Alice Neel Paintings and Film at David Zwimmer Gallery

After yesterday's walk on the High Line, we hopped over to the Alice Neel show (through June 20th) at the David Zwirner Gallery located at 525 West 19th Street (between 10th Ave. and West St.).

A painter of people, landscape and still life, Alice Neel(1900-1984) is considered one of the great painters of the 20th century. Born near Philadelphia, Neel lived in Greenwich Village in the 1930's and was a member of the Works Progress Administration.

Later she made her home in Spanish Harlem where she painted her Puerto Rican neighbours and people she encountered on the street.

In the 1960s she created portraits of artists, curators and gallery owners, including Frank O'Hara and Andy Warhol.

An outspoken woman artist, with strong views about politics and social justice, Neel was a powerful and complex personality who struggled to create her work while raising three children. She is featured in an excellent 82-minute documentary made by one of her sons about her life and work that is being shown continuously at the gallery to accompany the show.