Quote of the week: Alice Neel on painting her first nude self-portrait at 80
At the age of 80 in 1980, Alice Neel painted her first self-portrait. According to the blurb at the new Barbican exhibition, the painting (above) took her five years to complete – and her cheeks are flushed because ‘ it was so damned hard.’ Of the self-portrait the artist said, ‘ All my life I wanted to do a nude self-portrait but I put it off until now – when people would accuse me of insanity rather than vanity.’
With her figurative portraits of fellow New Yorkers, often those marginalised by society, from her Black and Puerto Rican neighbours in Harlem to civil rights activists, poets, artists and queer performers; Neel (1900-1984) captured the zeitgeist. Her distinctive artwork ‘ just told it like it was’. How brilliant that she persevered with the self-portrait for half a decade to show the world what an ageing body looks like.
Describing herself as a collector of souls, the late feminist artist captured clothes really well, too. The Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle exhibition is on until Sunday 23 May, 2023. And while you’re in the area, the Whitechapel Gallery’s Action, Gesture, Paint is well worth a look. This is a global take on women abstract expressionist painters from the 20th century; including lots of names I was unfamiliar with but all as equally talented as their much-lauded male contemporaries.
There’s a review of both exhibitions by Laura Cummings in the Observer HERE. More on how we feel about our ageing bodies HERE.
Discussion (8 Comments)
Ann Elder says:
OMG it could be me! Same age and shape now.
I do a lot of life drawing but never of myself and on seeing this lovely painting I decided to give it a go. What a sight. I wish I hadn’t. Life drawing makes you really look hard and can be very revealing, Best to keep under cover of nice clothes.
But it did make me laugh!Cindy says:
Wonderful self portrait of Alice Neel. If I lived in the UK, I would visit the exhibitions mentioned in the article.
Fiona Riley says:
Thank you for bringing this to my attention – I have just booked to go and see her exhibition.
Petra says:
Thank you for making me aware. I already ordered 2 books from my local library. I am looking forward to explore more about Alice Neel. Greetings from New York.
Mrs Tonia says:
I did read the reviews by Laura Cummings in the Observer for these exhibitions which I have yet to visit.
Katy Hessel author of The Story of Art is a great advocate and enthusiast for the work of Alice Neel. She may have written a dissertation on her paintings and oeuvre. She does feature her in the Great Women Artists series.
Thanks for the heads up here.bev says:
If this beautiful painting is not a ‘shout out’ for the beauty of an ageing body then I don’t know what is! Female bodies have unpredictable and fluctuating hormones, give birth and do so many wonderful things so to see such a lovely painting of a lady in the winter of her life makes me exceedingly happy. On that note, I am totally up for a post on what is considered jolie laide as I, personally, find the quirky and (perceived) not attractive very beautiful.
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It was lovely to see this pop into my inbox this morning. I had just caught sight of 58 year old self in the mirror and was missing my thirty year old body. The painting made me smile and love the attitude of Alice Neel. I had never heard of her but will certainly be checking out more of her work.