I admire the realistic expressions on both of these people-their emotions are palpable, moving. The viewer’s left to wonder what’s gone wrong here: what troubles him so; why she’s reaching out to console him. This is a portrait of real people & enigmatic for its unanswered questions.
Alice Neel captures interiority in people. This 1954 painting, same year as Brown vs Board of Ed, & 5yrs before the Lovings were convicted for violating Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924. The couple may be ‘interracial’, maybe not. Emmett Till 1955. Working class people. The worry is real.
Though I learned about Brown v Board of Ed in school, I only heard about the Lovings decades later & still can scarcely believe that happened. I was born in ‘55: much of this was before then. I had Hope in 2008. Now it’s lost. America’s worse-in Reverse: rights being stripped away. I😢for the future.