"Hidden within the basement archives of Yale University's Historical Medical Library lie the original oil painting collection and personal papers of the first American surgeon to practice in China." Extraordinary paintings of compassion in a medical setting. [Warning, these are graphic depictions, some NSFW] Elegant, disturbing and moving portraits of patients by Lam Qua, commissioned by a medical missionary named Peter Parker in the 1830's. [No, not that Peter Parker. Via MeFite tellurian's awesome blog].
posted on Sep 2, 2008 - View this thread

Portraits of Phone Sex Operators by Phillip Toledano.
posted on Jun 11, 2008 - View this thread

Russell Higgs has been adorning his face and head with various objects and posting photographic portraits online since July 2006. Dutch artist Levi van Veluw also likes to modify his face by putting things on it and photographing the results.
posted on Apr 12, 2008 - View this thread

Bert Teunissen - Domestic Landscapes. Photographs of (mostly) senior citizens in their living rooms and kitchens.
posted on Mar 25, 2008 - View this thread

La Real Frida offers beautiful film footage of Frida Kahlo.* Beyond her own self-portraits, some of the most iconic images of Frida are portraits by her 10-year lover, photographer Nickolas Muray.
posted on Feb 25, 2008 - View this thread

Missouri's digital archives of African American portraits. African American portraits from Florida's archives. The Black Archives of Mid-America. Missouri's archives, with a specific section for the African American community in northeast Missouri.
posted on Feb 22, 2008 - View this thread

Stereotypes are oddly addictive. Don't miss the earlier editions.
posted on Feb 2, 2008 - View this thread

Not all portrait photography studios are equal. "Total frickin' awesomeness from Olan Mills, Sears and other fine portrait studios."
posted on Dec 30, 2007 - View this thread

Face Your Pockets. "Our goal is to not only bring all these objects into light but show the owner of them. During the scanning process it is recommended not to open your eyes."
posted on Dec 3, 2007 - View this thread

It's only a paper moon - a charming vintage photo collection. (via recogedor)
posted on Sep 21, 2007 - View this thread

Incredibly expressive portraits of apes and monkeys by photographer Jill Greenberg whose pictures of crying babies raised heckles last year.
posted on Sep 17, 2007 - View this thread

Women In Film, similar to the previously posted Women In Art
posted on Aug 14, 2007 - View this thread

Portraits of rural Russians by the photojournalist Pavel Bezrukov. He is born in 1962, and started with photography as a hobby. Currently freelancing as a photo correspondent for the Moscow-based Orthodox magazine Foma. Some more samples of his work can be found at Orthodoxy Photo.
posted on Aug 7, 2007 - View this thread

365 Portraits, 365 audio pieces, 365 speculative fiction pieces, 365 plays. All because one a day is good for the soul.
posted on Jul 16, 2007 - View this thread

Twin Days. Portraits and snapshots from the annual Twin Days in Twinsburg, Ohio. (Other multiples permitted.)
posted on Jul 15, 2007 - View this thread

Wallace Seawell's portraits virtually created the classic Hollywood look.

Obit with small gallery.

More photos via Google Images.
posted on Jul 8, 2007 - View this thread

Photographs of the dancers, actresses, cafe-life figures and prostitutes who were the subjects of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings, including such luminaries as Sarah Bernhardt, "La Goulue" (Louise Weber; remember this?), and Jane Avril, who was the model for this last, iconic, Lautrec poster. View pages of the art matched up with photos, here, here, and here, and go to this page to rummage around in even more collections that include photos of Lautrec, his friends and family, street and location scenes, and lots of other tidbits. [Spanish language site; NUDITY]
posted on Jul 5, 2007 - View this thread

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art in 3 minutes. List of artists inside.
posted on May 25, 2007 - View this thread

Since I was only a child, Arnold Newman (gallery; another gallery) (obituary) has been my favorite photographer. He specialized in "environmental portraiture," carefully posing his subjects in surroundings that spoke to their personalities. He usually spent hours or days meticulously planning every aspect of the shot, and not always to make the subject look good. Many of his photos became the definitive photograph of the person. I hope one day to make even one photograph that comes close to what he was able to do.
posted on Feb 3, 2007 - View this thread

Drawer Geeks is an illustration challenge founded by Greg Hardin. Alternate Fridays, a group of 25+ professional animators, illustrators, cartoonists, and designers riff on a given fictional character. This past week's theme was Santa Claus. Among archived themes, I particularly liked: Medusa and The Grim Reaper. (via diminished Responsibility)
posted on Dec 17, 2006 - View this thread

There are about 250,000 centenarians alive today, including several hundred "supercentarians" aged 110+ years. Jerry Friedman, founder of Earth's Elders Foundation, has spent the past four years on a landmark project to introduce the world to the oldest people on earth. And in a similar endeavor, photographer Mark Story has been capturing portraits and stories of people from around the globe who are Living in Three Centuries.
posted on Dec 4, 2006 - View this thread

