Alice Neel, an expressionist portraitist of unusual commitment, worked on WPA projects (Works Progress Administration, 1935-1943) in the 30’s and early 40’s. During this time, she lived and worked in Spanish Harlem and painted numerous portraits of the people she met and saw on the streets. She spoke of this tuberculosis patient as "the face of Puerto Rico."She compared herself to Balzac as an observer and interpreter of the human comedy, and openly embraced human behavior--even when it was shocking or a disturbing revelation of suffering. She wrote of herself as a "collector of souls," and her unflinching but generous portraits are witnesses to that fact.