Julie and the Doll
Maker and role
Artist: Alice Neel, American, 1900-1984
Year
1943
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Object detail
Media/Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
28 1/8 x 20 1/4in (71.4 x 51.4cm)
Credit line
Museum purchase with the Ralph A. Anderson Jr. Memorial Fund and the Alvin Whitley Estate
Accession number
2018.11
Object type
Department
Location
Further information
Alice Neel is known for her expressionistic portraits of family, lovers, neighbors, artists, and strangers, many of whom were members of her community in Spanish Harlem, a neighborhood in New York where Neel lived. Here, Julie - the daughter of Neel's neighbor - holds a blond, blue-eyed doll as she gazes beyond the viewer.
Julie and the Doll illustrates the racial divide prevalent in American communities. Similarly, the photographer Gordon Parks captured this divide in his photographs for Ebony magazine, documenting a social experiment wherein African American children were asked to choose between black and white dolls. The results of this experiment assisted in the Supreme Court's monumental decision in Brown v. Board of Education that required the racial integration of American public schools in 1954.
Julie and the Doll illustrates the racial divide prevalent in American communities. Similarly, the photographer Gordon Parks captured this divide in his photographs for Ebony magazine, documenting a social experiment wherein African American children were asked to choose between black and white dolls. The results of this experiment assisted in the Supreme Court's monumental decision in Brown v. Board of Education that required the racial integration of American public schools in 1954.
Copyright
© Estate of Alice Neel
Documentation
Alice Neel: Uptown; Hilton Als (b.1960); 2017; p. 22-23, 25, 133
Vogue; February 2017
The Guardian; Theguardian.com, April 29, 2017; Theguardian.com
Studio International; May 7, 2017
i-D; i-dvice.com, May 26, 2017
Apollo; June 9, 2017
Vogue; February 2017
The Guardian; Theguardian.com, April 29, 2017; Theguardian.com
Studio International; May 7, 2017
i-D; i-dvice.com, May 26, 2017
Apollo; June 9, 2017
Signature & date
Signed, dated, l.l.: Neel 43
Docent information sheet
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2018.11 Neel\Alice Neel - Uptown.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2018.11 Neel\Alice Neel - Black and White.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2018.11 Neel\Alice Neel - The Art of Not Sitting Pretty.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2018.11 Neel\Alice Neel - Black and White.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2018.11 Neel\Alice Neel - The Art of Not Sitting Pretty.pdf
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