Alice Neel, (1900-1984) was an Expressionist and is thought by many to be one of the greatest American portraitists of the 20th century even as she faced the discrimination of her time. Her mother is even quoted as saying, “I don’t know what you expect to do in the world, you’re only a girl.”

Alice Neel grew up to become a prominent and significant artist. She painted people as they were moving beyond the staid, perfectionism of earlier portraits to paint raw reality. Her compositions nearly speak, silently prompting our own paragraphs on diversity, resilience and passion; on pain and the hardness of circumstance etched somewhere on most human faces. Alice was no stranger to personal tragedy and seemed to pour out compassion on those she painted through color, line and learned awareness.

Geoffrey Hendricks and Brian once gave Alice Neel a ride home from a gathering. They had coffee and talked late into the night. The next morning Neel’s assistant asked these two artists to come back to her apartment in the same clothes they had worn the night before so that Neel might paint them from the connection of those hours. Her paintings were often based on such connections made or imagined.

Alice Neel believed people come first. Her work was displayed at the Met under just that title, March – August, 2021. In her long career, she painted with activism, energy, beauty and truth. To her mother we would say, “She did much in the world and many were blessed by your girl.” We give God thanks for her spirit, her perspective and the mirrors she held up for all of us through her art.