Other early paintings succeed in spite of their mismatched style elements. In Spanish Woman, c. 1950, the warm yellows and cool greys used to model the sitter’s bare arms are assertively unrefined. Perhaps the ragged edge of German Expressionism was still a favored instrument in Neel’s toolbox. But the color itself, an ochre set against a deep green, seems a genuine attempt to suggest the woman’s skin tone, the like of which has no real precedent in Western painting. This raises the whole issue of skin color and Neel’s unique position north of 96th Street and in art history. Her empathy for the people she shared life with was more than a political posture, though it was obviously initiated by political sentiment. As an enthusiastic member of the neighborhood (El Barrio translates as “the neighborhood”) she had to invent ways of painting people who did not look... (https://hamptonsarthub.com/2017/03/27/reviews-art-review-alice-neel-portraits-explore-the-true-colors-of-the-human-race/)