“Hollywood wives have a tendency to go into my closet without asking,”

April 11, 2014 8:21 AM

Enough About Me. Like My Portrait? [New York Times]
posted by Fizz (27 comments total)

Artist Privilege: I have roughly three billion self-portraits by me and other people littering my files cause that's what you do when you're having a bad time in life drawing class, you draw yourself and your friends. I think my favorite is one by Fred Harper done on a paper bag.

Also Donald Bachardy is Christopher Isherwood's widower. He was left alone with his body when he died and produced an entire album of drawings. They have never been on public display.
posted by The Whelk at 8:28 AM on April 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I'm wondering if the portrait is something of a bygone era? At least for people who are not as wealthy as those interviewed or described in this article. I have a wealthy aunt and uncle who have portraits in their home but aside from that, it's not something I see in my day to day life. Most of my friends have photographs of their family, digital albums, etc. I tend to see more local art from local artists on their walls.

Is this something only for the privileged? The photograph seems to be more accessible for those without money. That's something most people have access to in large parts because of cell-phone technology.
posted by Fizz at 8:36 AM on April 11, 2014

It's working for Brendan Rogers.
posted by yerfatma at 8:53 AM on April 11, 2014

There was actually a bit in the metafilter podcast of all places where Matt, a lifetime west coaster, was completely weirded out by the idea of having a painted portrait in your house whereas the east coast members thought it was a little more normal.

I have a portrait of my husband framed in the hallway, but it's from when we first met, done in charcoal, and ..by me.
posted by The Whelk at 8:54 AM on April 11, 2014

I have a portrait of my husband framed in the hallway, but it's from when we first met, done in charaol, and ..by me.

This sounds like the beginning of a romantic comedy with plenty of mistaken identities and sparkling banter.

When I was growing up, the stairway between the first and second floors had all the family photographs, including a very large studio portrait of my mother in her wedding dress. It seems a little odd now, but it was perfectly normal then.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:57 AM on April 11, 2014

Fizz: "Is this something only for the privileged? The photograph seems to be more accessible for those without money. That's something most people have access to in large parts because of cell-phone technology."

In the 70s, my grandmother almost died from a bad bout of pneumonia (she was in her 50s then, I think), and they hired an artist to come to the house and sketch her -- charcoal or pencil, not sure. My mother still has it hanging in her house. I'm not totally sure why they didn't do a photograph -- I guess a deathbed sketch is a little less weird and morbid than a deathbed photograph? And you can be pickier with a portrait than with a photograph that shows the hospital bed and all? I'm not sure. But everyone thought it was totally normal. (My grandmother recovered and lived another 35 years.)

I have a portrait of my husband and I, that my sister commissioned from an art student when we got married. He painted it from a photograph. My mother also has painted portraits each of her four children at 12 months old, from an artist relative, who did them partly from photographs and partly from life (although not us sitting, just him observing us).

None of these are the Mona Lisa but they're all nice to have and, just, a little different than a photograph.

(I got married in the south and included in EVERY photographer package was a gigantic like 18x24" portrait of the bride. Most Southern brides display them on an easel at the wedding itself and then hang them in their home. Mine is in a box because I feel like it's a little weird, but I do have it and if I had a bigger house with more wall space I might hang it.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:00 AM on April 11, 2014

All of those paintings look horrible. Like something I'd buy at the local mall. Yeeshe.

I had a portrait done 15 years ago on a trip to Quebec City, just some guy in the street with pastels. I wanted a nice souvenir. We had a moment; he managed to capture my essence and by the time he finished, the crowd that gathered broke into applause. He really really caught the 'me' of me if you know what I mean. The portrait is gathering dust in my basement though. It's too narcissistic to have a portrait of yourself hanging up somewhere and looking at it makes me feel uncomfortably embarrassed, like I'm too much on display. I'll pass it on to my grandkids.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:04 AM on April 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I think it's sometimes affirming to see loved ones depicted in art. A while back Michel Gondry was doing little watercolor sketches of pictures sent to him by fans - my wife and I love his work so I had him paint my favorite photograph of us. It is one of our most prized pieces of artwork.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:10 AM on April 11, 2014 [9 favorites]

It's fascinating that so many people comment on the vanity of having a portrait in their home and yet in our digital lives the selfie is so pervasive.
posted by Fizz at 9:12 AM on April 11, 2014 [4 favorites]

I also sent the photo to cheeta the chimp (God Rest His Soul). His version was a little more... abstract.
except...now that I'm really looking at it again, I actually think I may just have it upside down.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:16 AM on April 11, 2014

Well, speaking as the most narcissistic and self-involved person I know, a selfie on social media is ephemeral and passing, a snapshot, a Polaroid - an actual painting of yourself in your house is visual shorthand for grotesque egomania.

Also it's just a little "Norma Desmond" you know?
posted by The Whelk at 9:25 AM on April 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Fizz: It's fascinating that so many people comment on the vanity of having a portrait in their home and yet in our digital lives the selfie is so pervasive.

I think that has to do with the ubiquity of digital cameras, to the point they're almost any cell phone you can get now, as well as tablets and hand-held game system, not to mention how inexpensive stand-alone digital cameras are. And with digital images, it's so easy to post them online, or even get them printed fairly inexpensively, that they're pretty much disposable goods.

