Alice Neel

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People Come First

Kelly Baum and Randall Griffey; With contributions by Meredith A. Brown, Julia Bryan-Wilson, and Susanna V. Temkin

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Positioning Alice Neel as a champion of civil rights, this book explores how her paintings convey her humanist politics and capture the humanity, strength, and vulnerability of her subjects

“One of the most ambitious and thorough collections of Neel’s work to date.”—Allison Schaller, Vanity Fair

“For me, people come first,” Alice Neel (1900–1984) declared in 1950. “I have tried to assert the dignity and eternal importance of the human being.” This ambitious publication surveys Neel’s nearly 70-year career through the lens of her radical humanism. Remarkable portraits of victims of the Great Depression, fellow residents of Spanish Harlem, leaders of political organizations, queer artists, visibly pregnant women, and members of New York’s global diaspora reveal that Neel viewed humanism as both a political and philosophical ideal. In addition to these paintings of famous and unknown sitters, the more than 100 works highlighted include Neel’s emotionally charged cityscapes and still lifes as well as the artist’s erotic pastels and watercolors. Essays tackle Neel’s portrayal of LGBTQ subjects; her unique aesthetic language, which merged abstraction and figuration; and her commitment to progressive politics, civil rights, feminism, and racial diversity. The authors also explore Neel’s highly personal preoccupations with death, illness, and motherhood while reasserting her place in the broader cultural history of the 20th century.

Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition Schedule:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(March 22–August 1, 2021)

Guggenheim, Bilbao
(September 17, 2021–January 30, 2022)

de Young Museum, San Francisco
(March 12–July 10, 2022)

Kelly Baum is Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curator of Contemporary Art, and Randall Griffey is curator of modern and contemporary art, both at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(March 22–August 1, 2021)

Guggenheim, Bilbao
(September 17, 2021–January 30, 2022)

de Young Museum, San Francisco
(March 12–July 10, 2022)

“The exhibition catalog transformed Neel scholarship—integrating recent evolutions in race, gender, queer, and class theory—with the more familiar Neel material. Far from lionizing her, or defending her as a product of her time, the essayists honestly assess her blindspots as a White, straight, progressive woman artist. It’s profitable reading and looking for any artist or thinker who aspires to become a better ally.”—Hyperallergic

“Neel always focused on the people in her paintings; the show was faithful to the spirit of her work in this way. But this book is valuable in that it brings the artist forward, too.”—Artnews

“One of the most ambitious and thorough collections of Neel’s work to date. In addition to offering a reminder of her best known works, the book gives a surprise taste of some of her lesser known cityscapes and still lifes.”—Allison Schaller, Vanity Fair

“Shedding new light and fresh perspective on Neel’s work, this catalogue brings renewed relevance to the artist’s oeuvre and will be appreciated by scholars and general readers alike.”—Library Journal

ISBN: 9781588397256
Publication Date: April 20, 2021
Publishing Partner: Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

256 pages, 8 x 11 1/2
201 color illus.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS