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MFAH Film Screening: Alice Neel

Presented by Museum of Fine Arts, Houston at Museum of Fine Arts Houston - Brown Auditorium

March 20, 2010

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The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents Alice Neel. Director Andrew Neel in person for the FREE screening Saturday, March 20 at 2pm.

The exhibition Alice Neel: Painted Truths is on view at the MFAH from March 21—June 13. Alice Neel, directed by the artist´s grandson, is shown on selected dates throughout the exhibition, beginning with a free screening introduced by the filmmaker.

"The colorful life and career of Alice Neel (1900—1984), one of the great portrait painters of the 20th century, are explored in this absorbing documentary directed by her grandson, Andrew. Alice reinvented the genre of portraiture by expressing the inner landscape of her varied sitters, among them Bella Abzug, Allen Ginsberg, and Andy Warhol. Painting a diverse cross section of humanity from Communist Party leaders to art-world personalities to her neighbors in Spanish Harlem, she created a body of work that serves as a social document of New York and America in the 20th century. — www.aliceneelfilm.com.  

"Despite the extremities of Alice´s professional and personal lives, her ideals remained remarkably consistent and her style and approach to her work unflagged by the whims of the contemporary art world. For that I respect her. Tenacity and a genuine interest in the world around her are what allowed her to make powerful paintings. This film is an investigation of the sacrifices she made in order to live and paint the way she wanted." —Andrew Neel

Andrew Neel founded SeeThink Films in 2001 after graduating from Columbia College with a BA in film studies. His college thesis film, billy528, a short fictional film about internet romance won Best Experimental Drama at the New York Independent Film Festival and aired on Showtime in 2003. He has directed four feature-length documentary films (Darkon, Alice Neel, The Feature, New World Order). His first film, Darkon, won the audience award at the South by Southwest Film Festival and was acquired by IFCtv. The film was optioned for narrative fiction re-make by Paramount via Plan B Entertainment.

Neel´s second film, Alice Neel, was acquired by Art House Films and won the Audience Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. His third film, The Feature, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008 and won the New Visions Award at the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival. His latest film, New World Order was produced by IFCtv and is currently on air. He lives and works in New York City.

Admission is charged for the additional screenings of Alice Neel on Sundays, May 9, 16, 23, and 30 at 5:00 p.m. in conjunction with the MFAH exhibition. The filmmaker is not scheduled to appear after March 20´s screening.