Alice Neel: Hot Off the Griddle review – a ‘momentous’ exhibition at the Barbican

This show is a testament to the painter known for ‘her unflinching yet compassionate gaze’

Alice Neel’s portrait of Andy Warhol in 1970
Alice Neel’s portrait of Andy Warhol in 1970
(Image credit: The Estate of Alice Neel)

The painter Alice Neel was neglected in her lifetime, but is today “celebrated for her unflinching yet compassionate gaze”, said Chloë Ashby in The Times. Born into a conservative family in Pennsylvania, Neel (1900-1984) rejected her roots, married a Cuban émigré and became a committed communist, living a bohemian existence in New York’s Spanish Harlem.

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