Nancy and the Rubber Plant

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Nancy and the Rubber Plant

Artist Alice Neel (American, 1900 - 1984)

Date1975

DimensionsPainting: 80 × 36 in. (203.2 × 91.4 cm)
Frame: 83 1/4 × 39 1/8 × 2 1/2 in. (211.5 × 99.4 × 6.4 cm)

MediumOil on Canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2016.8

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 10

Label TextAlice 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.Published ReferencesNeel, Cindy , Alice Neel: The Woman and Her Work, Georgia, Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Georgia, 1975, repr. (col). p. 83.

Alice Neel, Indiana, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, 1979, repr. no. 24.

Alice Neel: A Retrospective, New Canaan, Connecticut, The Silvermine Guild of Artists, 1979, repr., no. 88.

Patricia Hills, Alice Neel, New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1983, repr. (col.) p. 155.

Temkin, Ann, ed., Alice Neel, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000, pp.32, 144, repr. (col.) no. 64.

Carolyn Carr, Alice Neel: Women, New York, Rizzoli, 2002, p. 14, fig, 17, repr. (col.) p. 15.

Alice Neel, Zurich, Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG, 2015, repr. (col) no. 14.

Exhibition HistoryAthens, Georgia Museum or Art, Alice Neel: The Woman and Her Work, September-October 1975.

Saratoga Springs, New York, New Art Center, Skidmore College, Alice Neel: Paintings, November 16-December 12, 1978.

Indiana, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Alice Neel,September 14-November 1, 1979.

University of Bridgeport, Connecticut; New Canaan, Connecticut, The Silvermine Guild of Artists; Wisconsin, Madison Art Center; Alice Neel: A Retrospective, February-April, 1979.

Boston University,Alice Neel: Paintings of Two Decades, October 9-November 2, 1980.

Baltimore, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Alice Neel '81: A Retrospective, 1926-1981, February 5-March 1, 1981.

Storrs, Connecticut, Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut at Storrs, Alice Neel , March 22-April 10, 1981.

Baltimore, C. Grimaldis Gallery,Alice Neel: Five Decades of Painting, September 29-October 30, 1983.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Alice Neel: Paintings Since 1970, January-March, 1985.

Birmingham, Michigan, Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Alice Neel: Paintings and Drawings, 1934-84, November 19, 1985-January 14, 1986.

Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art Museum, Kinships: Alice Neel Looks at the Family, March 12-June 16, 1996.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Andover, Massachusetts, Addison Gallery of American Art; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Minneapolis, Walker Art Center; Denver, Denver Museum of Art; Alice Neel, June 29, 2000-December 30, 2001.

New York, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Alice Neel’s Women, October 28, 2005– January 15, 2006.

Zurich, Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG, Alice Neel, , June 1-September 25, 2015.