HARD WHITE

Alice Neel was a ground-breaking American painter who revolutionized the art of the portrait in the 20th century. In this vividly-rendered novel, Melanie Dugan follows Neel’s unconventional path from her birth in 1900 through World War I, the 1918 flu pandemic, women winning the right to vote, the Depression, World War II, the McCarthy Era, the Civil Rights Movement, and second-wave feminism.

Neel worked for decades in obscurity, struggling with mental health issues, poverty, and misogyny, loving the wrong men while fighting to live on her own terms — and above all to paint.

 “This is a timely read given the current zeitgeist where hard fought for freedoms in society are under threat. It is a very compelling and beautifully crafted story about an exceptional artist and I highly recommend it,” Jocelyn Purdie, former director, Union Gallery, Kingston, Ontario in The Skeleton Press.

Woodpecker Lane Press: ISBN: 978-19906-12091

And now available on Amazon.