About

Jane Neal made her reputation as a leading expert on the contemporary art scene in Eastern Europe. More recently she has been described by ARTINFO and The Financial Times as one of the most knowledgable independent curators working today in the field of painting. Neal has curated critically acclaimed exhibitions in cities across the globe including: Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Cluj, Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Mumbai, New York, Prague and Zurich. She was the first international curator to find, promote and work with these artists, several of whom are leading figures in today’s Art World, notably Adrian Ghenie - now regarded as one of the most sought-after artists in the world.

Neal has curated several critically acclaimed and popular travelling institutional exhibitions including: Nightfall: New Tendencies in Figurative Painting, which featured 28 of the world's most prominent established painters alongside some of the most promising emergent talents.

Neal’s recent exhibitions include: 21st Century Women - a critically acclaimed exhibition co curated with her friend and colleague, Fru Tholstrup, that celebrated the centenary of women receiving the right to vote in Britain; Disruptive Imagination - a travelling museum exhibition of paintings from the collection of Robert Runták (2016/2017) and The Nude in the XX/XI Century for Sotheby's S/2 Gallery, London - listed by The Financial Times as their 'Critic's Choice' (2016).

In 2016/2017, Neal co-curated the art for the new owners of the Hotel de Crillon in Paris with Fru Tholstrup. The pair amassed a collection of almost 1000 individually selected and important works for the owners. The unusually high quality and individuality of the art and this project, prompted journalist Claire Wrathall from The Telegraph to devote an entire feature to the initiative.

curatorial projects

Neal made her reputation as a curator by becoming a leading expert on the contemporary art scene in Central and Eastern Europe. She is also recognised as one of the most important independent curators working today in the field of painting. Neal's passion for painting started as a young child and she trained as a painter at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, before going on to take an MA in Art History at the Courtauld Institute, London.

Neal first became interested in Central and Eastern European history and culture while taking a course in the early 1990's with historian Roger Moorhouse. He was in the process of writing a book with Norman Davies entitled Microcosm, which used the rich and complex cultural history of Wroclaw (as it has been known since WWI), as a case study for a portrait of this fascinating region. Neal remembers spending as much time talking with Moorhouse about the content of his book as they did medieval history, and her imagination was fired. While still a student at Oxford she won the Alan Bullock Travel Award from her college, St Catherine's in 2001 and spent time in Prague as a result. She returned to Prague as a young journalist in 2003 and again in 2005. It was here that she first met the two young Romanian artists from Cluj - Adrian Ghenie and Victor Man - who were to become part of the 2006 seminal exhibition: Cluj Connection she curated for Haunch of Venison Gallery, Zurich, under the directorship of Juerg Judin. Neal brought together seven young artists from Transylvania for this show. Besides Ghenie and Man, the exhibition included: Mircea Cantor, Ciprian Muresan, Cristian Pogacean, Serban Savu and Gabriela Vanga. Neal was the first international curator to find, promote and work with all these artists, several of whom have become leading figures in today’s art world, notably Adrian Ghenie who is now regarded as one of the most sought-after artists in the world.

In 2008, Neal was invited to take on the role of Artistic Director of Calvert 22 in London, a not for profit foundation specialising in Russian and Eastern European Contemporary Art. She was responsible for launching the space and establishing the rich and dynamic programme of its first year. Neal has curated numerous high-profile international exhibitions in both institutional and commercial contexts. She relishes the challenge of adapting to different spaces and programmes and particularly enjoys working with individuals who share her passion for art with integrity. In 2012/2013 Neal curated Nightfall: New Tendencies in Figurative Painting, which featured 28 of some of the world's leading and most prominent emergent painters for MODEM Centre for Contemporary Arts, Debrecen, Hungary, and the Rudolfinum in Prague; and in 2014, to commemorate 100 years since the beginning of WWI, and the persistent influence of the "lost generation" on contemporary painting, Neal curated This Side of Paradise for Sotheby's S/2 Gallery, London in 2014. Recent exhibitions include: 21 Century Women (2018) - a critically acclaimed exhibition curated with her friend and colleague, Fru Tholstrup, that celebrated the centenary of women receiving the right to vote in Britain; Disruptive Imagination - a touring museum exhibition of paintings from the collection of Robert Runták which originated at the Art Museum in Ostrava, Czech Republic in 2017) had its second incarnation in Szentendre, Hungary, later that year and will travel to Slovenia in 2018/2019; and The Nude in the XX/XI Century for Sotheby's S/2 Gallery, London, 2016 - listed by The Financial Times as their 'Critic's Choice'.

WRITING

As a respected voice in the field of contemporary painting, Jane Neal has been commissioned to write numerous essays for international art publications, national newspapers and artist monographs. She co authored the best-selling Art Cities of the Future: 21st Century Avant-Gardes for Phaidon.

Today the art world is more of a world in every sense, with a larger population, a wider territory and a greater number of nationalities. Its prevailing conversation, however, has yet to catch up. Art Cities of the Future: 21st Century Avant-Gardes uncovers twelve distinct avant-gardes that have emerged around the world in recent decades. 

Twelve curators each selected eight artists to represent the avant-garde of a specific city. These artists are senior figures or newer faces, artists working in familiar mediums or inventing their own, but they all share two qualities: a commitment to experimental art and a dedication to their local milieu. In dialogue with larger concerns, their unique sensibility can be found nowhere else. 

Lively, thought-provoking, comprehensive, and packed with more than 500 images, this book widens the expected historical narrative, allowing us to imagine a future of diverse aesthetics and shared concerns in the common language of contemporary art.

WHAT LIES BENEATH SEPTEMBER 2012

Archaeology is not as far from contemporary art as it might first seem. Concerned with the recovery… Read more

Serban Savu April 2008

On first appearance, Serban Savu’s meticulously rendered paintings peopled with workers and ‘ordinary’ folk... Read more

Artreview december 2009

Referencing slapstick cinema, art history and the annals of totalitarianism, Adrian Ghenie’s paintings find ways of… Read more

Niki de Saint PHalle: The power of playfulness February 2008

The Spice Girls may have coined the term "girl power", but Franco… Read more

THE NEW ROMAN(IAN) ORDER SEPTEMBER 2009

According to legend, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi refused Auguste Rodin’s invitation to come to work… Read more

the other face of pop art october 2007

It's 50 years since Richard Hamilton gave his seminal definition of Pop Art: "Pop Art is popular… Read more

PRESS

Today the art world is more of a world in every sense, with a larger population, a wider territory and a greater number of nationalities. Its prevailing conversation, however, has yet to catch up. Art Cities of the Future: 21st Century Avant-Gardes uncovers twelve distinct avant-gardes that have emerged around the world in recent decades. 

Twelve curators each selected eight artists to represent the avant-garde of a specific city. These artists are senior figures or newer faces, artists working in familiar mediums or inventing their own, but they all share two qualities: a commitment to experimental art and a dedication to their local milieu. In dialogue with larger concerns, their unique sensibility can be found nowhere else. 

Lively, thought-provoking, comprehensive, and packed with more than 500 images, this book widens the expected historical narrative, allowing us to imagine a future of diverse aesthetics and shared concerns in the common language of contemporary art.

CONTACT

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