The Story of Art Without Men

by Katy Hessel

Describing herself as a ‘collector of souls’, Neel painted every sitter in her distinctively thick, dry, blue outlines – lines that, to me, enhance expression. Capturing the conversation or encounter she had with her sitters beyond the surfaces they projected, Neel challenges how both men and women had previously been idealised in painting. She reveals their tensions and imperfections, but mostly their vulnerability. For me, her most striking portrait is the eponymously titled Andy Warhol, 1970. Painted one year after his attempted assassination, she depicted him as gaunt, faded and fragile. It’s as if he is sinking into the canvas towards death, with his closed eyes, exposed scars, yellow flesh and bony hands; his context reduced to a muddy amber line making up his seat, worlds away from the glamorous superficiality of his own paintings and prints.