Alice NeelThe Youth (John Cheim), Alice Neel1982
1982
About the Item
- Creator:Alice Neel (1900-1984, American)
- Creation Year:1982
- Dimensions:Height: 38 in (96.52 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Fairfield, CT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1342113568422
Alice Neel
As one of the 20th century’s most influential American artists, Alice Neel was a champion of social justice, which served as a lifelong inspiration for her portraits and figurative paintings.
Born in 1900 in Merion Square, Pennsylvania, Neel grew up in a strict middle-class family that did not support her artistic ambitions. Undaunted, Neel enrolled in the fine arts program at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women — now the Moore College of Art and Design — where she trained with Ashcan School artist George Harding in 1921.
In 1924, Neel furthered her art studies for a period at the Chester Springs summer school of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There, she met her husband, Cuban artist Carlos Enríquez. After they married, they moved to Cuba and had a daughter. When they returned to the United States to live in New York, in 1927, their infant daughter died from diphtheria. By 1930, the couple’s marriage had disintegrated and Neel suffered another blow when Enríquez took their second child to live with him in Cuba. She experienced a nervous breakdown, and her trauma led to an enduring theme of loss, motherhood and anxiety in her paintings.
Living in Greenwich Village and then uptown, Neel endured additional difficult relationships but immersed herself in her work. She secured a job with the Works Progress Administration, painting urban scenes and portraits of left-wing writers, artists and trade unionists. In 1938, she moved to Spanish Harlem, where she painted stark and honest still-lifes and portraits of friends, family and neighbors. Neel continued to make representational work even as the art world in New York City became enveloped in trendy Abstract Expressionism.
In 1951, Neel had her first solo exhibition showing 17 paintings at the A.C.A. Gallery. That same year, New York’s New Playwrights Theater exhibited 24 of her works, where she was hailed “a pioneer of socialist-realism in American painting.”
In 1960, Neel moved to the Upper West Side and made portraits of public figures such as poet Frank O’Hara, Andy Warhol and artist Robert Smithson.
Neel exhibited widely throughout the U.S. during the 1970s and was championed by art critics and feminist activists. She was honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan. In 1980, her Self-Portrait was shown for the first time in the collection “Selected 20th Century American Self-Portraits” at the Harold Reed Gallery.
Neel’s legacy as a humanist lives on long after her death in 1984. In 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted a retrospective exhibition of her work.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of original Alice Neel paintings and prints.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Fairfield, CT
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- Cup 2 Picasso (Sparks 113; Field 168; ULAE 123), Jasper JohnsBy Jasper JohnsLocated in Fairfield, CTArtist: Jasper Johns (1930) Title: Cup 2 Picasso (Sparks 113; Field 168; ULAE 123) Year: 1973 Medium: Color lithograph on wove paper Edition: 1,500 Size: 14 x 10.5 inches Inscription: Signed & dated with the artist's plate-signed signature. Condition: Excellent Notes: This image, as well as a companion print Cups 4 Picasso, is based on Marcel Duchamp’s 1958 collage Self-Portrait in Profile. Printed by Bill Goldston and James V...Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Bacon, Pope Innocent XBy Francis BaconLocated in Fairfield, CTArtist: After Francis Bacon (1909-1992) Title: Pope Innocent X, exhibition poster Year: 1999 Medium: Offset Lithograph on premium paper Size: 31.5 x 19.5 inches Condition: Excellent ...Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Cleopatra (Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor), Al HirschfeldBy Albert Al HirschfeldLocated in Fairfield, CTArtist: Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) Title: Cleopatra (Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor) Year: 2000 Edition: 217/300, plus proofs. Medium: Lithograph on Japon paper Size: 23 x 24 inche...Category
Early 2000s Pop Art Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Le Legende (Marilyn Monroe), YvaralBy Yvaral (Jean-Pierre Vasarely)Located in Fairfield, CTArtist: Yvaral, Jean-Pierre Vasarely (1934-2002) Title: Le Legende (Marilyn Monroe) Year: 1990 Medium: Silkscreen on wove paper Edition: 12/100, plus proofs Size: 31 x 23.5 inches C...Category
