In the past, the purpose of the portrait has always been to reestablish the intensity and complexity of a topic through the use of a visual representation, so halting the passage of time right at that moment. Within the context of the long-term development of art, it provides the viewer with an image that has been filtered by the attributes of the artist and the viewer will interpret it according to his or her own sensitivity. When it comes to senior portraits at Norwich University or any other portraiture, there is a high level of importance placed on achieving that level of excellence.

Attaining the Unattainable

What the painter or sculptor could accomplish in long sessions and interminable works, photography resets in a precise instant. The art of the twentieth century goes beyond the concept of verisimilitude in the portrait, not being satisfied with the simple documentary aspect, leaving instead a wide field for emotionality and interpretation.

On the other hand, the emergence of psychology studies makes it clear how much the production of the portrait is linked to the artist’s interiority and how the other’s face is nothing more than the pond of Narcissus in which the author searches for himself. The photographic technique, if it simplifies the practical realization of the portrait, adds complexity to the act of creation now filtered by the lens of a camera. The previous example of the norwich university senior portraits also applies here.

From the Eyes of the Expert

Richard Avedon, one of the greatest portrait painters of our times writes in the preface to the book In the American West “To create the image, a portrait photographer depends on another person. The imagined subject, which in a certain sense is me, must be revealed in someone else, willing to participate in a fiction that he is probably not aware of.

My visions are not hers

In relation to the image, we have distinct ambitions. Probably his need to defend his point of view is as strong as mine, however the photographer is in control (don’t forget the example of the norwich university senior portraits. So what does the success of a photographic portrait depend on? Certainly from the amazement that the author manages to convey to the viewer who will be able to grasp in that single condensed image the long story that each character embodies.

Capturing the True Beauty

Marilyn Monroe, undoubtedly one of the most photographed women of the twentieth century, “she has the ability to paint the image inside the camera” recalls David Conover and certainly the best portraits of the diva remain those where we are captured by her tormented interiority, which only great photographers as Richard Avedon or Bert Stern have been able to grasp.

Art renews itself, transforms itself and the same artistic practice takes on new appearances and moves beyond the boundaries already marked. Photography can therefore help the artist to block the gesture which is space in a known temporal dimension.