the impact of the use of photography as an aid when painting a portrait

7/23/2019 The impact of the use of photography as an aid when painting a portrait

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The impact of the use ofphotography as an aid

when painting a portrait.

By Laura Bell

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Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 3

1. The Effect of Photography on rt ................................................................ !". Photography as a Tool in Painting .............................................................. #3. Photography in $odern Portraiture ............................................................. %!. &or Photography ....................................................................................... 11

!.1. Time ............................................................................................ 11!.". True Li'eness............................................................................... 11!.3. (ealism........................................................................................ 1"!.!. Ease............................................................................................. 13

). gainst Photography.................................................................................. 1!).1. Impersonality ............................................................................... 1!).". The Photograph Embodies *+eath, ............................................. 1)).3. The Impact on Painter -itter (elationship ................................... 1#

).!. *uthenticity, of the -ubect ......................................................... 1/Conclusion .................................................................................................... 1%Bibliography .................................................................................................. "1

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INTRODUCTION

Portraiture is a subect of painting that has been practiced throughouthistory and still remains central in contemporary art. It is a hugely engagingtopic0 each iewer has his or her own opinion of what constitutes indiiduality2

an issue which portraiture encourages us to thin' about.

nalysing and portraying one and other is arguably one of the moststimulating of any subect due to its ability to establish a uniersal connectionbetween us all. &or this reason2 portraiture has remained a timeless subect2adaptable to most modern practices.

Portraits continue to be an intriguing topic2 driing the need to find theanswer to uestions about the person in the image from the isual informationthey communicate. Their purpose is based on the ability to accurately coneyan intended perception of the subect to an audience of strangers0 information

that traditionally could only be gathered and interpreted from an e4tendedinteraction with the subect5s6.

In portraiture today2 it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore thegrowing popularity for artists to inole means of photography as an aid 7 oreen a substitute 7 to the traditional method obsering a lie sitter2 bringingtogether hours of sitting into a finalised study.

Painters are using photographs to encapsulate isual information of theirsubect in a single mechanical clic'2 creating a more emotionally remoedmethod of isual study. Introducing photographs as a *third member, of theportrait process allows for a distance for the artist to wor' from. This is certainto hae some affect on the outcome of a painting2 whether it is detrimental orbeneficial.

8hat we 'now of photography would imply only a benefit for the isualdetail to be accurately translated but nothing more2 it cannot communicate asubect,s true essence2 as a machine cannot hae a human e4perience2therefore cannot capture anything more than a isual representation.

The introduction of photography2 one might argue2 did not *murder,

painting0 it shoo' things up by forcing artists to consider interpreting theirworld in new ways2 illustrating their world with less realism and using moreabstract2 imaginatie methods.

9as photography ta'en oer the role of the portrait painter or hae artistsbeen euipped with a means of new possibilities through the benefits ofphotographic image capturing: I will analyse the downsides and adantagesthat photography proides to portrait painting to determine an insight into thisdebate.

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1. THE EFFECT OF PHOTOGRAPHY ON ART

The introduction of photography to 8estern culture is appro4imated to

hae happened in 1;3%2 an estimate classified not by the inentions of theprinciples of photography but rather by the discoery of the chemistry to

deelop photographs2 'nown as the camera obscura 5from the Latin camera

the impact of the use of photography as an aid when painting a portrait

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