Changing face

“ The Changing Face� documenting the evolution in portrait painting

A photo essay by Ushmita Sahu

P

ortraits are the equivalent of a snapshot, a record of an individual’s appearance in time, culture and to an extent their personas. Historically portraits have been associated with the moneyed classes who could commission artists to paint or sculpt their likeness and preserve it for posterity. It embodies within its genre a desire for self- documentation, immortalisation, preserving individual identity, political and social power. The principal mediums of portraiture are painting, drawing, sculpture and photography.

Although portraiture is mostly associated with Western art, it was present in other ancient cultures as well.

Japanese portraiture dates back to the seventh century AD. Until about the twelfth century, the subjects were primarily Buddhist monks. Only after this did secular portraiture emerge. For e.g. Portrait of a Woman by Utamaro circa 1790’s are exemplary of the sophisticated stylisation of the same. The Egyptians made sculptured monuments that were idealized portraits of their monarchs intended to grant them immortality e.g. the Bust of Nefretiti circa 1345 B.C... The Fayum Portraits circa 1st century B.C. in the Greco-Roman style show inhabitants of ancient Egypt. These are amongst the best preserved paintings of antiquity and may be considered the precursors of realism. Greek and Roman sculptures portraiture is characterized by a stylistic cycle that alternately emphasized realistic or idealizing elements e.g. portrait of Homer circa 2nd century A.D.

Portrait of a woman

Nefertiti

Fayum Portraits

Bust of Homer

In Indian art the earliest known likeness can be assumed to belong to the Mohenjo-Daro & Harappa period, Bust of a Priest King circa 2600 B.C. The earliest painted portraits traditionally favoured flat decorative surfaces with stylised imagery, as seen in the portrait of Bodhisatva Padmapani from the Ajanta Caves ( between 200 B.C. to 650 A.D.). In Indian miniature this stylisation reaches a delicate refinement e.g. Nayika with Hawk circa late 1600’s. Which later in the Mughal period imbibed elements of realism and naturalism can be seen e.g. Shajahan standing on Globe circa mid 17th century.

Priest King

Bodhisatva Padmapani

Nayika with Hawk

Shajahan on globe

With the advent of The European influence, Raja Ravi Varma’s Illustrative portraits of Indian women captured the imagination of the people; in his painting Here comes papa he paints his daughter circa late 1800’s Rabindranath Tagore painted naive yet portraits with a masterful hand e.g. Face 1935. . Much later, Amrita Shergil who studied in Paris, and was influenced by Gauguin, created several exemplary Self portraits.

Here Comes Papa

Face 1935

Self Portrait

In the context of Western art, from the Italian Renaissance era, the evolution of portrait art has mirrored the evolution of society in general. At first, Christian deities were the principal subjects, then Popes, Kings and Cardinals, then nobles and other important citizens. Complex rules evolved concerning pose, angle and background of the sitter, while the overall effect was progressively enhanced by the introduction of oil paint, as well as the painterly techniques of varnishing, sfumato and chiaroscuro.

One of the most famous examples is The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Velazquez’s portrait of Pope Innocent X is sometimes considered the best portrait ever painted. Legend has it that when the Pope saw the finished portrait, he exclaimed, somewhat disconcerted: “Troppo vero!” (“all too true!”). Increased middle-class commercial prosperity during the 17th century opened up this genre to a new range of patrons e.g Hans Holbein’s Portrait of a Young Merchant.. The Elizabethans favoured the miniature, worn in a locket or set in an elaborate frame on a tiny stand. The foremost masters of this intimate and delicate form were Hilliard who made many portraits of Queen Elizabeth I.

Mona Lisa

Pope Innocent X

A young Merchant

Queen Elizabeth I

Self portraiture was also explored by nearly all portrait artists. The greatest examples of self-portrait painting include Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and in a later era, that of Frieda Kahlo, to name but a few. Rembrandt in nearly 80 self-portraits created a detailed psychological autobiography, from his youth to old age. The other important baroque portraitists were Rubens and Van Dyke. They were followed by the French neoclassical masters David and Ingres; the Italian sculptor Canova; the English painters Hogarth, Raeburn, Lawrence, Romney, and, most notably, Gainsborough and Reynolds; the brilliant Spanish delineator of character, Goya among others.

Albrecht Durer

Rembrandt

Van Gogh

Frieda Kahlo

Impressionists such as Mane (Portrait of Berthe Morisot 1872), Modigliani ( Portrait of Chaim Soutine 1916), Van Gogh, Gauguin, Soutine, Klee, Kokoschka, Matisse, and later Picasso ( portrait of Dora Maar 1973) , Sergeant ( Madame X 1884), Whistler are all known for their portraits. Portraits were a relatively unimportant part of movements in painting and sculpture during the late 20th till the 1970s.

Portrait of Berthe Morisot

Portrait of Soutine

Portrait of Dora Maar

Madame X

When it saw a revival, as artists like Francis Bacon (Self triptych) combined realism and. Other famous portraitists of this period are Lucian Freud, Alex Katz, Philip Pearlstein ( A woman), David Hockney (Mum), and Chuck Close (Self Portrait) Andy Warhol ( Marilyn Monroe) among others.

Mum

Chuck Close Self

A woman

Francis Bacon self portrait

In Contemporary art, a new wave of portrait painting use portraits to dissect cultural, political and economic ills lying just beneath the surface of the carefully constructed representations we have come to accept as “reality.” For example Rashid Rana’s Veil portraits which are created out of a mosaic of unfocused pornographic stills of women. Chinese artist Zangh Xiaogang uses his family portraits titled Bloodline to comment on Chinese political situations regarding family.

Marilyn Monroe

July 2014

Veil

Bloodline