About This Artwork
Alice Neel
American, 1900-1984
Ginny with the Yellow Hat1971
Oil on canvas
101.6 x 73.7 cm (40 x 29 in.)
Gift of Hartley and Richard Neel, 1994.543
Having worked in relative obscurity throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Alice Neel came to prominence during the rise of feminism in the late 1960s and was praised for her sensitive portrayals of women. Enveloped in heavy winter clothing, the subject of this portrait perches on the edge of her seat, her helmetlike hat and fur coat protecting her from the artist’s searching gaze. She leans stiffly forward, as if to remain composed or stare down her formidable portraitist. Twenty-five years old at the time, the sitter had recently married the artist’s son, Hartley. Ginny with the Yellow Hat is one of several portraits in which Neel emphasized—usually through a frontal pose—her daughter-in-law’s unflinching directness.