Alice Neel's Women

This book presents a collection of powerful portraits of women by one of the twentieth century's most intriguing artists. Alice Neel is largely regarded as one of the most important women artists of this century. Her work combines the brutal honesty -- and lush brushwork -- of Lucian Freud with a nod towards the expressionist palette. She first came to prominence in the 1970s when critics recognized the extraordinary power of her portraits which captured, with brilliant color and incisive line, the psyche of her sitters. Alice Neel's Women is the first volume to collect her portraits of women, which are among her most penetrating and accomplished works. Nearly 140 color images reveal every aspect of her impressive oeuvre, from the dark and somber portraits of the 1930s and 1940s, which were inspired by social realism, to the brightened portraits of the 1960s and 1970s. Among her portraits are a host of artworld figures, such as eminent art historians Linda Nochlin and Ann Sutherland Harris as well as artists Faith Ringgold and Annie Sprinkle. Alice Neel's work is collected by major institutions throughout the country, including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The National Gallery of Art, and many more.