Alice Neel’s Legacy of Realism
Alice Neel, renowned for her unique style and known as a pioneering figure for women artists of the 20th century, started out as a Social Realist and definantly painted figurative work during the height of Abstract Expressionism. Now the subject of a major retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Neel focused on the least fashionable of realist genres - portraiture, which had long since been declared dead.
Since her death, the artist has continued to influence the contemporary art world - especially the work of figurative painters.
South African-born painter Marlene Dumas recently sat down with NY Times reporter Phoebe Hoban to discuss Neel’s legacy.
“The dark side is what makes [Neel’s paintings] so good… I can relate there, but it isn’t only the horror and darkness, because there is humor. It’s this mixture. That’s why I can relate also to her children and nakedness.”
Furthermore, like Neel, artist Elizabeth Peyton has painted portraits of the cultural elite, people in her immediate milieu, and those who are both. She feels deeply connected to Neel and says that Neel has inspired her own style and technique. In discussing her portrait of a friend, Jonathan Horowitz, Peyton says,
“I was most interested in people, and that seemed like the most important thing - humans, humanity… I feel pictures of people contain their time in an important way that communicates to other times.”
Peyton went on to say that she was impressed by Neel’s powerful ability “to connect with all kinds of people.”
“You could say she took on the whole thing of people, and all that encompasses, in a fearless way,” Peyton continues. “I love that she doesn’t try to ‘get it right,’ that the gesture or feeling is always more important in her work than an exact description of the sitter. This is especially true of Neel’s faces. They are really their own universe,created by her.”
