Alice Neel, Anselmo (1962), via Art Observed

Drawing on painter Alice Neel’s longtime residence in the northern reaches of Manhattan, David Zwirner is currently presenting a body of paintings by Alice Neel, curated by author and critic Hilton Als, and exploring Neel’s longtime practice in portraiture.  Encouraging an exploration of visual art history and politics, social commentary and painterly craft, the exhibition is a striking exploration of the artist’s work in all of its nuance and power.   (more…)

Alice Neel is profiled in the New York Review of Books this week, as a new volume of her work seeks to explore her engaging approach to portraiture, “a tension between the realistic and the expressive, or to put it another way, between the naturalistic and the distorted,” according to Jeremy Lewison, an independent curator and advisor to the Neel estate. (more…)

Alice Neel, Ned McCabe (1964), all images via Victoria Miro Gallery

The Victoria Miro Gallery has staged an intimate selection of portraits by Alice Neel, focusing on her work with male subjects. Titled “Men Only”, the show highlights Neel’s relationship with the different men who posed for her over the years. Some are close friends, others are blood relatives, some were strangers that caught her eye, but each portrait gives a glimpse into the personality of the sitter.

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Yutaka Sone Little Manhattan (2007-2009) at David Zwirner Gallery – All images by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Art Observed remains on site in Basel, Switzerland for Art 42 Basel 2011.  The following is our second of the photosets of the main fair.  Stay tuned for more coverage of the main fair before the end of the week as well as profiles of the satellite exhibitions and events.

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Artist Wim Delvoye before one of his sculptures at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin

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Alice Neel, Andy Warhol, 1970. Image via Whitechapel Gallery.

Currently on view at Whitechapel Gallery is “Painted Truths,” the first major European exhibition of work by American artist Alice Neel (1900-1984).  Featuring more than sixty paintings produced over the course of her artistic career, the show focuses upon the psychologically insightful and expressive portraits for which she is best known. Also included are a number of Neel’s cityscapes, in which the anonymity and exteriority of New York City are shown alongside the artist’s intimate depictions of its inhabitants.

Alice Neel, Ninth Avenue El, 1935. Image credited as above.

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Alice Neel, photographed by Sam Brody courtesy of Victoria Miro Gallery

“In The Company of Alice” is currently on view at Victoria Miro Gallery. This is a group exhibition of paintings honoring the life and work of Alice Neel. Each of the painters participating in the show drew inspiration from their admiration for Neel’s work. Some of the artists in the show often create portraits–but for others this is a new endeavor, and their very first portraits are being shown in this exhibition. “In the Company of Alice” coincides with a retrospective of Neel’s work at Whitechapel Gallery, opening on July 8^th. Studying Alice Neel’s work as a point of departure for modern and contemporary portraiture, “In the Company of Alice” aims to broaden the viewer’s perspective of figuration and portraiture. The exhibition also brings forth the importance of  these modes of practice in relation to contemporary art.

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Alice Neel, Richard, 1973, courtesy of Victoria Miro Gallery

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Brown Skin, Stanislava Kovalcikova, 2010; Green Face Bar, Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, 2000; Past Tense, Embah, 2010; Port of Spain, Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, 2000. Installation view, ‘Self-Consciousness,’ via VeneKlasen Werner.

‘Self-Consciousness’ at VeneKlasen Werner, Berlin, features the portraits of 41 international artists.  Curators Hiltons Als and Peter Doig selected pieces that represent the diversity and evolution of modern portraiture: artists come from several generations, use varying media, and range from established to outsider.  ‘Self-Consciousness’ juxtaposes distinct artists and their work in such a way that questions the definable qualities of portraiture.  Despite myriad styles and genres, many of the artists share a common exploration of themes of sexuality, race, and gender.  Among the featured artists are Boscoe Holder, Giorgio de Chirico, Alice Neel, Glenn Ligon, and Chris Ofili.

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200 One Dollar Bills, Andy Warhol

Last night’s Postwar and Contemporary Sale at Sotheby’s, New York easily outmatched their rival Christie’s sale the night before with a total of $134,438,000 and only 2 lots unsold. While 59% of works sold over their pre-sale estimates, it was Andy Warhol‘s 200 One Dollar Bills, which sold for $43,762,500 over an estimate of $8-12million, that catapulted the total sales revenue way over the initial estimate of $67-97 million.

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Violins, Violence, Silence, Bruce Nauman. Record for a neon by Nauman – $4,002,500

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Jonathan Meese, “mutter mit roter Brille und roetlicher Perlenkette,” part of “The Figure and Dr. Freud,” a group exhibition on at Haunch of Venison New York.

