Portraiture

H. Desbrowe Annear By W.B. McInnes

Pliny, the Roman writer, said portraiture all started with tracing a human shadow, to keep the features of that person alive. In modern day times portraiture is done for many reasons; tribute, record, remembrance or a token of gratitude. That is not the only thing that has changed about portraiture, portraiture isn't just an outline anymore it now shows everything about a person, internal and external. Over time the outline has been filled in.

Portraiture has changed since the Archibald Prize was a fresh little seedling. Back then portraiture had a whole different definition,  portraiture was realistic and formal. Using the first portrait to win the Archibald Prize (see image to the right) as an example, you can see it is very formal and has a strict realistic approach. Realism is still around though not as formal as it used to be and there are modern movements of art as well. The winner of this years Archibald (see image below) shows the significant difference in styles in the last 90 years. Though the portraiture from this year still looks like the sitter it is still abstract, as the artist has used a range of colours to represent her personality. Abstract has taken away some of realism's glory. The definition of portraiture has changed, but the fully traditional style of portraiture has not yet been be wiped.

Margaret Olley By Ben Quilty

New movements of art have challenged the traditional portraiture style. While a painting so realistic it looks like a photo still amazes people, it isn't the only thing that does. People have warmed to abstract as it is something different and exciting and next to it Realism looks old. But they still want to keep realism in their grip. With these modern movements artists have enlarged the interpretation of portraiture. They have done this through many things such as distorting the face, exaggerating the features, enhancing the colours or emphasising the character or temper of the sitter.
In painting a portrait the artist must create a likeness of the sitter as well as making the painting well composed or formal. A portrait can capture two things the essence of the person or a realistic image of them, these two ideas show the difference in the last century. The character of the person can be captured by line, colour, tone or fragmented forms. This day and age we are less sympathetic to the traditional aims of portraiture, which makes it astonishing that it has survived these times as well as it has.