“A puzzle woven around a person”
Lee Siegel in the Wall Street journal has a thoughtful overview of Elizabeth Peyton’s portraiture in the context of the Live Forever survey that opens Saturday at the Walker (or Friday, if you attend the After Hours preview party).
She includes a brief history of portrait painting, looking at more recent portraiture in terms of an “American artistic wrestling with the human face in the teeth of photography, movies, television and now the Internet.” Painters like Picasso, she notes, broke down the human visage early last century, no doubt the result of any number of complicated responses to the popularization of photography; later, artists naturally brought about a return to realism — or some semblance thereof (see Alice Neel and Chuck Close, two relatively recent surveys at the Walker).
Siegel asserts that in contemplating at one of Peyton’s portraits, “You suddenly realize that you are not experiencing a person, but a puzzle woven around a person, a social and psychological riddle that is also made up of art-historical allusions, from Antoine Watteau’s wistful youths to Pierre Bonnard’s haunting ellipses. This is not so much the image of a person as a person’s ideal image of himself.” Or, as she states later, perhaps it is Elizabeth Peyton’s ideal image of that person – or Peyton’s own ideal image of herself. Before things get too convoluted, I’ll just close by noting that painting a likeness of somebody, rich or poor, famous or obscure, ultimately does little service to reality. Instead, it opens the door to all kinds of mysteries, not just about the subject, but about the painter herself.
Speaking of mysteries and portraiture, a figure known as “Least Wanted” has a fantastic Flickr collection of that most nefarious form of portraiture: mug shots, – which, whhen you think about it, might be one of the most neutral forms of portraiture. Among the dozens of wide-ranging sets on LW’s account is a quartet of arresting (ha) females from Minneapolis (the images are copyrighted, otherwise I’d show one here). (Thanks to Hrag Vartanian.)
Tonight’s Preview Party at the Walker takes on portraiture and crime.
When portraits seek to identify a person, what information should be included? What angle or view of the face is best – profile, ¾ view, full face? In mug shots, the profile and frontal view is standard. Doesn’t the subject of a mug shot try not to be seen, even though he or she is exposed to the eye of the camera?
Now, we’re shifting away from Elizabeth Peyton’s process and entering the domain and the challenge of a forensic artist. What about those composite sketches we see on the news? How well do people really look at faces, even under duress, how much of this visual information do they retain? Finally, can this visual information be put into words? A witness tries to remember the face of a suspect and the forensic artist has to draw or paint a composite of that person.
Try describing in words the physical appearance of someone close to you; how many things do you remember? Tonight’s your chance to test your own skills and ask questions about the forensic artist’s process.
Come to the art lab and meet the expert.
Comment by Ilene — February 13, 2009 at 1:25 pm