Haunch of Venison’s New York branch is showing “The Figure and Dr. Freud,” a group exhibition by 31 artists from the last century.  These include past and currently producing artists, from the sculptor Alberto Giacometti to the painter Daniel Richter.  The show, which closes on August 22, focuses on the human figure as the artists have rendered it, through the lenses of the late Dr. Freud’s psychoanalytic theories.

Related links:
Haunch of Venison
Sigmund Freud [freudfile]

David Salle, “With All Due Respect Sir, We Need Modesty Blaise,” at Haunch of Venison.

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Exhibition view, “The Female Gaze: Woman Look at Women,” at Cheim & Read. Pictured works include Victoria Civera’s Searcher (far left) and Vanessa Beecroft’s Blonde Figure Lying (floor).

Through September 19, 2009, Cheim & Read will show “The Female Gaze: Women Look At Women.”  Featured are works by women of women, with aim to reorient the typically-male framing of women in art.  Works range in medium from the paintings of Alice Neel and Lisa Yuskavage to the sculptures of Kara Walker, the text poems of Jenny Holzer and the photographs by Diane Arbus, the installations by Louise Bourgeois and even collage work by Ellen Gallagher.

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Cheim & Read – Exhibition – The Female Gaze [Cheim and Read]
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Now Hanging: Girlie Show [The Moment Blog, New York Times]
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The Female Gaze, The Cheim and Read Gallery, New York [Financial Times]
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The Female Gaze: Women look at Women [Artforum]
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“The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women” at Cheim & Reid [Contemporary Art Daily]

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Cindy Sherman, Untitled, at Cheim & Read.

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Alice Neel’s ‘Hartley’ via David Zwirner

Running concurrently at David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea and Zwirner & Wirth on the Upper East Side are two shows surveying the work of painter Alice Neel. Known best as a portraitist during a time when figuration fell into disdain and obsolescence, Neel is considered one of the twentieth century’s most important American painters. While Neel gained critical acclaim by the end of her life (she died in 1984), recent years have seen increased interest in Neel’s work as contemporary figurative painters such as Lucien Freud and Elizabeth Peyton have attracted both record prices and museum retrospectives.  MZwirner & Wirth’s ‘Nudes of the 1930s’ covers the beginning of Neel’s career with sketches, watercolors, and oil paintings of desexualized nudes, including many of women with imperfect bodies. ‘Selected Works’ at David Zwirner presents a wider, more mature range of work.

The Estate of Alice Neel
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David Zwirner
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Zwirner & Wirth
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Decades of Painter Alice Neel in a Single Sweep [New YorkMagazine]
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Art in Review [NY Times]
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Overview: Alice Neel: Selected Works [Artinfo]

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“Pretty Ugly” at Gavin Brown Enterprise via Art Observed

Art Observed was on site at the opening of “Pretty Ugly” on Thursday, July 10th. The show took place at two neighboring galleries on Greenwich St. in New York: Gavin Brown’s Enterpise and Maccarone.
The show was curated by Alison Gingeras, of the Pinault collection, and featured work from more than 75 artists, including John Currin, Louise Bourgeois, the Chapman Brothers, Paul McCarthy, Takashi Murakami, Alice Neel, Hermann Nitsch, Andy Warhol, Francis Picabia, and Rob Pruitt, just to name a few.

Pretty Ugly: Press Release [Gavin Brown’s Enterprise]
Pretty Ugly, Maccarone [Maccarone Gallery]
A Pretty Ugly New York Art Eclipse [Flash Art]
This Week in Art Openings: Totally Rad, Pretty Ugly, and The Shallow Curator [Papermag]
Pretty Ugly [Artlog]

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With a cluttered presentation sprawled over two floors of Midtown space, the Columbia University MFA show comes across as energetic, adventurous, but undeniably student-y work; heck, at times it’s slightly muddled, unfinished, and, yes, even downright messy. Who’d ever have thought this would amount to a good thing? But, I must admit, it was all surprisingly refreshing. Over the last couple of years, Columbia has consistently met the challenge of its increasingly high profile, pumping out art stars in the making with graduate presentations as smoothed and polished as anything Chelsea might throw at you. Last year’s class’ offering in Dumbo was no exception: a cavernous space, filled with pristine pieces, thoughtfully arranged into a compelling exhibition which gave the Whitney Biennial “Day for Night” (on view at the same time) more than a run for its money. As expected, a new set of rising stars was ushered in, such as Tamy Ben-Tor and Julieta Aranda, who have already garnered pretty major accolades (and with good cause). (more…)