Alice Neel: They Are Their Own Gifts, 1978

A self-proclaimed “collector of souls,” the American painter Alice Neel (1900–1984) is known today for her powerful, psychologically rich portraiture. She depicted a wide range of subjects, from her family and friends to prominent critics, artists, activists, and strangers she met on the street. In this rarely seen documentary, Neel’s signature candor and wit are on full display. Providing a brief biographical sketch from her early marriage and the Great Depression through her later years in Spanish Harlem, the film also shows the artist at work on a portrait of Lucille Rhodes, who co-directed with Margaret Murphy. Excerpted from Rhodes and Murphy’s “They Are Their Own Gifts” (1978), a triptych of “film portraits” about women artists that also includes chapters on the poet and activist Muriel Rukeyser as well as the dancer and choreographer Anna Sokolow. Cinematography by the legendary Babette Mangolte.

Learn about The Met’s upcoming exhibition on Alice Neel: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2021/alice-neel

Read a new interview with the filmmakers:
https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2021/from-the-vaults-alice-neel-lucille-rhodes-margaret-murphy

"They Are Their Own Gifts" is distributed via Women Make Movies: https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/they-are-their-own-gifts/

As part of The Met’s 150th anniversary in 2020, each month we will release three to four films from the Museum’s extensive moving-image archive, which comprises over 1,500 films, both made and collected by the Museum, from the 1920s onward. This includes rarely seen artist profiles and documentaries, as well as process films about art-making techniques and behind-the-scenes footage of the Museum.

New films every week: https://www.metmuseum.org/150/from-the-vaults

Subscribe for new content from The Met: https://www.youtube.com/user/metmuseum?sub_confirmation=1

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