Teachers Notes - In The Frame: Plymouth's Portraits Revealed

In The Frame: Plymouth’s Portraits Revealed

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Contents About the Teachers Pack

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Introduction to the exhibition

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Selection of works in the exhibition

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Ideas for activities

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What can we do for you?

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How to book a visit

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Further resources

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Cover image: Nicholas Condy, Portrait of an Old Fisherman c.1830 Š Plymouth City Council (Museums and Archives)

3 About the Teachers Pack The aim of this pack is to provide a way to look at, learn from, and engage with the various themes, characters, and artworks included in the exhibition In The Frame: Plymouth’s Portraits Revealed at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, opening on 13 December 2014, and closing in 2016 for the Plymouth International History Centre build phase.

Elements of this pack can support your visit to the exhibition, and can also be adapted for use in the classroom pre- or post- visit.

Please refer to page 8 for guidance on how to book a visit.

Introduction to the exhibition In The Frame: Plymouth’s Portraits Revealed delves deeply into Plymouth's portrait collection and presents new research into some of the characters in the collection that are new or rarely seen.

It features our newest acquisition – the first known self-portrait in oils by Plymptonborn 18th century artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds. This will be set amongst other paintings of artists including self-portraits by James Northcote and Edward Opie.

To find out more about Sir Joshua Reynolds, please refer to our dedicated ‘Sir Joshua Reynolds’ teachers notes, which can be found either on our website or our new ISSUU site.

You can come face to face with some of Plymouth's maritime greats too – from Hawkins and Raleigh to 18th century Admirals and George Gibbon, the Lieutenant Governor of Plymouth in the early 1700s, painted by Thomas Hudson.

Important local faces and families will also feature – from William Cookworthy, the founder of the Plymouth Porcelain factory, to past MPs and Mayors of Plymouth, to the last town crier of Devonport.

4 Selection of works in the exhibition

Nicholas Condy Portrait of an Old Fisherman c.1830 Oil on panel, 23 x 17.5 cm PLYMG.1979.12

Condy was born in Torpoint and based in Plymouth. He is better known for his seascapes, landscapes and interiors in watercolour rather than for his portraits.

Rather than a formal portrait of a much decorated sea captain, here Condy has painted a fisherman – many were based on the Barbican at a time when fishing was a major industry in the city.

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John Collier Self-Portrait 1928 Oil on canvas, 89 x 68 cm PLYMG.1935.8

Collier uses the technique of trompe-l’oeil in this self-portrait to make his hand appear as if it is coming out of the picture frame. Such tricks were often used by artists to explore ideas of depth and space. In using it for his self-portrait, Collier is presenting himself as an explorer of the boundaries between image and reality – an appropriate occupation for an artist.

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Stephen Finer Head of a Woman Oil on canvas 1985 PLYMG. 2014.77

Finer has been exhibiting his portraits since the 1980s. He develops his portraits spending long studio hours with his sitters who are often close friends, building up the paint on the canvas. His paintings are worked and reworked until the experience of the other person is captured.

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Lynette Yiadom-Boakye To Tell Them Where It’s Got To 2013 Oil on canvas, 60 x 55 cm © the artist. Courtesy the artist and Corvi Mora Gallery PLYMG.2013.177

Yiadom-Boakye paints portraits that are not strictly traditional. Rather than painting real people, her subjects are all imagined. Through the process of painting they are brought to life and become familiar. Yiadom-Boakye studied for her BA at Falmouth College of Art. Her work is shown globally – including this painting, which was exhibited at the 2013 Venice Bienniale. She was also nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013.

Purchased through the Contemporary Art Society’s Acquisition Scheme for Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, with additional support of Corvi Mora Gallery, 2013

8 Ideas for activities Create a sketchbook Using a sketchbook is very important. Sketchbooks are brilliant places to explore ideas, colours, and words. They can be scrapbooks, diaries, and can house collections. Sketchbooks are not just for sketching!

Using photocopies, newspapers, magazines, fabric, paint, prints, inks, charcoal, and pencils – whatever materials you like – create your own sketchbook. Think of your sketchbook as a self-portrait. Try to include some portrait drawings/ paintings/ prints/ collages in your sketchbook, amongst the other materials that you’ve gathered. Schools usually have long-reach staplers, so use one of those to staple the folded sketchbook together, or they can be stitched together with wool or string.

