The eleven portraits in Men Only show a variety of attitudes, from the erotic to the ironic, in an exhibition that looks at Neel's particular relationship to her male subjects. Amongst the works included are Neel's third and final portrait of her friend the author Max White as well as two powerful portraits of her sons Hartley and Richard as young men. Born near Philadelphia in 1900, Alice Neel was the foremost American portraitist and one of the most engaging painters of her times.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with text by poet, fiction writer and art critic Sue Hubbard.
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Exhibition
Posted
September 2 2023
On view in Oslo – Alice Neel: Every Person is a New Universe
Organised in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Barbican Centre in London, this exhibition (on view 2 September–26 November 2023) brings together over 60 powerful paintings and drawings, thus constituting the first comprehensive presentation of Alice Neel’s art in Norway. Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway -
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Exhibition
Posted
June 22 2023
Alice Neel: Feels Like Home at Orange County Museum of Art
A curated selection of forty paintings, the exhibition (23 June 2023–7 January 2024) focuses on Neel’s honest, intimate paintings of her home, children, animals, and expanded family. Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, California -
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Exhibition
Posted
February 16 2023
Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle at the Barbican
Organised in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, Paris, this exhibition (16 February–21 May 2023) brings together more than 70 paintings shown alongside archival photography and film, bringing to life what Neel called ’the swirl of the era’. Barbican Art Gallery, London -
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Preview
Posted
February 6 2023
‘She created a space where people could reveal themselves’ – The Guardian previews Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle at the Barbican
‘With a chronological approach and fresh research… the show aims to underline who she painted, and why.’ Skye Sherwin, The Guardian -
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Feature
Posted
October 9 2022
‘The world finally caught up with Alice Neel’: the painter, remembered by her family, featured in The Telegraph
As new exhibitions open in London and Paris, Lucy Davies profiles the life and career of Alice Neel, featuring an interview with Hartley and Ginny Neel. Lucy Davies, The Telegraph -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 5 2022
Alice Neel: Un regard engagé at the Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou's major retrospective (5 October 2022–16 January 2023) highlights the political and social commitment of the painter. Centre Pompidou, Paris -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 11 2022
Alice Neel: People Come First at the de Young Museum, San Francisco
This ambitious survey (which takes place in San Francisco 12 March–10 July 2022) was previously on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2021, and the Guggenheim Bilbao (17 September 2021–6 February 2022). de Young Museum, San Francisco, California -
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News story
Posted
November 16 2021
Alice Neel: People Come First is named Apollo’s exhibition of the year
‘Encompassing seven decades of art-making, and giving space for lesser-known periodical work, ‘People Come First’ was capacious but never exhausting.Æ Apollo -
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Exhibition
Posted
September 17 2021
Alice Neel: People Come First at Guggenheim Bilbao
This ambitious survey, which was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2021, travels to the Guggenheim Bilbao (17 September 2021–6 February 2022). Guggenheim Bilbao -
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Review
Posted
April 19 2021
Read Hilton Als – Alice Neel’s Portraits of Difference in The New Yorker
'A commonplace observation about great portraitists is that they are always, in some way, painting themselves. Neel’s genius was to make us understand not just her interest in her subjects but why we are interested in one another.' Hilton Als, The New Yorker -
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Review
Posted
April 1 2021
‘It’s Time to Put Alice Neel in Her Rightful Place in the Pantheon’ – Roberta Smith reviews Alice Neel: People Come First
'Neel’s greatness lies in the different levels of realism she combines in her art. They include social and economic inequities; the body’s deterioration through time; and the complex interior lives of her subjects.' Roberta Smith, The New York Times -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 22 2021
Alice Neel: People Come First
