Curated by Alison M. Gingeras at Blum & Poe in Culver City, “Pictures Girls Make”: Portraitures, takes its titular reference from the famed quote by Elaine de Kooning describing her husband Willem’s derisive attitude towards portraits as “pictures girls make.”
Spoken during the height of Abstract Expressionism, or Scribbles Boys Make, it is a comment that in all fairness could have been said in jest, but either way sums up the general indifference lent to portraiture as an art form, one that continues even through today. Including a vast array of portraits as well as artists from a multitude of sexual, racial and cultural identities, the exhibition values inclusivity in both its content and its form.
© Jill Mulleady, Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo
Photo: Hannah Mjølsnes
One exceptionally stunning piece, “Hamlet II” by Jill Mulleady, comes early in the exhibition (2021). In it, Mulleady depicts Hamlet in an androgynous and exquisitely delicate way, utilizing thin, brushy oil strokes on linen. In the same room a stunningly bold painting of a male figure titled “O’Hara Nude with Boots” stands tall (1954). Posed, as the title suggests, with only boots on, the figure has his arms over his head in a proud, unashamed posture which prompted a male friend of mine to say in response, “I aspire to this level of confidence.”
© The Robert H. Colescott Separate Property Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York;
Courtesy of The Robert H. Colescott Separate Property Trust and Blum & Poe, Los
Angeles/New York/Tokyo. Photo: Hannah Mjølsnes
Many other nudes grace the exhibition’s walls, including Robert Colescott’s “Protect Beaver Valley” (1972) situated in an upstairs gallery and Somaya Critchlow’s “X Studies the Work of Pythagoras” (2022), which also serves as the cover of the exhibition’s accompanying zine.
Utilizing the nude in distinctly different ways, Colescott’s figure becomes a pun-laden emblem for feminism and environmental causes
while Critchlow’s “X” renders a Black female as an artist, giving her agency and individual humanity beyond Colescott’s flatter, symbolic use, which skirts the line between disrespect and appreciation. Though different in these respects, both paintings utilize pop culture references and cartoonish forms to point to politically-loaded topics.
© Somaya Critchlow, Courtesy of the artist, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo, and Maximillian William, London.
Of course, no portraiture exhibition would be complete without perhaps the most famous portrait artist of the 20th century, Alice Neel. Criminally overlooked for decades, Neel was able to enjoy the spoils of success later in life. Included in Pictures Girls Make: Portraitures is a portrait of her daughter-in-law, “Nancy Greene” (1965). A classic Neel portrait, it is painted in a way that conveys both her intimacy with the sitter and complete lack of pretentiousness, an approach to art Neel totally dismissed. One can easily imagine her replying to de Kooning’s remark about portraits being pictures girls make with a sly smile and a witty remark such as
“You’re right, Willem, that’s why they’re so good.”
© Alice Neel, Courtesy the Estate of Alice Neel, Blum & Poe, and David Zwirner
One essential ingredient to the exhibition is the vast diversity of both the sitters and the artists included.
Black, White, male, female, queer, straight and whoever else is coming — the exhibition’s makeup in terms of political identity is the curatorial equivalent of Oprah’s “everybody gets a car!”
Through these choices Gingeras’ exhibition becomes an example of what can happen when we subscribe to the most beautiful form of feminism, and in a larger sense, political activism available, one that welcomes more people to the party rather than makes an enemy out of the other and generations’ long resentments out of the past. The subtext seems to state what should be obvious but nowadays feels anything but —
when we can see the value in all the different forms of life, people, and even genres of art that surround us, we can create a world that is more equitable, more beautiful, and, perhaps most importantly, more fun for everyone.
“Pictures Girls Make”: Portraitures, curated by Alison M. Gingeras at Blum & Poe in Los Angeles is on view through October 21, 2023.
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