In Painted Truths, at the Whitechapel until 17 September, there are nearly 70 oils by Alice Neel, mainly portraits. There is also a very good film by her grandson Andrew Neel about her work and about the Neel family. It includes photographs and clips in which she looks like the model for a Norman Rockwell grandmother: grey hair pulled back, plump, smiling, wearing glasses, and pretty. To a degree she was all that that implies. Her sons loved her and went on doing so, but there were things to put up with. Hers wasn't a trouble-free life: mental breakdowns, changing partners, and lack of money told. The sons had no reason to love the bohemian life and showed it: one became a lawyer, the other a doctor.

LRB 19 August 2010 | PDF Download