_PNG.png){kind=small}
"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."
– Oscar Wilde
So, the question is obvious – do we really need portraits in the age of digital art and Instagram realities? We have technology to fuel our narcissistic dreams of having our images painted on the wall, flattering our vanity and self-love! There are selfies and smart filters to make them look like a masterpiece of our own images, if not a better reflection of what we really are! Yes, the days of sitting endless hours before an artist, and posing for the ‘at your best’ postures are over by now. Then, what is the point in revisiting portraiture and portrait art? Well, as an art-lover and artist, one must revere the legacy of an art that has been a window to the human soul, capturing the essence of individuals and their social standing across time. In this blog, we will evaluate conventional to contemporary portraits that map the transformation of portrait art through the passage of history, highlighting renowned portrait artists and iconic works that have shaped this enduring genre. Let’s trace our steps back to where it all began.
The Birth of Portrait Art: Exploring Classical Antiquity
The grand and majestic art of portraits traces its roots back to ancient civilizations like the Egyptian or Greco-Roman societies. The Egyptian tomb paintings of pharaohs show stylized features, symbolizing their divine status. Greek and Roman sculptures, such as the famous busts of Julius Caesar, emphasize realism, striving to immortalize leaders and philosophers in marble. These classical portraits were less about individual character and more about political and social representation.
Paying Homage to a Golden Age of Portraiture: Renaissance Idols
The art of portraiture gained prominence from the Renaissance period of the 14th to 17th century. Renaissance artists like Jan van Eyck, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, etc., revolutionized portraiture, bringing depth, emotion, and lifelike detail to them (which reminds us of the mysterious Mona Lisa and her half-smile). Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael mastered the use of light and shadow, known as chiaroscuro to create strikingly realistic images.
‘The Arnolfini Portrait’ as one of the celebrated figurative paintings by one of the master artists of the Northern Renaissance, Jan van Eyck or the Sfumato technique used in the portrait of Mona Lisa shows the period’s inclination towards symbolism and realistic portrayals. Renaissance portrait artists deliberately tried to move beyond the physical likeness, to portray the inner world or the psyche of their subjects. And that has made these art pieces timeless!
Intricate Baroque and Rococo Portraiture: Blend of Drama and Elegance
The Baroque period of art of the 17th century came up with themes of grandeur, motion, contrast, and bold hues. There were famous painters like Caravaggio or Rembrandt who worked on light and shadow to create dramatic resonances. Just look at the self-portrait of Rembrandt, where the deep introspective look makes the viewers think of an artist’s intimate journey.
The Rococo era leaned towards more sophisticated, soft pastel hues, and romantic portraits, just like the elegant portrayal of ‘Marie Antoinette and her Children’ by Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun. It reflects a graceful poise, showcasing the royal figure as a loving mother.
There are countless famous female portraits like Madame de Pompadour (Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, 1721 - 1764), Francois Boucher, 1756 — 1758, or the Portrait of Maria Adelaide of France in Turkish-style clothes, Jean Etienne Lìotard, 1753, Marie-Antoinette with the Rose, Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1783, etc. Their lavish backdrops and extravagant clothing & accessories show the pompous art and culture, distinctive of the rococo period.
The 19th Century: Journeying from Realism to Impressionism
"There are only two styles of portrait painting; the serious and the smirk."
- Charles Dickens
The 19th century has gone through a flux as society shifted towards industrialization. Portraiture started to take a new shape and passed through a flurry of movements. The Realist approach, led by artists like Gustave Courbet, sought to depict subjects with raw, unfiltered accuracy, while focusing on ordinary faces rather than nobility.
Nonetheless, with the emergence of Impressionism, the late 19th century went through a transformation wave and deviated from traditional techniques. There were artists like Claude Monet and Edgar Degas experimenting with light and color to capture moments and muses. The art of portraits had gone through a makeover through the works of famous artists who focused on the sentimental elements rather than focusing on the photorealistic images.