This ambitious survey (on view 22 March–1 August 2021) positions Neel as one of the century’s most radical painters, a champion of social justice whose longstanding commitment to humanist principles inspired her life as well as her art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York -
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Profile
Posted
November 14 2019
Getty launches its Recording Artists: Radical Women podcast with an episode dedicated to Alice Neel
Artists Simone Leigh and Moyra Davey join host Helen Molesworth to discuss the life and work of Alice Neel in the first of a season of podcasts focusing on audio interviews with six women artists whose lives span the twentieth century. -
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Exhibition
Posted
November 9 2019
Soul of a Nation, featuring Alice Neel and Howardena Pindell, travels to the de Young Museum, San Francisco
Originating at Tate Modern, the exhibition (9 November 2019–15 March 2020) offers a survey of diverse artistic responses to the most seismic years of Black social activism, 1963 to 1983. The de Young Museum, San Francisco -
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Exhibition
Posted
August 16 2019
Now open at MFA Boston – Women Take the Floor, featuring Alice Neel
This reinstallation of the Level 3 galleries (on view 13 September 2019–3 May 2021) challenges the dominant history of American art by focusing on the overlooked and underrepresented work and stories of women artists. Museum of Fine Arts Boston -
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Exhibition
Posted
May 25 2018
Alice Neel in Animals & Us at Turner Contemporary
The exhibition (25 May–30 September 2018) explores artists’ reflections on the relationship between humans and other animals. Turner Contemporary, Margate -
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Exhibition
Posted
February 15 2018
The Ethics of Scrutiny, featuring Alice Neel, at the Irish Museum of Modern Art
Curated by artist Daphne Wright, this exhibition (15 February – 2 September 2018) examines the complex relationships between artist and sitter. IMMA, Dublin -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 13 2017
Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life at Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
Conceived by Jeremy Lewison, the exhibition (13 October 2017 – 14 January 2018) presents more than seventy paintings. Deichtorhallen, Hamburg -
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Preview
Posted
August 15 2017
Artinfo previews Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life, coming to Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
A slideshow of images from the forthcoming exhibition (13 October 2017 - 14 January 2018). Blouin Artinfo -
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Exhibition
Posted
August 9 2017
Works by Alice Neel and Chantal Joffe feature in ISelf Collection: The End of Love, at the Whitechapel Gallery
Contemporary portraiture – both real and imagined – and the relationship between self and other, or between artist, sitter and viewer, is further explored by nearly 30 international artists (30 August - 26 November 2017). Whitechapel Gallery, London -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 10 2017
Alice Neel’s portrait of artist Faith Ringgold is featured in Tate Modern’s exhibition Soul of a Nation
Completed in 1977, Neel's portrait of the artist Faith Ringgold is one of a number of portraits of prominent art world subjects painted while Neel lived on the Upper West Side. It features in Tate Modern's major exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (12 July - 22 October 2017). Tate Modern, London -
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Review
Posted
May 19 2017
Rachel Campbell-Johnston reviews Alice Neel, Uptown in The Times
"Neel notices everything… Nonetheless, it remains saliently the inner person who speaks." Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times -
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Picture story
Posted
May 19 2017
Alice Neel, Uptown featured in AnOther
"As a new exhibition opening at Victoria Miro gallery demonstrates, her portraits have never been more relevant." Alexandra Alexa, AnOther -
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Preview
Posted
May 17 2017
Hettie Judah writes about Alice Neel, Uptown in inews
"As 'Uptown' shows… her true interest lay with those that touched on her day-to-day: earnest kids, mixed-race couples, sari-wearing Madonnas, Iranians fleeing the revolution, handsome young men in Jheri curls." Hettie Judah, inews -
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Preview
Posted
May 12 2017
Anatomy of an Artwork: Alice Neel's Benjamin featured in the Guardian
"Like her subjects, Neel had a survival story." Skye Sherwin, The Guardian -
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Interview
Posted
April 30 2017
The Observer interviews Hilton Als, curator of the forthcoming exhibition Alice Neel, Uptown
'I just felt the top of my head blowing off. These were people that I recognised…' In this interview with Tim Adams, Als discusses the importance of Neel's Harlem portraits. Tim Adams, The Observer -
