42 Comments

Incredible you've managed to glean testimonies from both India and Margaret Evans, spanning two different time periods, and even got the father to speak indirectly.

What about the other twin?

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So amazing, I wanted to keep reading! An entire series like this would be incredible !

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What a wonderful article. Thank you so much for sharing these interviews.

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Fantastic insight to the herstory of this great woman artist. Very moving and visceral too.

Many thanks, Abigail X

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This was so great to read and see, Katy. Thank you so much for sharing it!

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perfect reading. thank you. I have always enjoyed seeing Alice Neel's paintings in various art shows.

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Incredible! Thanks so much for sharing this ❤️ I gobbled it up like a feast the moment it arrived in my inbox!

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A bit Lucian Freud-ish: I wonder:,Who was doing the nudes first?

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Thanks very much for the photos of Alice Neel portraits. She's a brilliant painter who definitely deserves to be very widely known & celebrated...

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Neel is among my favorite painters. These memories leave me feeling as if I am in the room. A dream come true. Thank you.

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I love this so much! What a great story and piece of history. As an artist, I've loved Alice Neel's work for years, but your story adds so much life to her portrait. Thank you so much for sharing! ❤️

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Great ! I’m a huge fan of Alice Neel .

My good friends who are twins had their portrait painted by her . The Devegh twins .

Wonderful

Article

Thanks so much

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Neel asked her friends, twin brothers Raphael and Moses Soyer, also important twentieth century figurative artists, especially known for their paintings and drawings of female nudes, if she could paint a double portrait of them. When they arrived at her studio, they were shocked to hear that she wanted to paint them in the nude and refused. She did a wonderful, fully clothed, portrait of them.

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A close painter friend (I’m a painter, too) sent this to another friend and me. Delightful article! Good to be reminded of a time when painters (and fiction writers) were on late-night talk shows. And seeing Viva mentioned; I loved seeing her on Johnny Carson, with her deadpan talking style (and I read her autobiography). And the story from the two generations of women is intriguing. Thank you!

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I love Alice Neil’s work and am so pleased to read this human side of her and the Evan’s subjects, what a treat!

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Interesting stories! The air of expectancy--courage and facing the inevitable--is wonderful in the nude painting. Funny that Alice talked the whole time while painting a subject.

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