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拍品專文
"Richard was ill with an eye infection and this bowl of fruit assumed immense proportions. I think one of Rimbaud’s poem’s says:
In certain states of the spirit which are almost supernatural, the profundity of life is revealed in the spectacle, however ordinary it may be, that we may have in front of our eyes. It becomes the symbol of life.
I think this occurred in my painting of the wooden bowl with the fruit.” - Alice Neel (quoted in P. Hills Alice Neel 1983, pg. 70).
Within a muted dining area, atop a quotidian kitchen table sits a humble fruit bowl bursting with joyous color. A cheery yellow lemon is orbited by candy red strawberries and vivid marigold oranges, drawing the eye toward the center of the composition with their delectable hues. A seemingly innocuous painting of an everyday scene, Still Life with Fruit by Alice Neel carries with it a sense of a deeper purpose hidden among its aura of calm and repose. The jovial fruity tones burst out of their muddy backdrop like flowers from the earth, breathing life into the otherwise dim scenery. Painted while her infant son was struggling with an eye infection, the work appears to be a space of reflection for Neel, a glimpse into what catches the eye of a mother and a painter in a time of hardship. A departure from her typical subject matter of portraiture, this simple still life functions as a portrait of the artist’s life in that moment in 1940; as Rimbaud wrote in the poem Neel connected to this work, “it becomes the symbol of life.”
Expressing the experience of motherhood in addition to the life of a female artist in the contemporary era, the work of Alice Neel remains a touchstone for mothers, women, and artists to this day. Her unique and highly sensitive perspective brought her subjects, most especially women, to life on the canvas in a manner cleansed of the objectifying gaze so many of her male predecessors possessed. Compassion flows freely out of Neel’s portraiture, her depictions of pregnant women feel understanding rather than voyeuristic and her extensive portfolio of people of color in poverty details her sympathetic nature and profound anti-racism. Though her work was largely unappreciated in her time due to her insistence on figurative painting in the face of the popular contemporary movements of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, her timeless and distinctive use of figuration has grown to occupy a large space in the contemporary canon of art history as more and more people have identified with her insightful portrayal of human experience.
From the collection of Neel’s lawyer and longtime patron, Arthur Bullowa, Still Life with Fruits envelopes all the identities that allowed Neel to create such compellingly human representations. An artist knowledgeable of the rich history of still life painting, she chose the classic subject of a simple bowl of fruit onto which she could project her reality. A mother with a child fallen ill, she crafted a sense of melancholy alleviated by the pure pleasure of vivid color. A single woman who at many points in her life would experience poverty, she conveyed an appreciation for the luxury of food on her table in a time of unease. Fiercely original and steadfast in her sense of artistic self, her compassion for the lives of others, and her deep love for her children, Alice Neel created a body of work profoundly emblematic of the human experience in whatever seemingly ordinary forms it may take.
In certain states of the spirit which are almost supernatural, the profundity of life is revealed in the spectacle, however ordinary it may be, that we may have in front of our eyes. It becomes the symbol of life.
I think this occurred in my painting of the wooden bowl with the fruit.” - Alice Neel (quoted in P. Hills Alice Neel 1983, pg. 70).
Within a muted dining area, atop a quotidian kitchen table sits a humble fruit bowl bursting with joyous color. A cheery yellow lemon is orbited by candy red strawberries and vivid marigold oranges, drawing the eye toward the center of the composition with their delectable hues. A seemingly innocuous painting of an everyday scene, Still Life with Fruit by Alice Neel carries with it a sense of a deeper purpose hidden among its aura of calm and repose. The jovial fruity tones burst out of their muddy backdrop like flowers from the earth, breathing life into the otherwise dim scenery. Painted while her infant son was struggling with an eye infection, the work appears to be a space of reflection for Neel, a glimpse into what catches the eye of a mother and a painter in a time of hardship. A departure from her typical subject matter of portraiture, this simple still life functions as a portrait of the artist’s life in that moment in 1940; as Rimbaud wrote in the poem Neel connected to this work, “it becomes the symbol of life.”
Expressing the experience of motherhood in addition to the life of a female artist in the contemporary era, the work of Alice Neel remains a touchstone for mothers, women, and artists to this day. Her unique and highly sensitive perspective brought her subjects, most especially women, to life on the canvas in a manner cleansed of the objectifying gaze so many of her male predecessors possessed. Compassion flows freely out of Neel’s portraiture, her depictions of pregnant women feel understanding rather than voyeuristic and her extensive portfolio of people of color in poverty details her sympathetic nature and profound anti-racism. Though her work was largely unappreciated in her time due to her insistence on figurative painting in the face of the popular contemporary movements of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, her timeless and distinctive use of figuration has grown to occupy a large space in the contemporary canon of art history as more and more people have identified with her insightful portrayal of human experience.
From the collection of Neel’s lawyer and longtime patron, Arthur Bullowa, Still Life with Fruits envelopes all the identities that allowed Neel to create such compellingly human representations. An artist knowledgeable of the rich history of still life painting, she chose the classic subject of a simple bowl of fruit onto which she could project her reality. A mother with a child fallen ill, she crafted a sense of melancholy alleviated by the pure pleasure of vivid color. A single woman who at many points in her life would experience poverty, she conveyed an appreciation for the luxury of food on her table in a time of unease. Fiercely original and steadfast in her sense of artistic self, her compassion for the lives of others, and her deep love for her children, Alice Neel created a body of work profoundly emblematic of the human experience in whatever seemingly ordinary forms it may take.