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Picture story
Posted
April 29 2017
The People of Harlem, as Painted by Alice Neel, in The Observer
See a gallery of images and read extracts from Hilton Als' texts on individual sitters. The Observer -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 1 2017
Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life at Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles
Conceived by Jeremy Lewison, the exhibition (4 March - 17 September 2017) presents more than seventy paintings. Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, France -
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Exhibition
Posted
February 25 2017
Alice Neel featured in the Royal Academy's America after the Fall: Painting in the 1930s
Neel's portrait of union organiser Pat Whalen is among iconic works in this once-in-a-generation show (25 February - 4 June 2017). Royal Academy of Arts, London -
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Exhibition
Posted
October 23 2016
Alice Neel: Collector of Souls at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
This first ever Dutch exhibition (5 November 2016 - 12 February 2017) of Alice Neel’s impressively intimate works will include around seventy of her works. Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Netherlands -
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Review
Posted
October 6 2016
Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life publication reviewed in The New York Review of Books
This exhilarating compendium of Neel’s oeuvre is remarkably cohesive, in spite of the diversity of Neel’s images and subjects, and of the essays included. Claire Messud, The New York Review of Books -
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Exhibition
Posted
September 20 2016
Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney's Collection featuring works by Alice Neel and Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Works by Alice Neel and Njideka Akunyili Crosby (pictured) are featured in this exhibition (until 12 February 2017) showing changing approaches to portraiture. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 29 2016
Alice Neel: The Subject and Me at Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
The artist's first solo exhibition in Scotland (Until 8 October 2016) tells the story of the turbulent events that shaped Alice Neel’s life, through a retrospective of drawings and selection of late paintings. Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh -
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Exhibition
Posted
June 10 2016
Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life at Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki
A retrospective (until 2 October 2016) of the American artist whose psychologically charged portraits tell intimate and unconventional stories, as much about people living on the margins of society and in subcultures as about the New York cultural elite and her own family. Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki -
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Exhibition
Posted
June 10 2016
Alice Neel: A Retrospective
Alice Neel - A Retrospective, arranged and led by Ateneum Art Museum, is a major presentation of over 70 works, curated by Jeremy Lewison. Ateneum Museum, Helsinki -
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Gallery Exhibition
14 October - 19 December 2014
Alice Neel: My Animals and Other Family
The first solo exhibition of the artist's work at the Mayfair gallery. One of the foremost and most engaging twentieth century American portraitists, Neel produced a body of work that... Victoria Miro Mayfair -
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Channel
September 4 2014
Alice Neel
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Publications
June 8 2011
Alice Neel: Men Only
Published on the occasion of the exhibition: Alice Neel, Men Only 8 June - 29 July 2011 Gallery II, Victoria Miro, 16 Wharf Road, London, N1 7RW Victoria miro, 2011Alice Neel: Men OnlyNot currently available -
Gallery Exhibition
18 April - 14 May 2009
Alice Neel: Works on Paper
Victoria Miro is pleased to present the first exhibition of works on paper in the UK by the acclaimed figurative painter Alice Neel (1900-1984). Renowned for her portraits of friends,... Victoria Miro Gallery I -
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Gallery Exhibition
23 May - 21 July 2007
Alice Neel: The Cycle of Life
Alice Neel (1900 - 1984) was the foremost American portraitist and one of the most engaging painters of her times. Her exhibition includes paintings from the 1940s to the 1980s... Victoria Miro Gallery I -
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Gallery Exhibition
1 June - 31 July 2004
Alice Neel: A Chronicle of New York 1950 - 1976
Intimate, casual, direct and personal, Alice Neel's portraits are a chronicle of New York types. From her foundations as an artist of social commitment engaged in the government-sponsored Public Works... Victoria Miro Gallery II
