real at the same time. She also begins sketching with charcoal and pencils, something very different from the bright colors that are beginning to creep into some of her works. She paints other street scenes, landscapes, and even a still life or two, but her main body of work still consists of portraits of mostly everyday people. Another critic notes, "While many of her portraits were of people who were not quite ordinary, such as her leftist male literary friends and lovers in Greenwich Village, she did indeed paint the people in her community when she lived in Spanish Harlem."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cork, Richard. "Sitting for Sanity: Richard Cork on How Alice Neel Painted Her Way out of Mental Breakdown." New Statesman 21 June 2004: 41+.
• Editors. "Alice Neel Biography." Alice.Neel.com. 2008. 13 June 2008. <http://www.aliceneel.com/biograph.html>
• Nemser, Cindy. Art Talk: Conversations with 15 Women Artists. Revised ed. New York: Icon Editions, 1995.
• Platt, Susan. "Pictures of People: Alice Neel's American Portrait Gallery." Art Journal 58.2 (1999): 107+.

More papers on The Artist - Alice Neel:

• Analytical Essay # 5997 : "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"
• Book Review # 103059 : "The Triumph and Transformation of the Artist"
• Essay # 65789 : "Georgia O'Keeffe the Artist"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: