|
Workshop Summaries
Up for Negotiation? The Role of
Artist and Sitter in
Portraiture
Emilie Gordenker, National Gallery
of Scotland
This workshop sought to ask the
unanswerable, but fundamental,
question about portraiture: how can
we address the respective roles of
sitter and artist in the
formulation of an image? Any work
of art is potentially a matter of
negotiation between artist and
sitter, but portraiture more than
any genre brings both parties
together, from commission to
completion. The workshop was
intended as an open discussion that
would formulate and elaborate
various approaches to the question.
All participants prepared an
example that might shed light on
the negotiations that engendered a
portrait (or portraits), such as an
anecdote from contemporary
literature, documentation of a
commission, a discovery made
through technical examinations, a
concrete example of the
intervention of artist or patron in
the final outcome, etc. Each person
spoke for a maximum of three
minutes, sometimes with the
assistance of an image or document.
Key ideas that emerged in the
discussion were the boundaries of
socially acceptable iconography;
the volume of portraits that an
artist produced; the importance of
considering medium and technique;
the use and consideration of dress;
the existence of topoi in accounts
of portrait painting; the ultimate
location and function of a
portrait; the use of lay figures by
the portraitist. A lively
discussion was maintained
throughout.
<<BACK
|
