The portrait of Lucille Rhodes by Alice Neel was understood as a part of a larger cultural context during the Vietnam War’s end and the height of the 1970s feminist movement. The war had left many people mortified, particularly artists and activists with the trauma of this conflict. It caused protest, loss of life, and the questioning of U.S. foreign policy, creating an atmosphere of intense distrust. In the context of the portrait of Lucille Rhodes, it can reflect the emotional intensity. Often Neel’s subjects in her painting highlighted their psychological states and personal struggles. The painting shows a pregnant woman lost in her thoughts, lying down, not with a reaction of comfort, but it can be seen as a subtle nod to the struggles in the era. Neel’s work captures people in moments of vulnerability, reflecting the sense of feeling lost and questioning the future after the post-Vietnam War period. With the feminist movement in the United States, it was where women challenged traditional gender roles, wanting equal rights, reproductive freedom, workplace equality, and social justice. For example, a feminist writer, Gloria Steinem, went undercover as a Playboy Bunny, stating, “The debasement of women… To go in and out of the club as a Bunny, being nothing but a set of body parts, having the men say exactly what they wanted to, was just awful. The sexism and low wages that women faced in these clubs.” This period was a landmark in history as the legalization of abortion (Roe v. Wade in 1973) and growing activism for women. Lucille Rhose was painted during the height of the feminist movement as a way for Neel to discuss feminist principles. Embracing the feminist ideas of autonomy getting portrayed differently and self-expression. Showing women in all their depth and humanity, rather than traditional model-like figures.

Work Cited:

Feminism: The Second Wave." National Women's History Museum, 2020, www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/feminism-second-wave

Rosen, Ruth. "A Brief History of 1970s Feminism." ThoughtCo., Dotdash Meredith, 28 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/1970s-feminism-timeline-3528911