From Publishers Weekly
Instantly recognizable near-grotesques, Neel's portraits may not be quite flattering, but they are always revealing, of subjects and the psycho-cultural space they inhabit. Collected here by Carr, deputy director of the National Portrait Gallery, these 125 crisply reproduced color plates draw an intense power via their restriction to women and girls: one can feel the artist meditating on (and sometimes seething about) what it means to be a woman. A portrait of the artist Isabel Bishop shows her in a simple blue wool dress, looking wryly askance. "Isabetta" shows a naked, pre-pubescent girl standing and staring directly at the viewer, like a powerfully defetishized Balthus. The paintings are organized by subject ("Mother and Child," "Pose," "Children," "Nudes") rather than chronology, and it's a decision that works-Neel's deliberate looks come across clearly through repetition of gesture and posture. Anyone turned off by Neel (1900-1984), should take a second look via this book; fans looking for a concentrated dose of Neel at her best should look no further.Matisse-Picasso exhibit, opening in New York in February.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
"That [Alice Neel] was the finest portraitist of the twentieth-century seems beyond controversy."--James Gardener, New York Post "Sexually candid and socially inclusive, Alice Neel's paintings were often ahead of her time."--Raphael Rubinstein, Art in America "Preeminent as a portrait painter, Alice Neel is also notable as one of the most important women artists of her time."--Linda Chase, Naples Museum of Art


Book Description
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.



About the Author
Carolyn Carr is deputy director of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Alice Neel: Women is the first volume to collect the artist's paintings of her female sitters, among her most penetrating and accomplished works. Author Carolyn Carr analyzes Neel's five-decade exploration of the female form and psyche, deftly setting the works in their art-historical context. Examining the artist's life and oeuvre, Carr illustrates how Neel returned to the same themes throughout her career - the nude figure, a pregnant woman, mother and child - often coinciding with events in her personal life, but always bringing a new perspective to the type. Always honest - brutally at times - the portraits evoke the sitters in all their vulnerability, as Neel effortlessly captured their personalities on the canvas.

SYNOPSIS

Neel's frank and psychologically charged portraits of women from the beginning of her career in 1927 to the famous nude self- portrait of 1980 are presented in this handsome volume of full-page color plates (125 in all). Carr, an art historian who is deputy director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, provides an introduction to Neel's life, career, work, and its reception. There is a selected bibliography and list of collections, but no index. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Instantly recognizable near-grotesques, Neel's portraits may not be quite flattering, but they are always revealing, of subjects and the psycho-cultural space they inhabit. Collected here by Carr, deputy director of the National Portrait Gallery, these 125 crisply reproduced color plates draw an intense power via their restriction to women and girls: one can feel the artist meditating on (and sometimes seething about) what it means to be a woman. A portrait of the artist Isabel Bishop shows her in a simple blue wool dress, looking wryly askance. "Isabetta" shows a naked, pre-pubescent girl standing and staring directly at the viewer, like a powerfully defetishized Balthus. The paintings are organized by subject ("Mother and Child," "Pose," "Children," "Nudes") rather than chronology, and it's a decision that works-Neel's deliberate looks come across clearly through repetition of gesture and posture. Anyone turned off by Neel (1900-1984), should take a second look via this book; fans looking for a concentrated dose of Neel at her best should look no further. (Nov.) FYI: The re-release of Pierre Schneider's Matisse, generally considered to be the definitive study of the artist, is also due this month from Rizzoli. Out of print for 10 years, this grand book, with 880 pictures (230 in color) and a new preface, arrives in time for the blockbuster Matisse-Picasso exhibit, opening in New York in February. (Rizzoli, $100 752p ISBN 0-8478-0546-8) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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