artists, like photographers, make choices about how they see the subject. chuck close at work
TRANSCRIPT
Artists, like photographers, make choices about how they see the subject.
Chuck Close
at work
Now that we have seen ways
that the photographer
views a portrait, we will take a look at how
different artists of may cultures in history have
painted a portrait.
Some of the earliest known
portraits have been found in
Egyptian tombs, such
as this painting of a
woman made over 2,000 years ago.
Following the laws of the day, this
portrait and others was painted in profile, or side
view. The details of jewelry, wig
and head ornament contrast with the smoothly
painted faces.
Powerful emperors of
China were also recorded in
paintings on silk. Costume,
headwear, and throne all
indicate the importance of this person.
“Portrait of a Youth”
Filippino LippiHe has painted a
red cap and pleated tunic as details of color
and texture, while the window in the
background creates a ‘frame”
within the painting.
• During the Middle Ages in Europe, most artist portrayed religious subject. During the 15th century, a change occurred with a rebirth in learning and a celebration of life on earth. This period is called the Renaissance, and it reached its height in Italy.
Another Italian painter of portraits was a young woman names Sofonisba Anguissola. Here she has painted her sisters playing chess. Notice the views of each face and different expressions. A nanny peers at the game from the
background.
“Summer”by
Arcimboldo
“Juno” by Rembrandt
van RijnOne of the greatest
portrait artists of all time, the
Dutch artist Rembrandt...
This woman is a queen of great beauty
and gentleness. Notice the exciting brushwork in her cape, hair and
sleeves. Rembrandt used dramatic lighting
to highlight the subject and simplify
the background.
AlbrechtDurer
Portrait
Each culture has developed special ways of seeing.
During the 1700’s and 1800s, European
artist began to take interest in art and
cultures far from their shores. This is a
Japanese print that advertised the famous
Kabuki theater. Rather than seeing
their faces in 3 dimensions we see the expressiveness
and action of these 2 actors through simple,
careful lines and shapes.
Vincent van Gogh
studied Japanese prints . He
used and “electric” brush stroke to introduce color
and excitement in his work. Here he has included the tools of his trade. He wrote that he cut off most of his hair and his beard after this painting.
(letter to his brother, Theo)
“Girl Arranging Her Hair” by
Mary Cassatt Mary Cassatt painted with loose, soft brush strokes of color. She
chose mothers and their children for many of her subjects. This is a very informal, unposed view of a young girl fixing her
hair. Notice the wall paper in the background. It is Japanese in design.
“Girl with Peonies”
by Frederic Bazille
This portrait is more posed. Flowers are often used in portraits and have been
throughout the ages.
Sih-Chida (Yellow Feather), Mandan
Man, Karl Bodmer
Karl Bodmer was a German artist who was
asked to record the people and territories of
this mysterious land across the ocean. He
uses a paint medium that was well suited for
travelling: watercolor. This portrait is a full
length view.
Egon Schiele
“Self Portrait”War can play an
important role in the way an artist portrays the human face. In this self-portrait, we get the feeling that Schiele was very
eccentric, and not at all at peace. His wild eyes and hair give us a very different view of
a portrait.
“Head of Christ” by
Emil Nolde
This is a woodcut
using only black ink.
“Femme a la Resille”Pablo
PicassoPicasso was an artist
born in Spain. He worked in nearly
every medium, from ceramics to
printmaking to drawing. He
collected art from Africa. He was not afraid to see new
colors in the faces he painted. He knew art
is all about seeing things in a new way. This portrait is of a woman seated in a
room seen from Picasso’s unique
viewpoint.
“The False Mirror” by
Rene MagritteHere is a
painting of just one part of a
portrait, the eye! This paintings
belongs to and artist who was interested in painting
dreams and
fantasies. He was a Surrealist.
Rene Magritte
“The Portrait”
“Woman V” by Willem de Kooning
A group of artists called the
Expressionists began to apply paint in bold,
angry strokes, expressing some of their feelings
through the quality of their brush strokes and through
unusual color.
These woman are not “pretty”
paintings. They are active. Stroke sweep the
canvas almost like a sword fight.This painting is less a portrait of
one person than it is a painting of
action and emotion.
“Portrait of Leo Castelli”
by Andy Warhol
Here, Warhol has taken a newspaper
photograph of a contemporary New
York art gallery owner, enlarge it,
and painted on top of it. He has made a new portrait from
an older one.
Michael Jackson
by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol“Self-
Portrait
“Self Portrait, Strangulation”
Andy Warhol
Alex Katz is another
“pop” artist of Warhol’s
era. His work is huge
in size.Katz sometimes painted portraits
the size of billboards. In this close-up of a man
named Stanley, he uses analogous colors on the face. Is skin one tone?
So, skin
is not usually all one
tone.Alex Katz
“Self-Portrait” by Audrey Flack
Flack is a painter known mostly for her
large stilllifes, but here she has painted a
portrait of herself. She has used an airbrush
rather than conventional brushes to give her skin a very soft look. There are
many tools and techniques for painting
a portrait.
Chuck Close has been studying the human portrait for
30 years. He makes a photograph,
blows it up and works from a graph or grid to record all
the details. His paintings are
usually extremely large. Their size and detail, along with the way the
paint is applied , are what makes them
unusual.“Leslie” by Chuck
Close
Chuck Close“Self-
Portrait”
Chuck Close
Self-Portrait
“Portrait of Helga”
by Andrew Wyeth
Andrew Wyeth paints with watercolor.
Andrew Wyeth
“Trodden”His paintings
are very finished and controlled. Is
this a portrait?
David Levine’s
caricatures are some of the best in this field.
Another of Levine’s
caricatures.Stokley
Carmichael
Caricature of our
president.
David Hockney “My Parents”
Another David Hockney double portrait
Portrait by
David Hockney