Books can be works of art in themselves – search for ‘artists books’ online.

Exploring materials Many of the portraits and self-portraits on display in the exhibition are paintings.

Try and make a portrait of either yourself or another person using paint. Do you think it is important to know the person you’re painting? Could you paint a portrait of someone just from a photograph?

While painting the portrait, try to explore your materials a little. Use various sized brushes – small, medium and large. If you don’t have large brushes, try using masking tape to stick two or three smaller ones together. Try using a brush stuck to the end of a long bamboo stick. Maybe try using non-art brushes – dustpan brushes, washing-up brushes, even brooms. Can you control the paint easily?

Try using a painting knife with thick, undiluted paint. Try watering down the paint so it dribbles down your painting. Try pouring on paint while your painting is flat on the floor.

What do these techniques add to your work? Can they be used to tell us anything about the sitter?

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Portrait Remix Take a portrait painting from our collection – you can find them by searching on BBC Your Paintings. Click on Galleries and Collections > England > Devon > Plymouth City Council: Museum and Art Gallery.

Print some of the portraits in our collection as A4 images. Now we’re going to remix them. A remix is a song that has been edited or completely recreated to sound different from the original version – a remix of a painting could be similar.

It can be edited by removing sections. It can be completely recreated to look different to the original. It can also be changed with additions.

Using magazines and newspapers, find images that can be taken from these sources that replace sections of the paintings – it could be a round object (a gold ring, the sun, a football) to replace the face, similar coloured objects to replace clothing, or other ‘places’ to replace backgrounds. Don’t be limited to these ideas though – there are so many options!

Double Exposure

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Using digital SLR cameras to create double exposure portraits can also be really exciting. This idea has been adapted from a www.popphoto.com tutorial. The aim is to first create a silhouette of a face/head, then combine this with another image or texture in the camera itself:

Step 1 Check your camera can take double exposure photos – not all can. Once you’ve checked, shoot the silhouette of a face/head in profile. Take it against a white sky or a flat white wall in school. When shooting outdoors, a low camera angle can help get a clean white background with no intruding clutter.

Step 2 Find the background texture. Colour helps, and so do line and complementary shapes. As with the silhouette, find a texture that can be captured on white, with a minimum of surrounding clutter. This way, the combination of the two images works better. Think carefully about the texture you select – what is this saying about you?

Step 3 Prepare your camera. When you’ve found the texture to place within the silhouetted figure, you’re ready to make the double exposure. Dig through your camera’s settings to find the multi-exposure mode. Select it and switch your camera to live view. Find and select the base silhouette on the memory card. It will be displayed on the LCD screen.

Final Step Line up the images. With the silhouette displayed on your camera’s LCD screen, aim your lens at the textured subject. The texture (i.e. leaves, trees, flowers – whatever you’ve selected) will appear within the black silhouette (the ‘head’ area).

Finesse the texture’s effect by adjusting the camera angle, zoom, and exposure settings. When the textured overlay complements and fits well within the silhouette, fire away. Your camera will automatically merge the two.

11 What can we do for you?

We are able to offer schools various options when visiting the exhibition. Visits can be arranged for anywhere between one class to an entire school. In many cases, a member of staff can be present to facilitate your visit. We are also very happy for you to visit as a self-directed group.

The exhibition provides a perfect opportunity for your pupils to experience nationally significant architecture and art first hand – and will act as a starting point for working in sketchbooks, fact finding, and talking about the themes that surround the exhibition.

How to book a visit Booking in advance is essential for visits.

We want to ensure your group has the best experience possible when visiting, so please remember to contact us first before organising your trip. We are very popular with schools, colleges and other user groups, so our galleries can get very busy from time to time.

For enquiries for school visits, contact museumvisits@plymouth.gov.uk. Please have a range of possible dates available before contacting us, as it may not always be possible to offer you your first choice.

Please remember to bring along sketchbooks and pencils for your visit, as wet or dusty materials will not be permitted in the exhibition galleries. If you have any questions regarding materials, please contact us using the email above.

Further resources Many of our previous Teachers Packs, Notes, and Resources are available as PDF downloads from our website www.plymouth.gov.uk/museumlearningresources.htm