Alice Neel (American, b. 1900)
Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia), 1982
Lithograph in colors on Arches paper
33.5 x 30.625 in
Gift of John Andrew MacMahon, ’95
Alice Neel was a New York expressionist artist, widely considered to be one of the greatest female artists of the 20th century. Born in Pennsylvania, Neel studied art at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. As she got older, she developed a strong passion for social justice, which would later be displayed in her work. In the 1930s, Neel moved to New York where she began painting portraits of friends, family, fellow artists, left-wing writers, and union workers. Despite receiving some widespread praise for her work in the 1970s with a show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1974, her work did not receive its proper recognition until after her death in 1984. After her posthumous show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021, her piece Dr. Finger’s Waiting Room sold for over $3 million. Neel remains one of the most prominent members of the expressionist movement of the 20th century, whose work and social commentaries still hold resonance.
Alice Neel’s Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia) depicts a woman sitting on a white chair, holding a small baby to her cheek. One of Neel’s many portraits, this one holds a special value because it depicts her daughter-in-law and grandchild. Incredibly personal, the daughter-in-law sits in apprehension as she stresses and worries about her first child. This portrait acts a departure from Neel’s previous depictions of motherhood as painful and hopeless like in Degenerate Madonna (1930), and instead exudes comfort and loving worry as Nancy embraces her daughter in a protective stance. Throughout all of Neel’s depictions of motherhood, she does not shy away from the struggles of motherhood, yet Mother and Child depicts a young mother, wide eyed, embracing the struggle and her tender subject.
Sarah Willoughby ’25