Neel rejects the patriarchal teachings of her all-girls school in Philadelphia, The School of Design. And she rejects the artistic styles they were teaching her. Alice Neel paints her female nudes as aware of the male gaze. Neel wanted to “respect and humanize” her models in a way that wasn’t done by many male artists she was taught about. She was a rebel through and through. But she wasn’t always allowed to be so free spirited. Neel had two children with her partner, but the first child they had sadly passed after her birth. They soon had a second daughter, but Neel struggled with suicidal ideation, and her husband ended up taking the child while Neel was left to be institutionalized in 1931. During her stay, she wasn’t allowed to paint, likely because it was seen as a man’s job. But she was allowed to sew, a more befitting and feminine hobby, in their eyes. Neel hated sewing. She hated being restricted and she hated being controlled. When she was released, many suicide attempts later, she continued making art. She was finally free. She continued to make a name for herself, painting a wide breadth of people, and being a pioneer for equal rights. Her art spoke to people, as if she had captured souls in her brushwork, and is now praised for bringing the nontypical to life. She painted queer couples and people, racial minorities, foreigners, anyone she deemed interesting. One of them, being John Perrault.

Bauer, Denise. "Alice Neel's Female Nudes." Woman's Art Journal, vol. 15, no. 2,

1994, p. 21, www.jstor.org/stable/1358600?seq=2.

doi.org/10.2307/1358600. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020

Griffey, Randall . "Alice Neel and Gay Liberation - the Metropolitan Museum of

Art." Metmuseum.org, 12 June 2021,

www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/alice-neel-and-gay-liberation.Accessed

24 Mar. 2025.

"Phoebe Hoban - Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty." Phoebehoban.com, 2025,

www.phoebehoban.com/alice_neel_the_art_of_not_sitting_pretty_101966.ht

2025. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025. webpage author

Quinn, Bridget. "Alice Neel: How to Persevere and Live the Artist's Life." Literary

Hub, 8 Mar. 2017, lithub.com/alice-neel-how-to-persevere-and-live-the-

artists-life/. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Searle, Adrian. "Alice Neel Review - Sexy, Wonky Portraits of Radicals, Poets,

Feminists and Naked Art Critics.' The Guardian, The Guardian, 15 Feb. 2023,

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/feb/15/alice-neel-review-sexy-

wonky-portraits-of-radicals-poets-feminists-and-naked-art-critics. Accessed

24 Mar. 2025.

Associated Places

by Tehya Dibert

John Perreault was a queer man born in Manhattan and raised in new jersey. He started his less than illustrious creative career as a poet and an artist, releasing poetry book after poetry book. That was before he moved on to become an art critic. His work was accessible and respected. He even had a hand in predicting the term minimalism to describe certain art. He climbed the metaphorical ladder and landed a high up position in the publishing, the Village Voice. Perreault used his position as chief art critic for The Village Voice to promote fringe artists and concepts. He was ever so supportive of feminist art when it gained popularity in the 70s, and he made cases for Judy Chicago, queer art, and more. He also fought for AIDS representation. He had a vast appreciation of all different types of art, and his reviews and attention were necessary for artists trying to make it in the 70s. His work was a vital part of understanding the art movements of the 70s. He wasn’t just a critique and poet, he was a curator as well. He was curating a show on male nudes when he approached Neel to request to exhibit one of her racier paintings. She declined, and suggested she paint him instead. And he accepted. This wasn’t a one time adventure either, seeing as how he wasn’t painted only by Neel either, as his nude form graces other artists canvases as well.

Grimes, William. "John Perreault, Art Critic (and Artist) Who Championed the

New, Dies at 78. The New York Times, 9 Sept. 2015,

www.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/arts/john-perreault-critic-artist-and-poet-dies-

at-78.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Maximilíano Durón. "Visual AIDS Exec Director Reflects on 35 Years of "'Day

without Art."" ARTnews.com, 2 Dec. 2024, www.artnews.com/art-

news/news/visual-aids-day-without-art-kyle-croft-interview-1234725508f.

Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

to, Contributors. "American Painter, Art Historian, Historian and Poet (1937-

2015)." Wikipedia.org, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 26 Mar. 2013,

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/john_Perreault.Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Tucker, Jennifer. "John Perreault [Alice Neel)." Sartle, 24 June 2015,

www.sartle.com/artwork/john-perreault-alice-neel.Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Alice Neel | John Perreault | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2021). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti…

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by Tehya Dibert

Charles Leslie was a queer man born in born in Deadwood South Dakota, a place not known for its queerness. Leslie found a deep interest in queer history when he was stationed in Germany during the Korean war. It was there where he was exposed to the works of Mangus Hirschfeld, a sexologist who studied queer identities. It wasn’t until this discovery that Leslie realized that there was substantial queer history to be found, especially in art. In 1962 Leslie met Fritz Lohman, an interior decorator with connections in high places. Partially due to his new lovers resources, and partially because of his own connections in the art and theater societies, Leslie was able to collect more art. He continued to collect art, specifically queer coded art, and art by queer people. Leslie’s focus was erotic queer art, or art that had a certain “frisson”. The world wasn’t very accepting of queerness in media, but a few things in 1969 might have changed the public’s view. Leslie claims those events are Woodstock, the stonewall rebellion, and his very own exhibition of homoerotic art he and his partner held in their Soho home. By 1972, the couple had already hosted 3 such exhibits, never with a shortage of participants or attendants. Over the years, the exhibition has moved from their home, which has since been lovingly dubbed the “phallus palace”, to The Leslie Lohman Gallery on Broome Street in 1972 after the third home exhibition, to finally receiving a provisional charter allowing them to become the first gay art museum in 2011 and having their first show at that location in 2016. The birth of this collection took place over the AIDS crisis, and sadly a portion of the art they have acquired was due to queer artists passing and their art needing to be rescued to not be forgotten or erased.

This historical context shows how fresh the concept of openly queer art was in the 60s and 70s, but also that it was by no means unpopular. It was simply suppressed, despite its large fanbase of both enjoyers and creators.  

Ryan, Hugh. “What It Took to Create the World’s First Gay Art Museum.” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 July 2015, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-it-took-create-worlds-first-gay.... Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Wikipedia Contributors. “Charles Leslie (Art Collector).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Leslie_(art_collector). Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

---. “Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art.” Wikipedia, 28 Jan. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie-Lohman_Museum_of_Art. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Alice Neel and John Perreault were both what some would consider “weird”. They were unique and did things their own way. But they had their fair share of struggles. I feel like their activism and perseverance, especially considering the time they lived in, said a lot about them. Neel was a feminist icon. She struggled with concepts of feminism, motherhood, loss, restriction, and finally freedom. She portrayed women in such an intelligent way. She knew about the male gaze and how women in art have been objectified, and she chose to use her talent to combat that and create the change she wanted to see. She knew what it felt like to be judged, stifled, lost. And she never wanted to create that for her subjects. Perreault, despite being a man, was an ally for feminist movements and women’s rights. He was also a supporter for queer rights, as he was a gay man. He used his position as a top critic to boost art that was outside of the norm, much like Neels. But they were far from the only ones who wanted to see more progressive art. Leslie and Lohman’s exhibits show that hundreds of people were interested in exhibits solely dedicated to queer art. Queer artist were discouraged from making art that reflects their queerness because they are under the impression that “no one wanted it”. The same can likely be said for art that exhibits themes of feminism and race. Perreault and Leslie and Lohman created spaces for queer art to exist and be appreciated as it should in a world that doesn’t give it its flowers, and Perreault and Neel both produced said queer art and media.

Associated Places

by Tehya Dibert