For Alice Neel 1900-1984
(all quotes are hers except where otherwise indicated)
You passed the civil service exam
to support your parents at a time
when women didn’t work
going to night school in painting
determined to be an artist
to reach escape velocity
Lure of the wealthy Cuban artist
his well-mannered promises:
joys of marriage,
intellectual circles, artists, literati,
philosophical vistas all called to you
before the Great Depression converged
the country’s agony paralleled your own
Santillana died, Isabetta removed from your care
prescribed a year in the sanatorium on suicide watch
your daughters lingered in every subsequent interaction
whispered themes of loss at each sitting
made you cry in front of aquariums
even as an old woman standing in the dark
you claimed it intimated your life
Really seeing into the other, each model’s
psyche revealed in a less static form
portraiture never capturing only a moment
but the continuous life of something greater
when they inducted you he said:
‘she probes courageously, almost violently’*
and called yours a difficult art to bear
you believed in the veracity of humanism
sometimes when they left
you ceased to exist, lost somewhere in them
Your sons sought succor in opposing ideologies
unable to face the consequences of bohemian chaos
Richard beaten, unprotected, loved you
Hartley proclaimed his loyalty to you
each caught in ‘blocks of ice’
consumed by corporations in the rise of capitalist fervor
Beautiful, wounded Isabetta
walks out to the seawall
takes the sleeping pills
was it that you were never there?
Feminist icon, they never felt you acculturated to the movement
outrageous behavior claimed psychic space for women
‘I never just paint my pussy; I think that’s absurd,
I mean, to do your pussy over and over, how monotonous.’
a collective gasp as you asserted there’s no difference
between paintings made by either sex
Until the retrospective at the Whitney, validated by the establishment,
‘I always felt…I didn’t have the right to paint.’
there were children to care for, men to uplift
you painted ‘without ingratiation,
without pretty nuances of color and drawing,
but with great validity.’* now the Academy approves
a lifetime membership but you’re already dying of cancer
Precociously out of your time
longing to be a great artist
for recognition from a society
that believed you should be bounded by conformity
all those contradictions, complexity, and sacrifice
your perseverance carried a high price
‘When you’re an artist you’re searching for freedom,
you’re never going to find it
because there isn’t any freedom.
Art could be called the search.’
*From the American Academy of Arts and Letters induction speech
Connected to the Open Link Night prompt at dVerse Poets Pub here: http://dversepoets.com/2012/03/20/openlinknight-week-36/ please link up and read some world class poetry.
wow anna..what a great poem for a strong woman…was not familiar with her but def. will check her out…awesome write…Art could be called the search…yep…def agree…
Thanks Claudia! I’m always happy to introduce artists and glad this resonated with you.
dang….really nice write…sounds lik ea lady i would love to have met because she did not accept the way, or the revolutionary way but made it her way…some fun and provocative quotes in there too…
Thanks Brian, I did hesitate on one of those colorful quotes but then thought well, I didn’t say it :D. However, this isn’t one I’ll be posting on my personal Facebook page.
art could be called the search -> but science is already the search!!
sonnet 36
Artists and scientist have a lot in common :).
that’s why most universities have departments called “Arts and Science.”
is art first because of alphabetization?
Or awesomeness?
That made me chuckle!!! art and science…the science of art…
Strong poem, thank you for sharing.
Wander
Thanks for the visit, nice to meet you.
hehe
Wow- I’ve never heard of this artist- but reading this, looking at her face, her paintings- I NEED to know more. What a fantastically and more importantly, passionately written ice about a clearly very creative and I dare say influential woman. The way you wrote just knitted together visualism and lyricism beautifully. I m checking ths Artist out NOW!
That is a great compliment, I hope you find some connecting point with her work. Thank you!
Great depiction of a life who beat the odds and never gave up, art definitely is a search for many a thing, sometimes what you find is better than what you were looking for.
That’s very true, thank you Pat.
Anna, a great tribute of a strong woman-beautiful!
Thank you ayala, I look forward to reading yours soon.
Wonderful write Anna. You put me there, and let me know her. She lived in a magnificent and dreadful time. So much happening, so much fear and even more repression. I wonder sometimes if anyone alive today understands how much that generation faced and endured.
