Alice Neel’s influence

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Although mostly unheralded, Alice Neel was one of the great American painters of the 20th century and a pioneer among women artists. A painter of people, landscape and still life, Neel was never fashionable or in step with avant-garde movements; when abstract expressionism and pop art were all the rage, she painted in a style and with an approach distinctively her own. Come and hear about her unconventional life and her remarkable career with the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School on Thursday, May 17, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Columbia High School’s Black Box Theatre, 17 Parker Ave. in Maplewood, and see many examples of her unique and sometimes shocking paintings. The class will be taught by award-winning art history educator Janet Mandel.