WORK OF THE WEEK: Alice Neel, Self Portrait,1980

‘LIFE BEGINS AT SEVENTY!’(Alice Neel)

Alice Neel, Self Portrait,1980,Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery,Washington D.C.

The American artist Alice Neel (1900-1984) was 80 when she finished her first painted self-portrait-one of only two she made. Neel stuck to portraiture at a time when Abstract Expressionism was all the rage, often depicting marginalized figures, the poor, her black neighbours in Harlem,New York, or political activists;  not the traditional subjects of mid-20th century America. One critic observed that in making portraits, Neel ‘hurls shafts that hit the mark but do not sting’. Her portrayals are psychological, penetrating and compassionate. They can make you smile and bring tears to your eyes in equal measure. This work took five years to finish -her cheeks are flushed because she said ‘it was so damn hard!’ With characteristic honesty and empathy, she chose to depict herself unapologetically naked, perching  on her striped  chair, with definite echoes of Matisse and Picasso. She depicts herself  as artist AND sitter-pretty radical for a woman in her 80s…ferociously biting  the historical hand of the idealized female nude. Neel presents us with her aging body in all its glory! She stares defiantly at both herself (behind the easel) and at us-one eyebrow raised in a mischievous challenge to us for looking. It is a celebration of her courage for telling it as it is.