What Is A Portrait?

Portraits penetrate beneath the surface to reveal the psyche.  ~Alice Neel
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Johnny Depp - Vince Low single line drawing
​Oftentimes, we think of portraits as boring paintings of people who have long since died.  But portraiture can be much more than that!  
portraiture:
          +a painting, drawing, sculpture, photograph, verbal description or 
            other likeness of a person's appearance, esp of the face, AND an 
            aspect of the subject's character
A good portrait should tell the viewer something about the subject; what they look like, where they are, who they are with, their social status, their emotion, how they wish to be seen in the world, how the world sees them . . . 
All of us have our own different way of looking at the world.  Our experiences, our personalities, the people we know . . . all of these things influence the way we view our surroundings, even the way we see other people.  When we reflect on a portrait, we learn about 3 people:
  • the subject
  • the artist
  • the viewer (YOURSELF)
I like to think they're looking at me. They're actually looking at themselves.                  ~Carrie Robora Barratt
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Kim Kardashian made from emojis
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Will Smith

Types of Portraits

Although portraits vary greatly in style throughout time and culture, most fall into one of three categories:
  1. Ceremonial Portraits
  2. Power Portraits
  3. Status Portraits
  4. Emotive Portraits
Click HERE to watch a video that explains not only these types of portraits.  You may want to jot down a notes as it also explains the purpose of a portrait as well as the similarities and differences between different cultures and eras.

Questions to keep in mind . . .

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​As we examine the portraits this unit, we will keep returning to the following questions:


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  • What do you see?
  • What is the artist/subject trying to convey? What conclusions can you draw about the subject of the portrait? of the era/culture in which it was painted?
  • Is the message about the subject accurate?
  • What did the artist do to convey this message to the audience?
  • Does the portrait appeal to the other four scenes (smell, touch, taste, hearing)?
  • What does the portrait make you wonder?  Something about the subject, the artist, yourself?

Self-Portraits and Selfies

Click HERE to listen to  a curator's view of the genre of self-portraiture. 
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The video points out that a selfie is a self-portrait that serves as a Speech Act - in other words, a photo of a person that says something about that person - a.k.a PORTRAITURE!
Additionally, you can click HERE to see how the introduction of the iconic phone in hand image can change the perspective of a portrait.

Is Twitter a diary?  A new way of writing autobiographies?

Additional Artworks

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 Who Am I?  Doodle
On a piece of paper answer the following questions:
What is your full legal name?
What are your nicknames?
What is your favorite color?
What is your favorite snack?
What are the 3 most valuable items you own?
What is a symbol that represents you?
With what character from a book/film do you most closely identify yourself?
What was a significant event in your life?
Who, in your life, has been most influential? (This must be a real person.)

Sounds easy, right?  Here's the catch, you are not allowed to simply write the answers.  You must present them in "doodle form."  Look at the example above.  It need not be geometric shapes, just use your imagination!

Reflections of the Self in Portraiture