Thank you Gay, I wonder too. Santillana died of diphtheria a year before the vaccine was available. In the 1920s, there were an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 cases of diphtheria per year in the US. To live in a time when women weren’t allowed to vote, through the Great Depression, both World Wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights Movement, and Vietnam is a staggering amount of change and upheaval. Glad to see you making the rounds :).
I love the story and the way you told it. Better than a whole memoir. Such history.
Thank you kindly Colleen, sometimes poetry is a better medium for the unspeakable and undefinable.
hey anna – aside from all the things everyone has pointed out already – i cant believe i could ever be able to rest if id missed ;
‘I never just paint my pussy; I think that’s absurd,
I mean, to do your pussy over and over, how monotonous.’
lol – anyone that says such things should be sainted – in my book:
what a fantastic subject to explore 🙂 … hahahahah – i had actually finished being cheeky
and totally meant Alice…
good going great guns and props 🙂
Yes, well she was a cheeky broad :). Too much laughing after dinner over the ‘fantastic subject to explore’ comment (glad you cleared that up or I’d have assumed you intended the crass humor)! Thanks for stopping in and brightening the comment box.
She sounds as if she was definitely a woman well before her time. I can see in her younger years she would be expected to marry, to have children, to devote her whole life to husband and family and (then) that was all a woman was supposed to wish to do. It seems she was a pioneer in many ways. You painted a wonderful portrait of her too, Anna.
Absolutely and she never fit that mold; women who resisted could be at best ostracized and at worst vilified. Thanks so much for stopping by :).
art could be called the search…yes. i love the way you wrote this, a beautiful story about a beautiful woman.
Thank you Kelly, I’m so happy to hear it was affecting.
Anna, fantastic piece. love the biographical/history within this piece. Also love how at some times it feels as if it’s an ode, then at others a lament, some points feel like an overview looking back from a distance and then at others up close and entirely personal. Really fantastic job. Thanks
Thank you, that’s it precisely. It’s wonderful that you always see the architecture of the poem so clearly. I don’t see that you’re linked up but I’ll check again in the morning to read what you’ve written.
Great poem and biography of an amazing woman. I’ll have to go learn more about her. She reminds me of some feminist elders I know who are in the art community.
It’s good to hear that you have some feminist elders available to you in the community. Thank you for your response.
Always enjoy your biographical pieces, Anna. 🙂 A bit of sadness there with regards to her children.
Thanks Ravenblack, yes, I felt for her children. To clarify Richard and Alice were beaten by Hartley’s father.
she has a gentle face, her paintings have colour, light, candour. google returns a great number of different paintings, she was a very persistent artist. she does sound like an interesting person.
Yes, she was certainly persistent, painting in obscurity for some 50 years.
Great portrait, Anna, of one whose sole ambition of painting a wholly unique vision got jawed by all the establishments and yet survived and thrived, perhaps because the vision never wavered or made concessions or even attempted explanation. I do think success of the normal sort (not soared by pure luck) is a matter of outliving the competition. Folks like Neel inspire because they are foremost products of their own nature who couldn’t be otherwise, when there are so many enticements and brutalities to wreck such a course. Nice job – Brendan
Yes, Virginia Woolf talks about how genius often can only be manifested when the person gets out of their own way, commits to an artistic course, and overcomes their psychology. Alice managed to say what she came here to say through her work and that’s no small feat. Thanks Brendan!
I wasn’t aware of Ms. Neel until now. I’ll have to look more closely. This is a lovely tribute. The character of your own verse fit so well with the selected quotes. Nice work.
Thank you Steve, I’m glad I was successful in altering my style to well suit her words and that you’re curiosity about her has been engaged.
So very strong, pulled at my emotions. Art could be called the search will stay with me. Wonderful work. I have missed reading you and must make a point of stopping by more often. Thank you for introducing me to Alice Neel. I will check out her works.
Thank you very much Beth. I have been away, not posting as much, and unable to read like I used to but look forward to visiting your blog more often too :).
A poetry profile.. what a lovely idea. I enjoyed reading about this woman, her struggle for expression and her very hard-won wisdom. Thanks Anna… your place is always worth a visit.. 🙂
Thank you Becky, it was very hard-won. I always appreciate your visits!