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Alice Neel

The Family (John Gruen, Jane Wilson, and Julia)

Both critics and the subjects of Alice Neel's paintings have written of her ability to portray the dynamics of relationship. In Neel's paintings of families, the revelations come in the context of how the family as a group responds to the acute examination of this artist who says, "I become the person for a couple of hours." Neel painted in her home, and kept an assortment of chairs so that she could provide the "right" one for each sitter. Because the families are in a living room, not a studio, people look like families in their homes, not models. When Neel portrayed groups of people, she often arranged them facing the viewer, in strong light, like families in old photographs.

Neel said of this painting, "He looks like a gypsy father. You know this painting should be called The Gruen Family or Six Patent Leather Shoes" (Cindy Nemser, Art Talk, 1975). Jane Wilson was a painter and former fashion model, and John Gruen a composer and critic whose memoir, The Party's Over Now, described the New York art scene of the 1950s. Neel has not depicted a warm and intimate family group. Julia holds her arms and hands close to her body. John's and Jane's hands bend away from each other, as if magnetically repelled.