Art Review #1

Art Review #1
Whitney Hale
Fine Arts 10503



Just by reading the title of this particular piece of art, I was intrigued and wanted to take a closer look at the work. I chose a piece by Alice Neel titled After the Death of the Child. This certain piece is a watercolor done on paper. Neel worked on this piece during 1927 and 1928. This art work measures 11 ¾ X 8 ¾ inches and is part of a private collection in New York. As an artist, Neel kept most of her work out of reach of any type of audience. Her work has often been called risk-tasking. By knowing the basic details of this piece of art, one would think that an interpretation would be easy to conclude, but I feel that the title may lead to an interesting conclusion.
From first glance, my eyes were directly drawn to a large black tree placed in the middle of the picture. There is definitely a clear distinction in the use of color in this art piece. It almost seems like Neel separated the piece by using color in half and blacks and grays in the other half. On the half that is black and gray, there is a man standing beneath the large tree. There are also other people placed throughout the dark side of the picture. The man standing by the tree is the only man that has a face showing.
On the other half of this art work, color is used. The ground has a light green tint. There is a playground setting here also. There is a slide and swing set fenced in. Children are playing on the equipment. There are four children, and they are dressed in blues and oranges. Also on this half, there are two tall buildings behind the playground area. The perspective of the background is considered atmospheric. The sky is consisted of white and gray colors.
Aside from the basic appearances of this piece of art being unique, I think that the meaning behind it is also unique. The title of this piece immediately raised interests in me. Considering that the title is “After the Death of the Child” and the picture is laid out how it is, I think that the issue of irony comes into play with my interpretation. Irony is when the meaning conveyed in the picture is different from the actual literal meaning.
I believe that Neel placed a child’s playground in this painting for a very serious reason. When considering the title, the presence of the playground and the separation of color, leads me to think that a death has taken place and the man has to deal with it. Not only is the acceptance of death being undergone, but this man is being forced to also deal with having to be around other children. These children are portrayed as being playful and alive; unlike the child who has obviously placed away.
I think that the other side of this piece art is portraying death. Not only are the figures all dressed in black and only one of them shows a face, but the large black tree is present. The tree represents the ugly side, because it has no life on it and is bare.
As a whole, I found Neel’s piece very effective in relying a message to me personally. Although there were several factors present I definitely got the feel of someone having to accept a loss and being forced to move on. For anyone, accepting someone’s death is very difficult and challenging, but in the case of a child it would be intensified greatly, I would imagine. Although there was a somber feel to this particular art piece, I liked the ways the artist used contrasting images and emotions to reach her point.

Link to the art work: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/n/neel/neel_death_of_child.jpg