A quote about the significance of Portraiture in the field of art...?

Question

I'm a portrait artist, and someone I know ( I hesitate to call him a friend at this time) suggested portraiture was not as difficult or valuable as art that is created completely from the imagination. When I think of artists such as Rembrandt and Leonardo Da Vinci this notion seems quite ridiculous. I would like to reference a very respectable source to retort his statement. If someone knows of a particular quote or passage I could send him I would be very happy. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hey Martin,

My teachers always told me, if you cannot paint a portrait, you cannot do an abstract of importance.

Painting Quote of the Day: Lucian Freud on Portraiture
"A painter must think of everything he sees as being there entirely for his own use and pleasure. ... And, since the model he faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture, since the picture is going to be there on its own, it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model." -- Lucian Freud


Portraiture was the most popular type of painting in America from colonial times well into the nineteenth century.

Answer 2

Obviously the boy is not educated in the visual arts.
I don't know of any quotes confirming the value of portraiture but I will say that imagination can run rampant with no direction at all.
Portraiture has been with us for millenniums and we would have no idea of the face of Ramses without it. Nefertiti's beauty would never have been presented to peons like that uneducated boy.
Portrature is a difficult task in that you have to capture the essence of the subject. More so than just the image.
Imagination can run through a ten year olds guache poster of a blue jay and do nothing. Imagination can be applied by an artist to go nowhere as well as a factory workers imaginative ball point pen.
You can do anything with anyones imagination. ...however.
You cannot capture the feeling nor the image of one without imagination.Although your detractor seems to think that portrature lacks that vital part of an artist he is wrong.
I would direct him to Pissarro's " Portrait of Madame Pissarro Sewing near a Window". The work of this imprssionist master took a great deal of imagination. All you have to do is look at the painting and you can see his imagination in the brush strokes. The colours slurred together wet in wet, his detailed accents applied wet over dry, and the way he left his ground to stand for the linen in his subject matter.
This takes a great degree of imaginative thinking, and the artist portrayed a warmth that is rare in canvas. This takes the skill of educated imagination.
What this person has done is blanket his point without thinking. In doing so he has disregarded the value of portraiture, in it's historical context, it's intrinsic context, and left out the idea that portaiture has no imagination in it at all.
I know how you feel about his comment, I'm an artist and have heard all kinds of degrading comments about my field.
I wouldn't bother with him but if you must , then you should know that you could be throwing your pearls to the swine.

Answer 3

"A good painter is to paint two main things, men and the working of man's mind."

Da Vinci, Leonardo

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."

Wilde, Oscar

"I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world."

Johnson, Samuel

No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love.
Edvard Munch

The portrait is one of the most curious art forms. It demands special qualities in the artist, and an almost total kinship with the model.
Henri Matisse

Hope these suit!