Alice Neel, Margaret Evans Pregnant,1978. Oil on canvas, 57 3/4 × 38 inches

By Sandra Bertrand

I’m sure we’ve all heard the expression “S/he’s a people person.” Alice Neel’s long overdue retrospective, People Come First, is currently drawing hordes of visitors at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It’s no surprise, considering she based her entire life and career around the intimates and strangers that surrounded her. Every class, race, and gender came under her razor-sharp gaze.  And no human being encountering her subjects comes away unscathed. https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12089-alice-neel-collector-souls-met

This exhibition, currently on view through August 1, 2021, is a heart-stopping focus on one of the great women artists of our time.  Her unraveling of her subjects to get to the underlying truth of their characters is a rare gift for any artist to possess and she doesn’t disappoint.  It’s well worth the wait.  And her expressive, unapologetic mastery of the brush is the cherry atop this sundae.

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2021/alice-neel

(Two publications on Alice Neel that are highly recommended:
Alice Neel, People Come First, Kelly Baum and Randall Griffey, THE MET, Yale University Press
Alice Neel, Freedom, David Zwirner Books)

Glenstone Museum in Potomac, MD will be the only U.S. museum this spring to host a major monographic exhibition of more than 70 works by American artist Faith Ringgold (b. 1930, Harlem, NY), including nine from the Glenstone collection, as part of a two-year international tour organized by the Serpentine in London. One of the artist’s largest survey exhibitions to date, the Glenstone presentation will feature approximately 30 additional works on loan not exhibited earlier in the tour. Glenstone is currently operating as an outdoor-only experience. Reopening dates and plans for indoor experiences, including the Faith Ringgold exhibition, will be announced soon.

“Faith Ringgold’s powerful depictions of the African American experience are as arresting today as they were when she first started making art nearly sixty years ago,” said Emily Wei Rales, Director and co-founder of Glenstone. “Her art has had a strong presence at the museum ever since we displayed one of her iconic paintings in our inaugural installation at the Pavilions in 2018, so it only seemed fitting for Faith Ringgold to be the first touring exhibition hosted at Glenstone.

American People Series #4: The Civil Rights Triangle, 1963
oil on canvas
36 3/16 x 42 ⅛ inches (92 x 107 cm)
© 2019 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York
Photo: Ron Amstutz

We are proud to honor this wonderful artist and honorary vice president who has been such an integral part of the NAWA family for many years. Proceeds from the exhibition will go to Ms. Ringgold’s the Anyone Can Fly Foundation. www.anyonecanfly.org