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