Alice Neel: Painted Truths
Whitechapel Gallery, until 17 September
Paula Rego: Oratorio
Marlborough Fine Art, 6 Albemarle Street, W1, until 20 August
The last time I wrote about Alice Neel (1900–84), on the occasion of an exhibition mounted six years ago by the commercial gallery Victoria Miro, a reader wrote in to correct my statement that Neel’s work had not been shown outside her native America. The point I was making was how relatively little known Neel was, particularly in England, though that situation has now changed. At Victoria Miro (until 30 July) a host of international artists pay tribute to Neel’s work, and at the Whitechapel there’s a major survey of her paintings. Revealingly, though, this is still the first solo showing for Neel in a European museum.
The exhibition is accompanied by a weighty hardback (price £34.95), packed with full-page illustrations and learned essays, including a short text by Frank Auerbach praising Neel’s courage.
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