American artist Alice Neel’s (1900-1984) lifelong artistic engagement with the figure included a pronounced interest in the nude body. Her attraction to flesh was evidenced by works produced throughout her career, notable for both their unflinching honesty and lack of erotic charge. With her brush Neel transformed naked flesh into an occasion for psychological and emotional investigation. Unsentimental and unromantic, Neel’s nudes defiantly privilege human interest over sexual pleasure.
Cindy (Cecile) Heller Nemser (1937-2021) was an American art historian and writer. Founder and editor of the Feminist Art Journal, she was an activist and prominent figure in the feminist art movement and was best known for her writing on the work of women artists such as Alice Neel. In the 1975 painting entitled “Cindy Nemser and Chuck,” Neel portrayed a nude double portrait of the well-known art critic and her husband, Chuck (Charles S.) Nemser. The pose is decorous, but the real cover stems from Cindy’s expression, which is alert with vigilant curiosity.
The portrait, painted by Alice Neel, was seen and photographed at an exhibit of her work entitled 'Alice Neel: People Come First' at the de Young Fine Arts Museum (FAMSF) in San Francisco, California.
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