1990s Op Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Angel More (Sheehan 96), Robert IndianaBy Robert IndianaLocated in Fairfield, CTArtist: Robert Indiana (1928-2018) Title: Angel More (Sheehan 96) Year: 1977 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches rag paper Edition: 35/150, plus proofs Size: 24 x 20 inches Condition: Good ...Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Gertrude Stein (Sheehan 97), Robert IndianaBy Robert IndianaLocated in Fairfield, CTArtist: Robert Indiana (1928-2018) Title: Gertrude Stein (Sheehan 97) Year: 1977 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches rag paper Edition: 57/150, plus proofs Size: 24 x 20 inches Condition: G...Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Les Acadiens, 1993, original lithograph by Jean Jansem, handsigned and numberedBy Jean JansemLocated in Carouge GE, GEJean Jansem (1920-2013) Les acadiens, 1993 Lithographie sur papier Arches, justifiée E/A 16/30 Signée en bas à droite 65,5 x 50 cm / 76 x 56 cm Bibliographie: CR Jansem, 2000, n°9...Category
Late 20th Century Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Lithograph Israeli Modernist Judaica, Kibbutz Boy, Bezalel ArtistBy Moshe GatLocated in Surfside, FLA signed and numbered lithograph print. Moshe Gat was born in Haifa in 1935. in 1952 he began his studies at the Bezalel School, in Jerusalem. In 1955 he returned to Haifa, where h...Category
Mid-20th Century Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Boy in Red Shirt original lithograph by Margaret Keane c 1980By Margaret KeaneLocated in Paonia, COBoy in Red Shirt is an original lithograph by Margaret Keane c. 1980. A young boy in a red shirt is seen in front of a three story building in a city on a blue sky day. An original color lithograph limited edition 72/100 and signed in pencil by the artist. In very good condition with artist's stamp in bottom left corner and a faint line from the figure's hand that goes 2 inches towards bottom margin. Can be seen in detail photo. Could have happened when printed. Margaret Keane born Peggy Doris Hawkins on September 15, 1927 in Nashville, Tennessee. When she was two her eardrum was permanently damaged during a mastoid operation. Unable to hear properly she learned to watch the eyes of the person talking to her to understand them. Keane started drawing as a child and at age 10 she took classes at the Watkins Institute in Nashville. Keane painted her first oil painting of two little girls one crying and one laughing when she was 10 years old and gave the drawing to her grandmother. She was well known at the local church for her sketches of angels...Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- San Francisco, Girl with Mission Dolores original lithograph by Margaret KeaneBy Margaret KeaneLocated in Paonia, COSan Francisco, Girl with Mission Dolores is an original lithograph by Margaret Keane c. 1980. A young girl in a head scarf is seen in front of the Mission Dolores in San Francisco, California on a blue sky day. An original color lithograph limited edition 72/100 and signed in pencil by the artist. In very good condition with artist's stamp in bottom left corner. Margaret Keane born Peggy Doris Hawkins on September 15, 1927 in Nashville, Tennessee. When she was two her eardrum was permanently damaged during a mastoid operation. Unable to hear properly she learned to watch the eyes of the person talking to her to understand them. Keane started drawing as a child and at age 10 she took classes at the Watkins Institute in Nashville. Keane painted her first oil painting of two little girls one crying and one laughing when she was 10 years old and gave the drawing to her grandmother. She was well known at the local church for her sketches of angels...Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Spello - La cour, 1977, original lithograph by Jean Jansem, signed and numberedBy Jean JansemLocated in Carouge GE, GEJean Jansem (1920-2013) Spello - La Cour, 1977 Lithographie sur papier Arches Signée en bas à droite et justifiée en bas à gauche 47 x 66 cm / 54 x 76 cm Bibliographie: Jansem Lit...Category
Late 20th Century Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Sophie aux bas rouges, 1993, original lithograph by Jean JansemBy Jean JansemLocated in Carouge GE, GEJean Jansem (1920-2013) Sophie aux bas rouges, 1993 Lithographie sur papier Arches, justifiée E/A Signée en bas à droite 66 x 50 cm / 76 x 56 cm Bibliographie: CR Jansem, 2000, n°...Category
Late 20th Century Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph