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Alice Neel: People Come First
Positioning Alice Neel as a champion of civil rights, this book explores how her paintings convey her humanist politics and capture the humanity, strength, and vulnerability of her subjects
“One of the most ambitious and thorough collections of Neel’s work to date.”—Allison Schaller, Vanity Fair
“For me, people come first,” Alice Neel (1900–1984) declared in 1950. “I have tried to assert the dignity and eternal importance of the human being.” This ambitious publication surveys Neel’s nearly 70-year career through the lens of her radical humanism. Remarkable portraits of victims of the Great Depression, fellow residents of Spanish Harlem, leaders of political organizations, queer artists, visibly pregnant women, and members of New York’s global diaspora reveal that Neel viewed humanism as both a political and philosophical ideal. In addition to these paintings of famous and unknown sitters, the more than 100 works highlighted include Neel’s emotionally charged cityscapes and still lifes as well as the artist’s erotic pastels and watercolors. Essays tackle Neel’s portrayal of LGBTQ subjects; her unique aesthetic language, which merged abstraction and figuration; and her commitment to progressive politics, civil rights, feminism, and racial diversity. The authors also explore Neel’s highly personal preoccupations with death, illness, and motherhood while reasserting her place in the broader cultural history of the 20th century.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(March 22–August 1, 2021)
Guggenheim, Bilbao
(September 17, 2021–January 30, 2022)
de Young Museum, San Francisco
(March 12–July 10, 2022)
“One of the most ambitious and thorough collections of Neel’s work to date.”—Allison Schaller, Vanity Fair
“For me, people come first,” Alice Neel (1900–1984) declared in 1950. “I have tried to assert the dignity and eternal importance of the human being.” This ambitious publication surveys Neel’s nearly 70-year career through the lens of her radical humanism. Remarkable portraits of victims of the Great Depression, fellow residents of Spanish Harlem, leaders of political organizations, queer artists, visibly pregnant women, and members of New York’s global diaspora reveal that Neel viewed humanism as both a political and philosophical ideal. In addition to these paintings of famous and unknown sitters, the more than 100 works highlighted include Neel’s emotionally charged cityscapes and still lifes as well as the artist’s erotic pastels and watercolors. Essays tackle Neel’s portrayal of LGBTQ subjects; her unique aesthetic language, which merged abstraction and figuration; and her commitment to progressive politics, civil rights, feminism, and racial diversity. The authors also explore Neel’s highly personal preoccupations with death, illness, and motherhood while reasserting her place in the broader cultural history of the 20th century.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(March 22–August 1, 2021)
Guggenheim, Bilbao
(September 17, 2021–January 30, 2022)
de Young Museum, San Francisco
(March 12–July 10, 2022)
256 pages, Hardcover
Published April 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 2, 2021
I wish I could go to The Met to see this show in person, especially after the dynamic reading experience this book gave me. Art book reading is THE WORST, but whether it’s bc the subject matter of Alice Neel, “the people (of color)’s princess” of painters, or the essays were just that great for whatever reason, this book was eminently readable and digestible. The color reproductions are all exceptional quality, and all the included pictorial examples made sense to the context of the text. (Is that really too much to ask out of art books? My god.)
November 13, 2021
I didn't know Alice Neel before being intrigued by the painting on cover of this book and picking it up. I am so glad to know her now. An often overlooked figure who was deeply involved in various radical movements-- labor, LGBTQ+ rights, feminism, and civil rights and anti-racist efforts. Not only was her life dedicated to social justice, but she was devoted to painting the everyday people around her neighborhood and in her activist circles. She did portraits of common people, pregnant women, people in her Puerto Rican neighborhood, friends, lovers, children. There is a lot of warmth and heart in her work and I was glad to see it connected to contemporary artist Jordan Casteel
February 2, 2024
Was lucky enough to see the exhibition at the deyoung museum San Francisco 2022. Another superb artist, and again a female, that didn’t receive the recognition they deserved until late in life but glad that they were able to be around for some of it.
July 30, 2021
I, too, wish I'd seen the Met exhibit...but this helped. I can imagine how much more vivid her paintings would be...striking artist.
October 3, 2021
Wonderful overview to Alice Neel and her art, a refreshing breath of humanity during the pandemic.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews