Differences between Photographic and Painted Portraiture
In this essay I hope to define some of the fundamental differences
between the above two methods. I will discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of each as vehicles of portraiture. However, this is a
very wide question and though it has great scope for deeper analysis,
lack of words and space has prevented me from exploring each point in
more detail here.
When addressing this subject, I feel it is very important to recognise
that artists have very different objectives when creating a portrait.
For some, a portrait may simply be a study of physical likeness
whereas for others it may be a study of the sitter’s character, their
inner personality. This distinction makes it a challenging task to
compare photographic and painterly ideas of what a portrait consists
of.
I must also draw attention to the fact that photography has been
caught up in an everlasting struggle to be recognised as a fine art in
its own right. When first discovered, photography threw painted
portraits to the sidelines of the art scene because of its obvious
technological and economical advantages. Many people at the time
thought nothing could exceed these imitations as portrayals of people.
However, it was not long before photography was slated badly by many.
Artists regarded photographs as mere regurgitations and made clear
that ‘…imagination, rather than imitation is required of art.’[1]
On the contrary it has been said that photography was a new means of
pursuing the ends of painting.[2] This is the view that photography
was a continuance of painting which took one step further and opened
many doors to new innovative ideas which could be applied to
portraiture. Gombrich said of photography: ‘It has drawn attention to
the paradox of capturing life in a still, of freezing the play of
features in an arrested moment of which we may never be aware in the
flux of events.’[3] Along this train of thought, one can see that
photography helped artists achieve something other pictorial media
could not. An example of this use of photography can be seen in
photorealist artist, Chuck Close. Close’s works are paintings of
photographs much more than paintings of the people themselves. He
relied on creating an exact copy of the photograph to compose his
pictures, including details such as the slightly out ...
... middle of paper ...
...istory 1839-1900
Cambridge University Press (1997)
J.Friday Aesthetics and Photography Ashgate (2002)
J. Woodall ed. Portraiture: Facing the Subject Manchester University
Press (1997)
Sources consulted but not cited
G Clarke ed The Portrait in Photography Reaktion Books (1992)
M Rogers Camera Portraits Oxford University Press (1989)
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[1] A. Scharf, Art and Photography, Penguin Books (1968) p.47
[2] J. Friday, Aesthetics and Photography, Ashgate (2002)
[3] E.H.Gombrich, The Image and the Eye, Phaidon, Oxford, (1982) p,116
[4] J. Woodall ed, Portraiture: Facing the Subject, Manchester
University Press (1997) p.126
[5] Woodall, p.128
[6] This is of course excluding editing, altering and airbrushing
which can be applied to a photograph after its completion.
[7] S.West, Portraiture Oxford University Press (2004) p.1
[8] Gombrich, p.115
[9] Woodall, p.240
[10] Woodall, p.240
[11] Gombrich, P.106-7
[12] M.W.Marien Photography and Its Critics: A Cultural History
1839-1900 Cambridge University Press (1997) p.97
[13] Gombrich, p.118
[14] West p.48
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