Portraiture: A study of from painting to pixels

We know we all like taking pictures of ourselves and friends everywhere we go. Sometimes we don't even know who they are, only that something about them intrigues us. But where did this self obsession and condoned voyeurism begin? Let's pick it apart and go back to the root of the individual- the portrait. What origins did it come from and what was the purpose of it exactly? Why do people still get portraiture done when there is such thing as modern technology? I mean, have they just not yet discovered the pore spot-on SLR? I think those who ask these questions will benefit from reading on, learning about the definitions, a brief history, and some of today's top portraitists who rule the fashion media domain. Namely the best, David Downton.

Definitions

A portrait has multiple meaning to different people, but a description from some of the master artists like to call a portrait, not only replicating what's in front of you, but allowing the expression of the character to exude through. The expression is not anything temporary or fleeting, but show trueness and quality. Whereas animation is all about exaggerating, portraiture is about subtlety. You are not distracted by an action of what the patron is doing or is going to do, rather the artist is more interested in telling the story of who he is getting to know. The long sittings can testify to this idea of catching the attitude and spirit of a person, opposite of a fleeting thought or snapshot. The idea is to focus on the face and its expressions to display the likeness, personality and mood of a person. Through the years, some things have evolved or re-emerged, but let's first take a look at who made these rules.

Timeline

History tells us that dead kings from Egypt, or mummies, were the first ones to have their images replicated in sculpture to convey eternal authority. They carried the tradition of Royal Egyptian portraiture through the 5th Century B.C. until the Greeks started catching on with their own replicated images of youth and the ideal. But it was the Romans that won the rendering award for immaculately replicated faces, still owed to making death masks for their ancestors. During Colonial times in America, portraits were record from self-taught painters, as status markers for the rising mercantile class. By the 20th Century, however, the skill was induced from studying abroad, inspired by the masters in Europe, but leaving the aristocracy behind. Instead, Americans now decided they would have their paintings if it meant a proud accomplishment of the individual.

Famous paintings of this time are George Washington and Rebrandt's painting of his brother, Rubens. 'Miniatures', a few inches was a keepsake accessory for long-distance relationships of any kind.

As photography became more accessible by the mid 19th century, the need for portraiture diminished as one can imagine, nevertheless it still amused the wealthy, and exemplifies the romantic mood of the affluent at the time. Joh n Singer Sargeant, as any good artist does, adds depth to his work by capturing the quality of those fleeting moments former mentioned. At the turn of the century, artists such as Thomas Eakens flipped the coin back to realism, but not soon after came abstraction artists, Andy Warhol, was popular for celebrity and 'it' girl expositions. Others were Roy Lichtenstein, Of today's artists, Chuck Close if by far one of the most experimental artists that dig deep into the portraiture, examining both the meaning and its purpose. In 1876, Realism marked another flagship for portraits.

The depiction of the inanimate object, or still-life become widely popular around Europe. Traditionally, still-life objects chosen to be placed in the portrait was iconographic for their knowledge or interest, ie: a sister with a book, and a brother with jacks & marbles. The evolution of artists mixed techniques of realism and abstraction. O'Keefe did this of the natural world using plants and flowers quite often. With technical advances in the rendering of print, engravings were superimposed to mix the old with the new. As shown, there are many different kinds of types portraits that can be defined, but the essence of a person must be captured. Fashion Illustrators need to balance the

finesse of bringing life and character into the face and form.

Fashion Illustration

Among fashion illustrators from the Eighties up to now, there are only a handful that have the element. The elements I speak of is not a formula from the Egyptians, Grecco-Romans, or the impressionists. The elements of today are precisely what the artists had in theirs- raw talent with a personal knack for unique. They made connecting and communicating with

the viewer seem so natural that it's almost expected that the norm or elite will follow. Every time someone comes across a David Downton photo, attributed to Erin O'Conner or other muse', they are bound to have the same reaction. It's simply a reflex of an appreciation for beauty and style, shown in the kind of rare painstaking perfection that only shows impulse perfection. Downton's rendering of Erin O'Conner's high contrasts and accented profiles up-play the unattainability factor and reiterating age-old views of trying to capture the ideal from the reality of average.

And here's my attempt to render who I think is one of the greatest models of all times, Christy Turlington in the style of David Downton.