Nancy and the Rubber Plant
Artist: Alice Neel (American, 1900 - 1984)
Date: 1975
Dimensions:
79 7/8 x 36 in. (203 x 91.3 x 2.8 cm)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 2016.8
Label Text:Alice Neel’s portraits of friends, family, and acquaintances simultaneously capture physical likeness and insight into the psychology of the sitters. She provocatively referred to herself as “a collector of souls.” Nancy and the Rubber Plant features Neel’s daughter-in-law and studio assistant, a frequent subject for the artist. In a composition of bright colors and simplified forms, Neel’s signature thin blue contour line traces the edges of the figure, the chair, and the rubber plant that fills the top half of the canvas. Peeking out from behind the large leaves is the sour countenance of a portrait-within-a-portrait. The almost cartoonish figure has her hand to her face mirroring Nancy’s pose. She represents Audrey McMahon, Neel’s former supervisor when she worked for the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and ’40s. It is taken from a satirical portrait of McMahon—who fired Neel twice—that Neel painted in 1940.
Neel’s work was not widely known until late in her career, when the feminist movement of the 1960s and ’70s helped spark renewed interest in her art. Having struggled in near poverty for most of her career, she finally found recognition and acclaim in the last decades of her life.
Neel’s work was not widely known until late in her career, when the feminist movement of the 1960s and ’70s helped spark renewed interest in her art. Having struggled in near poverty for most of her career, she finally found recognition and acclaim in the last decades of her life.
On view
In Collection(s)