Fuller Brush Man

Neel titled this portrait of Dewald Strauss (1906–1974) in a knowing nod to the mid-century iconicity of his vocation as a door-to-door salesman of hairbrushes (the Fuller Brush Man or Girl was a titular character in two Hollywood movies). Yet his portrayal far exceeds the cliché, as the brushes in his breast pocket appear incidental in the context of his singular life. Interned by the Nazis in the concentration camp of Dachau, Strauss eventually escaped and emigrated to America, only to return to Germany as an Allied soldier, earning a Purple Heart for his service. Working in her Upper West Side studio/home, Neel painted Strauss in a harmony of blues and grays, while sensitively following how the folds in his suit echo the creases of his skin. With his alert stance and open expression, Strauss meets Neel’s gaze with clear-eyed sincerity, revealing an unabashed positivity in his eager pursuit of the American dream.