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Alice!
Alice Neel is definitely one of my favorite painters. Not because I want to paint in her style, but because her work fascinates me.
A few years ago I had only a vague impression of her work. I'm not much of a TV-watcher so it was uncharacteristic of me to actully sit down in front of the TV while a documentary of Alice Neel was on. Before I knew it, I was totally absorbed in the story and the images. Sometimes it takes a little extra something to trigger an interest in something I ordinarily would have passed by without much notice. Around that time there was a show of Neel's work at the Philadelphia Art Museum. I went to the show and saw the work in person. Let me tell you, those portraits had so much presence. I couldn't help but react to the direct and personal presence of these people on canvas.
Earlier this year there was a much smaller show of her work at the Locks Gallery in Philadelphia, and I went with an artist friend. I wasn't expecting to be as knocked out by her work the second time, but I was!
It's hard to put into words what I love about her work. First of all, the people just jump out at you. There's an emotional engagement with not only their faces but their whole body posture and shape. The characterization is so memorable I think I would recognize them if I saw them in person. So this must be realism, right? But certainly not traditional realism. Much more expressionistic and personal, but realism nonetheless.
The other thing that is striking about Neel's work is the vibrant color and the brillliance and inventiveness with which she arranges the compositional elements. It seems intuitive, and probably is, but she is brilliant at these things. I never saw the same pose, or variation of it, used twice. It was obvious that she treated each painting as a new, exciting challenge, using the person and surroundings as her inspiration.
Every time I see an Alice Neel painting I get a visceral urge to create something amazing!
Alex
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