Jackie Curtis and Ritta Redd

1970

Jackie Curtis and Ritta Redd, 1970. Alice Neel (American, 1900–1984). 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2009.345 © The Estate of Alice Neel 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 he sometimes collaborated. Typical for Neel, the personalities of her sitters are evident in this painting. Notably, Curtis takes center stage in the image, positioning his body to cast Redd in its shadow. Neel once commented that when “portraits are good art they reflect the culture, the time and many other things.” Jackie Curtis, seen at right, was credited with pioneering the glam rock style of the 1970s.