Painted portraits, on the other hand, require someone with a modicum of artistic talent, and generally cost money. To get your portrait painted (or sketched, or drawn), means you have to set up a sitting and pay someone to depict you for posterity. Even getting a formal photograph portrait taken seems more self-focused than the casual photos captured by friends and family, which are just random moments in time, versus Here We Are Posing.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:25 AM on April 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

At the same time, I've had a few family portraits taken in the last year, with my little family plus either my parents or my wife's parents, and everyone really likes having something that does a good job of capturing us all. I'm not sure I could talk everyone into sitting for a group portrait, though.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:30 AM on April 11, 2014

If you really want a portrait of yourself hung in your home, get one done with your SO and nobody will ever call you on it.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:31 AM on April 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

If you really want a portrait of yourself hung in your home, get one done with your SO and nobody will ever call you on it.
posted by Navelgazer at 12:31 PM on April 11 [+] [!]

Eponysterical.
posted by Fizz at 9:33 AM on April 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

I took a deathbed photograph of my grandmother. She was annoyed and waved me off. She died the next day.
posted by mecran01 at 9:54 AM on April 11, 2014

The thing about a portrait is that it's a physical representation of the fact that another human intelligence has spent a considerable chunk of time poring over your face, thinking about what makes you look like you, and thinking about how to convey that with particles of paint. I suppose good portrait photography is sort of similar, but it's different than a photograph in that every aspect of the representation starts in the artist's mind. I can see how the experience of being the focus of that kind of attention in the absence of any personal intimacy feels kind of transgressive, and how having others see the results feels in some way like letting them in on that intimate experience.
posted by yarrow at 10:18 AM on April 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

Also it's just a little "Norma Desmond" you know?


I see you point, but that's basically the only reason why I WOULD do it.

(meaning the only reason I haven't done it is because I haven't been successful enough to deserve it)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:37 AM on April 11, 2014

We didn't need success Mike, we had FACES
posted by The Whelk at 10:54 AM on April 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I've commissioned a bunch of portraits of my baby daughter... eh, about 750 of them... Some of those portraits are gorgeous, others are amateurish scribbles. Some are digital, and many are oil & pastels & watercolors and clay.

I agree with yarrow: I appreciate the effort it takes distilling a concept into a unique work of art. I know that some of these people spent days and weeks working on their piece. We have about 20 of them hung in our living room. Yes, I know that I went way overboard as this thing turned into an "Art Project", but it means so much to me to see her being the inspiration for so many different visions. I hope that when she grows up, it will inspire her to get involved in the arts as well.
posted by growabrain at 10:58 AM on April 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

All of those paintings look horrible. Like something I'd buy at the local mall. Yeeshe.

Yeah, they're not great, at least to my eye. That isn't even a good likeness of Julie Chen. I think the most important aspect of a portrait is the choice of artist; any hack can repro a couple of Polaroids, but in addition to the aesthetic concerns, a great portrait artist must capture the ineffable selfness of their subject, and be conversant with the spirit that resides within. Sadly, I will probably never commission my portrait, as the master who could see my true self is tragically no longer with us.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:43 AM on April 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

I get caught in the awkwardness of wondering if it's narcissistic to display the various images from when I was a model for local artists and the awkwardness of explaining my fear of my ego is why I didn't hang that wonderful painting the artist that's visiting my home had painted years ago.
posted by _paegan_ at 2:17 PM on April 11, 2014

I'm wondering if the portrait is something of a bygone era? At least for people who are not as wealthy as those interviewed or described in this article.

How I know I'm country-come-to-town: I have a portrait of my mother in her wedding dress. It's a photograph painted over with some kind of viscous clear fixative.

When I was small I was 100% positive that it was an actual painting, but like probably just the best most photo-realistic painting ever. Obviously.

That portrait now hangs in my apartment, where it is one of my most prized things.
posted by Sara C. at 4:49 PM on April 11, 2014

included in EVERY photographer package was a gigantic like 18x24" portrait of the bride

Yep. That's the one. My mom's is more like 11x14, though. I don't know if they were all smaller as a matter of course in the 70s, or if, as I said, we're just country-come-to-town.
posted by Sara C. at 4:50 PM on April 11, 2014

I do so many family portrait walls, and it's such a weird thing to me. Don't know if we were just poor or both poor and superstitious, but growing up we didn't frame people unless they were far away or dead. Not even wedding pictures or kid pictures. We did put up art posters or stuff we did, but these were never portraits and they were held up with tacks.

So now people ask me how I would frame up my family, photos, and the factual answer is "in a shoebox or my gmail archive" but the correct answer, as far as work is concerned, is "expensively in individual custom frames."

I think it's bizarre to display the portrait of yourself unless it's you in some previous or changed condition. Pregnant you, wedding you 5+ years ago, graduation you 5+ years ago, child you now you're grown, you in an animal mascot costume, etc. I know at least three families that take formal portraits and update their frames once a year, and that's weird to me, since the point of pictures in your home is partly starting conversation about those pictures when you entertain, and you can't do that if you don't let people have something to say like "my how you've grown!" If it's a single recent portrait of you, you basically want to talk about yourself. Leave it in storage until you age some, then it's OK.

(As a former art school grad it's also weird to me when people buy pre-fab art. Don't you know someone? Even if you don't know any artists, don't you know any little kids, nature's artists?)
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:45 PM on April 11, 2014

I'm pretty sure there's a pencil portrait of me and one of each of my siblings that my mother had commissioned somewhere in a filing cabinet in her house. It's still a regular thing done here in Singapore in the white expat community. I see ads in the expat magazines, mainly to the European/UK type families. You send in a photograph or do a sitting and another expat lady does a pastel/watercolour portrait that gets framed and hung up to show what a lovely and artistic family you have. It's more expensive than a photographer, and usually more flattering.
posted by viggorlijah at 9:28 PM on April 11, 2014

I sat for my artist ex boyfriend, I think it was pencil or charcoal? We argued for the whole sitting so the picture of topless me with a serene face was disconcerting. I threw it away years ago.
posted by saucysault at 5:47 AM on April 13, 2014 [1 favorite]