Alice Neel is one of the foremost American portraitists of the twentieth century. Painting from life and memory, Neel captured the vitality and individuality of writers, poets, artists, activists, family, and friends. Neel was born in Merion Square, Pennsylvania, and attended the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design) from 1921-1925. Upon graduating, Neel married Cuban artist Carlos Enriquez and the couple moved to New York City in 1927. During the 1930s, Neel worked for the Works Progress Administration, painting urban scenes and portraits of left wing writers and artists, and exhibiting her works sporadically in group and solo exhibitions. Neel earned greater recognition and critical success by the 1960s, when she began to exhibit her work more widely. In 1974, she had her first retrospective exhibition at The Whitney Museum of American Art, followed by many large scale exhibitions throughout the 1970s.
Neel is well known for her unique style of figure painting that drew inspiration from urban realism to German Expressionism. Even as figuration fell out of style in favor of Abstract Expressionism at midcentury, Neel remained committed to her style and practiced portraiture throughout her career. Whether painting her neighbors in Spanish Harlem, art-world celebrities, or her own family, her portraits are imbued with bold outlines, expressive brushwork and color, and vivid patterns.
Starting in the late 1960s until her death in 1984, Neel painted numerous portraits of prominent women in the art world. Figures included art historians Linda Nochlin, Ann Sutherland Harris, Mary Garrard, and Ellen Johnson; artists Isabel Bishop, Faith Ringgold, Sari Dienes, June Blum, Irene Peslikis, and Marisol Escobar; art editor Susan Rossen; and curators Dianne Vanderlip and Catherine Jordan. The present work, Lilly Brody, falls within this important phase of Neel’s career. Brody (1905-1986) was an independently wealthy Hungarian-born artist. She studied in Paris before moving to New York around 1955 when she joined the Hansa Gallery, a downtown artist cooperative founded by a group of young artists from the Hans Hofmann School. The Hansa Gallery helped establish the growing Tenth Street art scene in the East Village. Brody notably provided financial support for fellow artists and galleries, including Richard Bellamy’s influential Green Gallery.
Brody had an eccentric personal style that Neel captured with vitality. Wearing an austere black dress, broad brimmed hat and glasses, Brody sits at the edge of a striped armchair. Her stark attire juxtaposes the patterned blue and white chair and the delicate jewel tones of the background. Brody sits comfortably with her feet squarely planted on the ground and her tendril-like fingers draped over the arms of the chair. Her face contorts as she appears to be mid-sentence, perhaps striking a casual conversation with Neel as she paints her subject. Neel’s composition is reminiscent of Henri Matisse’s Fauvist works with the expressive colors and bold, thick outlines.
Neel’s portraits from the last decades of her life established her reputation as an important American artist. She was regarded not only as a major figure in the art world, but an icon of the feminist movement. Major exhibitions of her work have been shown at The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and most recently at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lilly Brody, 1977
Oil on canvas
58″ x 30″
Signed and dated lower right
Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Ginny Williams, acquired from the above in July 1991
Sold, Sotheby’s, New York, June 29, 2o2o, lot 18 for $1,050,000
Private Collection, Michigan, acquired from the above sale