Portretten
Research
'The beauty who created the beast'
Artist: Eva Toorenent
Made in: October 2019
Eva is a new artist and freshly graduated from the WdKa. She has a unique style mostly inspired by fantasy and monsters.
Portrait #1
This painting was created by Eva Toorenent, a newly graduated art student . It was created in October when there is a challenge called drawlloween, where there is a different prompt every day.
She had a clear backstory when creating this portrait. It shows a beautiful woman (as referred to in the painting as 'the beauty who created the beast') who is holding a monster or beast.
My first reaction to this was disgust towards the beast but adoration towards the woman. And the fact that they are so contradicting in looks.
Not only looks where what influenced my contradiction when looking at this artwork. The gold frame surrounding them, which also makes it the centre of interest, creating a feeling like they are whole together and the use of greens and dark colours are again opposing.
The colour palette used mostly secondary-complementary colours. Namely the combination of orange and green, which shows on the monster. Eva decided to use only a limited and simple palette for this, just like the tones. There is very little tonal contrast, the light source is not made clear, there aren't any sharp shadows and it is not realistically modelled.
It was digitally drawn but as if it was made with oil paint, this combination can be seen through the background is a different texture than the banner and parts drawn in the frame. The mood and emotion are expressed through these factors, the dark and contrasting colours.
The narrative of the painting is that it portrays one of the first female monster creators Milicent Patrick. She was fired after she already made the design for the monster and then her boss took credit for the beast. The contrast in the painting shows this conflict between the beauty and the beast.
Portrait #2
This photograph is made by Fay Godwin, with Sir William Empson as the sitter. Sir William Empson was a poet, literary critic and a teacher. The photo looks quite formal but it tells a whole narrative. He is looking into the distance, we do not know where to. In the background, we see a tree and some bushes. However, we do not see any colours since it was made in black and white. We do not know which season it is. Something we can also see is that he is sitting in a chair, not standing or any other pose. He is looking into the distance. What he is looking at we can only question, we will never truly know what he was looking at. This makes the photograph mysterious and interesting.
The composition of the photo follows the rule of thirds using the sitting position.
The colours aren't very interesting though, the photographer chose to shoot and/or make the photographs limited palette b/w. This does make the image very powerful because you focus more on the person sitting than on the colours if they were present. The emotions that the photographer wanted to portray in this were aesthetic appreciation, calmness and interest.
My interpretation is that the photographer wanted to portray his thoughts, his ponderance. I think the original idea was to make a portrait photo to eternalize him, but it turned out to portray so much more. It tells a narrative, you get intrigued: Why is he sitting there? What is he thinking about? What is he looking at? What season is it? What would it look like with colours?
Fay Godwin created a mysterious photograph through her limited palette and positioning of the subject.
'Sir William Empson'
Artist: Fay Godwin
Made in: the 1970s
Made of: bromide print
Fay Godwin was a photographer well known for her black and white landscapes and portraits of authors
'Official Portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth II'
Artist: Annie Leibovitz
Made in:
Annie Leibovitz, born in 1949, is an American portrait photographer. She is best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities.
Portrait #3
This photograph made by Annie Leibovitz a renowned photographer, shows the current ruling queen of England, Queen Elizabeth ll. The Photo at first glance looks quite intimidating but beautiful, there is a contrast between these which makes in it interesting. The queen looks directly at us with an intimidating but formal.
The background of this picture is what makes it intimidating, the clouds are black/grey with a soft pink sky peeking through. She is standing in the front, in the back we see a pond and some trees, it looks like it is fall or winter. This because the queen is wearing a coat and the trees hardly have any leaves.
As stated earlier the picture has a very limited colour palette. The only colour present in the picture is a light pink, it is the same colour as the queen's skin and all the highlights in the picture all are a soft pink tone.
The composition of the picture is quite simple the queen is the subject, she is standing on 1/3 of the picture following the rule of thirds. This leaves the space next to her empty but the background fills while not making it busy at all. Our perspective in this artwork is also below the queens perspective, this makes her look more prominent and intimidating. She is looking down on us.
The mood and emotion that come paired with looking at this work and analyzing it are that you see the influence of the queen she looks important and powerful. However the use of soft pink tones makes it soft, this creates a contrast. This contrast creates this stunning photograph. The photograph is not only powerful but also beautiful. I think it tells a story about the calm behind the queen and her looking down on us. Not in a negative way but in a guarding way she is protecting us, from the scary looking sky.
Annie Leibovitz has created an impressive photograph because of the limited palette, the perspective and the sky. These things combine to be both beautiful and powerful.
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