The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 15, 2025

A colorful oil painting of two people sitting closely next to each other, looking at us. The person on our left has a medium-light skin tone, curly shoulder-length blonde hair, and is wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants. The person on our right has a light skin tone, curly shoulder-length brown hair, and is wearing a white shirt and a black skirt.

Jackie Curtis and Ritta Redd

1970
(American, 1900–1984)
America
oil on canvas
Framed: 154.3 x 108.9 cm (60 3/4 x 42 7/8 in.); Unframed: 152.4 x 106.4 cm (60 x 41 7/8 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2009.345
© The Estate of Alice Neel
Location: 229A Contemporary

Did You Know?

Jackie Curtis, seen at right, was credited with pioneering the glam rock style of the 1970s.

Description

Jackie Curtis (on the right), was a performer, writer, and singer, active in New York City’s downtown counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, and part of Andy Warhol’s creative orbit. In this double portrait Alice Neel depicts Curtis, who was gender nonconforming, together with Ritta Redd, a friend with whom Curtis sometimes collaborated. Typical for Neel, the personalities of her sitters are evident in this painting. Notably, Curtis takes center stage in the image, leaning in front of and casting a shadow over Redd. Neel once commented that when “portraits are good art they reflect the culture, the time and many other things.”
  • 2009
    (Sotheby's, New York, 2009, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2009–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Neel, Alice, and Jeremy Lewison. Alice Neel: Painted Truths. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2010. pp. 154-155, cat. 24
    Neel, Alice, and Jeremy Lewison. Alice Neel: Painted Truths. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2010. pp. 154-155, cat. 24 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 117
    "Culture Watch: Exhibitions." Women in the Arts 34, n. 3 (Fall 2016): 4-5. Reproduced: p. 5
    Quinn, Bridget, and Lisa Congdon. Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in That Order). San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2017. Reproduced p. 110; mentioned pp. 111-112. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org
    Lewison, Jeremy, Bice Curiger, and Alice Neel. Alice Neel: Painter of Modern Life. Brussels : Mercatorfonds ; Helsinki : Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, 2016. Mentioned: p. 178, cat. 52; reproduced: p. 179 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org
    Neel, Alice, and Angela Lampe. Alice Neel: un regard engagé. 2020, 87, 107. Mentioned: p. 87; reproduced: p. 87, ill. 3 and p. 107.
    Neel, Alice, Angela Lampe, Jeremy Lewison, Larne Abse Gogarty, E. Lebovici, Nathalie Ernoult, and Alice Neel. Alice Neel: An Engaged Eye. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England : ACC Art Books, in agreement with Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 106-107
    Pigeat, Anaël. Alice Neel: Les Emotions (Gladwyne, 1900-New York, 1984). Paris : Flammarion, 2022, 85. Reproduced: p. 85
    "Alice Neel: People Come First." American Art Review 34, no.1 (Spring 2022): 138-141, 144. Reproduced: p. 140
    Betard, Daphne. "Retrospective Centre Pompidou: La Comedie Humaine d'Alice Neel." Beaux Arts Magazine 461 (November 2022): 110-117. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 116-117
    Als, Hilton, Alex Fialho, Evan Garza, and Wayne Koestenbaum. At Home: Alice Neel in the Queer World. New York: David Zwirner Books, 2024. Reproduced p. 57, 58-59
    Haus der Kunst München, Haus der Kunst München Ausstellungsleitung, and Whitney Museum of American Art. 1981. Amerikanische Malerei 1930-1980: [Ausstellung], Haus Der Kunst, München, 14. November 1981 Bis 31. Januar 1982. Ausstellungsleitung Haus der Kunst München: Prestel-Verlag, München, 1981. Reproduced p. 158. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org
  • Alice Neel: People Come First. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (March 15-August 1, 2021); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum (March 12-July 10, 2022) https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/alice-neel.
    Alice Neel - Painter of Modern Life. Ateneum Art Museum/Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland (June 10-October 2, 2016); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands (November 5, 2016-February 12, 2017); Fondation Vincent van Gogh-Arles, 13200 Arles, France (March 4-September 17, 2017); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany (October 13, 2017-January 14, 2018).
    Alice Neel: Painted Truths. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (organizer) (March 21-June 13, 2010); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (July 9-September 19, 2010); Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden (October 10, 2010-January 2, 2011).
  • {{cite web|title=Jackie Curtis and Ritta Redd|url=false|author=Alice Neel|year=1970|access-date=15 June 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.345