I’ve decided to continue with the portraits – it’s very satisfying & there are so many styles & media. There might be more interesting things to look at than a single human face but when you put a whole bundle of different artists & styles together it’s another story.
Stanley Spencer (1891-1959), Portrait of Hilda, 1949
Long-suffering Hilda looks very long-suffering in this portrait by her complex (feckless) artist husband. He may have been an artistic genius, but that’s little consolation to a woman scorned & left to bring up his children. So much about Spencer seems to have been complicated & unconventional. Later, after his second marriage collapsed & when Hilda was ill, he’d visit her again & the poor woman didn’t even have the satisfaction of outliving the cad.
Suzi Nassif (b. 1973), Aida
Inspired by the opera of the same name, I thought at first this work was a multi-media piece but is painted in acrylic on canvas. From Lebanon, Nassif often uses icons of popular culture & Surrealism in her works.
Georges Braque (1882-1963), Head of a Woman, 1909
This Cubist painting was one of Braque’s first after leaving art school. It does have a sketchy, experimental air & it could be argued doesn’t go far enough in this style – perhaps there is too much detail? Certainly some of his later portraits are more abstracted.
Vladinsky (b. 1988)
It’s difficult to put a caption to this, so I’ll go with a quote from the artist himself, who, in art, recommends you “let go when you feel you have to."
David Shrigley (b. 1968)
It’s quite a lot of detail for a Shrigley work but the force of the stare & sense of derangement are intense. I feel I can actually see colours in this. The bloodshot eyes, the pasted-down hair & unshaved chin are all evocative of a very tired man indeed. Not to mention the deep furrows in his brow. You can be just as sick of looking at masterpieces as at bad art I guess.
Kate Oleska, Portrait of an Artist, c. 2017
A beautiful portrait in oils from an artist who also works digitally. She describes this as, “A portrait of a man contemplating the beauty of the sea & the marina on a cold spring day. I was captivated by the contrast of the dark clothes Paul was wearing that day, the white wall of the marina & different shades of blue hiding in the shadow.”
Amy Sherald (b. 1973), They Call Me Redbone, But I’d Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake, 2009
Alongside Kehinde Wiley’s (who has featured in several other blogs) Barack, Sherald painted Michelle Obama’s official portrait in 2018. She questions notions of race & colour by using grisaille (shades of grey) when depicting African American people. Her figures are usually in everyday settings with simplified backgrounds.
Dario Moschetta, Portrait 422.2020, 2020
Moschetta uses techniques in his portraits that make them resemble older, worn surfaces. He also places layers of paper on top of each other & even uses a chisel to create a weathered effect.
Matthew James Collins (b. 1970), The Young Architect
There is more than a nod to past masters in Collins’s work & it is no surprise to learn he spends half his year in Italy, studying sculptural & painting techniques & works.
Irma Gruenholz, Inside Glow
This head really reminds me of the old-fashioned types of hairdryers you had when I was still a kid. You’d put this big plastic hood on, which would cover your hair completely. It would be attached to a very specific-smelling tube – a bit like that found on a tumble drier (also old) that you’d stick out of a window – which in turn would attach to a machine that heated your head to varying degrees & took about three days to dry your hair. This is made of clay though. Anyway.
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