To sit down and read a book is most often an act undertaken alone. Yet the decision to read aloud to another person, whether a child, a friend, a stranger or a lover, has the powerful effect of opening up this otherwise solitary pursuit in a manner that can feel surprisingly intimate. This is the closest comparison I can find to the act of painting a portrait from life, whereby the artist and sitter come together in shared physical proximity even as their minds diverge and intersect within their own private, imaginary worlds: at once near and far. For Alice Neel, her practice of painting people from many walks of life, from neighbours to writers, performers, artists, politicians and activists – friends and strangers – led her to share this intimate space with a dizzyingly diverse range of subjects.
Image: Alice Neel, Annie Sprinkle,1982
Oil on canvas
154.6 x 112.1 cm
60 7/8 x 44 1/8 in
© The Estate of Alice Neel
Courtesy The Estate of Alice Neel, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
