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John I. H. Baur

Alice Neel

Contemporary Art

John I. H. Baur, head of the Brooklyn Museum’s Department of Painting and Sculpture from 1936 to 1952, here appears seated in an interior space, perhaps his office. His body, cropped at the head and ankle, fills the frame. Alice Neel captured idiosyncrasies such as his lightly rumpled suit, wrinkled face, and veiny hands. One of her guiding principles as a portraitist was, in her words, that “every person is a new universe unique with its own laws.”
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
  • Place Made: United States
  • DATES 1974
    DIMENSIONS 45 1/2 x 38in. (115.6 x 96.5cm) frame: 48 3/4 x 40 3/4 x 1 3/4 in. (123.8 x 103.5 x 4.4 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1993.161
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Hartley and Richard Neel
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Alice Neel (American, 1900-1984). John I. H. Baur, 1974. Oil on canvas, 45 1/2 x 38in. (115.6 x 96.5cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Hartley and Richard Neel, 1993.161. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1993.161_PS20.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1993.161_PS20.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT © Estate of Alice Neel
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