Even now, art-lovers revere masterpieces like ‘Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets’ by Édouard Manet that used more subtle tones and an artistic blend of light & shadow, portraying a sense of grace and emotion. This painting has the female artist Morisot in a mourning dress and hat, holding a bunch of violets that are almost invisible against her dark black clothing. The portrait has a hypnotic charm, with half of her face covered by a shadow, the other half illuminated.
Transition of Modernism to Expressionism: Treading a New Path
“What fascinates me much, much more than anything else in my metier is the portrait, the modern portrait.” - Vincent Van Gogh
The next century was up for revolutionary art movements and produced some rebel artists and master creators including some famous portrait artists like Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele, or Francis Bacon. Abstraction was the call for the hour, and thus the paintings shifted their focus from likeness to raw emotions and psychological revelations. The Cubist art of Picasso, exploring the fragmented faces like that of Portrait of Dora Maar showed an inclination for geometric aesthetic, while challenging conventional modes of portraiture.
Think of the awe-inspiring and bizarre portrait ‘My Birth’ by Frida Kahlo, the strange and deeply psychological depiction of the birth of adult Kahlo, coming out of her mother’s womb, seen as a theme of self-exploration and rebirth. She tried to capture some important moments in her life through these unusual portrayals.
Another deeply surreal portrait of Salvador Dalí in his ‘Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon’ tells an intriguing story. The eccentric art of Dali showcases the outer self of a man, in contradiction to representing the inner self. This can be an anti-psychological portrayal of an artist who is keen on painting a false mask of a man, not the man himself!
Conveying intense emotions through faces and features became a hallmark of expressionist artists Egon Schiele or Francis Bacon. The distortion of faces shows the artist's passion towards unveiling raw sentiments, as seen in the work ‘Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X’ – an uncanny and weird interpretation of the classic portrait art, that showed the unrest and turmoil of the modern world. Well, Bacon was not intrigued to draw mere faces, he painted people seen through a deep contemplative lens, sometimes distorting elements in the whole composition.
“People have been dying around me like flies and I’ve had nobody else to paint but myself … I loathe my own face."
- Francis Bacon
Redefining Identity through Contemporary Portraits
"A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it." – Edward Steichen
The contemporary art world is more inclined on experimenting with portraits in a diverse scale involving photography, digital art tools, a blend of techniques, and unconventional methods to push the limits of this artistic genre. Some portraits showcase hyperrealism in larger-than-life size portraits like that of American painter Charles Thomas Close, toeing on the fine line between photography and painting. There are talented artists like Kehinde Wiley who is fascinated to paint Afro-American personalities as Greek heroes, as seen in conventional European portrait paintings. The bold hues, vibrant patterns follow the grandeur of Baroque or Rococo style, but with a modern perspective. Kehinde chooses his subjects randomly, often picking some strangers or bystanders to cast them as his models. Though his famous creations are showcased on various esteemed galleries and wall spaces, he was honoured to paint the official presidential portrait of Barack Obama, now showcased at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
There is still more to the story. The showstopper street art of Banksy and JR has improvised and added more meaning to the genre, by bringing these personal representations to the public sphere, blending artistic narratives with activism. The realm of self-portrait has also gone through a makeover virtually with social media allowing individuals to curate and personalize portraiture as unique visual identities.
A Wall of Evolving Faces of Portraiture: The Changing Human Story
From cave paintings of Altamira to the contemporary canvases, portrait art has stood the test of time, evolving, yet reflecting the ever-changing human story. So, what lies ahead for the next generation of portraiture? That can only be assessed through the works of the next generation of artists and their interpretation of the genre. With the changing canvas of this celebrated art form one thing remains the same: the truth that portraits continue to capture the essence of humanity. Whether through the masterful strokes of Rembrandt, the fragmented visions of Picasso, or the digital innovations of today’s artists, portrait painting mutates but never fades. A contemporary British artist David Cobey has enlightened us on the complexity of this genre revealing a profound and penetrating truth -
“Painting someone's portrait is, of course, an impossible task. What an absurd idea to try and distill a human being, the most complex organism on the planet, into flicks, washes, and blobs of paint on a two-dimensional surface.”
David Cobley
Comments