Introduction to Portraits



Introduction to

Portraits

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David Hockney

Mr and Mrs Ossie Clark and Percy (1970)

Introduction to Portraits

Before the invention of photography in the 19th century, Drawing, Painting and Sculpture were the only ways of showing how someone looked.

Through coins, medals, sculptures and paintings, the people of a country came to know and recognise the image of their king or queen, or their gods or great warriors.

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Rich people would pay artists a fee to paint their portrait. This was a way of showing how important they were and also a means of leaving an image behind after death, which could provide family or employees or historians with a record of their appearance.

In a portrait the clothing, hairstyles, furniture and background can tell us a lot about the sitter’s personality, their status (rich or poor) and the environment in which they live.

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Peter Blake

Self-Portrait with Badges 1961

In an imaginative portrait the artist may add strange or unusual things to the picture to show us how the person is feeling or what is on their mind.

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We are all people watchers

Man has always been fascinated by his own image and the image of others. Modern examples of this are ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Celebrity Jungle’ type of reality TV shows.

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Jade Goody, Coolio, Verne Troyer and Vinnie Jones from Big Brother.

What are Portraits?

A portrait is a painting, drawing or sculpture that attempts to capture the likeness of someone – usually just the face, but sometimes the whole body, or even including parts of a room or objects.

In an expressive portrait, the artist tries to express an idea about the person who is sitting for the portrait. In the 20th Century the Expressionists used distortion and exaggerated colour to depict the feelings and mood of the sitter.

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John Bratby

Jeremy and Nell Sandford 1957

People are the most important thing to us on this earth – our friends, our families and ourselves. Faces give us a clue as to what the person is like or to what they are feeling. People look very different when they are happy, sad, angry, delighted, miserable, crying or laughing.

The painters you are going to study in this unit were more interested in showing the thoughts, feelings, emotions and moods of a person than simply painting a photographic resemblance. These artists did not want to make exact copies of the real world.

In self-portraits the Artist paints a picture of his or herself and these paintings can give us clues about the artists life and experiences, personality and moods.

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L.S. Lowry

Man with Red Eyes (1938)

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