Did you know that some of the most famous paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Degas, and Toulouse Lautrec were based on photographs? While some impressionists and post-impressionists publicly disparaged photography as mechanical, many others were using it as their secret weapon. The relationship between the two arts was complex and intertwined. (And turning the tables, check out this contemporary Russian woman who is recreating several famous paintings in staged photographs.)
posted on Nov 12, 2006 - View this thread

Pablo Lobato is an Argentinian graphic artist who uses color and geometric shape to create witty portraits and caricatures. More works are available at his website (sound & flash alert). His site's select links to other caricaturists are great, including David Cowles who he names as an influence and the brilliant Hannoch Piven.
posted on Aug 22, 2006 - View this thread

Arthur Grace has a distinguished career as a photojournalist who works in black and white. Although not limited to U.S. work, he excels in Americana. His portfolios are fun to surf - here's a sampling that I liked: window washer, the Hatt family of Maine, Cheer Squad, and Prisoner, Adelaide Jail. Oh, and whatever you do - don't miss the Show Dogs, heh. [more]
posted on Aug 13, 2006 - View this thread

Portraits of Stuffed Monkeys.
posted on Jul 27, 2006 - View this thread

Brooklyn (via Grow a Brain)
posted on Jul 16, 2006 - View this thread

Burned: a photoset on Flickr "In 2001 I met a burn survivor who allowed me to photograph her. She told me that she wanted to be photographed so that people could stare at her without feeling embarrassed. It was such an extraordinary experience that a few months later I flew to a burn conference and set up a makeshift studio in a hotel room, and asked people to let me know if they would like their portraits made. I was astonished at how many people did. What I learned from this extraordinary experience was that every burn survivor has a tale of courage to tell, and that the burns have their own eerie beauty." Amazing, unsettling, inspiring.
posted on Jun 30, 2006 - View this thread

Their task may be depressing, but the generosity of their work is inspiring and hopefully thereputic. The photographers who are working with Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep provide their services on a volunteer basis to help families over come the grief of losing an infant. If you're a professional photographer interested in being involved, they're seeking volunteers.
posted on Jun 7, 2006 - View this thread

Gum Blondes Celebrity portraits done in chewed gum. By artist Jason Kronenwald.
posted on May 10, 2006 - View this thread

Dora Maar was immortalized by Picasso in many portraits, one of which is up for auction this May. Tho many are familiar with her face, fewer are aware that she was a respected surrealist photographer in her own right. An exhibit at the Musee Picasso in Paris documents the stormy and artistically rich decade of their relationship via the contents of Dora Maar's estate.
posted on Feb 26, 2006 - View this thread

Wrestling with Diane Arbus "She set up no lights, just pulled out her Rolleiflex, which was half as big as she was, checked the aperture and the exposure, and tested the flash. Then she asked me to lie on the bed, flat on my back on the shabby counterpane. I did as I was told. Clutching the camera she climbed on to the bed and straddled me, moving up until she was kneeling with a knee on both sides of my chest. She held the Rolleiflex at waist height with the lens right in my face. She bent her head to look through the viewfinder on top of the camera, and waited".
posted on Oct 8, 2005 - View this thread

Faces of Science, a collection of portraits of scientists is on display at the New York Academy of Sciences through Oct. 14. (Click the 'View Gallery' link underneath the bookcover). Mariana Cook, who took the portraits, has also had them displayed in The Guardian, and at the BioAgenda Institute (where they scroll by to the left of the screen). [Also be sure to check out the previous webgalleries at the NYAS. The Art of Science Fiction, and Hothouse Contemporary Floras are both good examples of their cool shows, as is One of a Kind.]
posted on Sep 28, 2005 - View this thread

Fazal Sheikh's photographs have documented the plight of refugees in camps across Central and East Africa and the Middle East. However, his photographs are distinctly different from the images of refugees we commonly see in printed news articles. Sheikh's photographs implicitly assert that the individual refugees share humanity with their oppressive rulers. He does so by depicting the individuals in portraits rather than as victims of a social and political drama. Sheikh, an American citizen, was just awarded the Grand Prix International Henri Cartier-Bresson.
posted on Jun 24, 2005 - View this thread

Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits. No one knows why Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn began painting half-length portraits of religious figures late in his life. The subject was uncommon in Protestant Amsterdam, where he lived. Paintings and sculptures, deemed idolatrous by Luther's followers, were not permitted in churches; existing images were removed and often destroyed. In 1681, a local authority described Rembrandt as the "foremost heretic in the art of painting." In Los Angeles, the Getty Center brings together, for the first time, 16 of these mysterious paintings. More inside.
posted on Jun 18, 2005 - View this thread

"Tempe decided to leave Tibet inorder to continue his religious training. He had been in Dharamsala about a month and was actually planning to begin a life-long solitary retreat the day after this photo was taken. He said his retreat was not to escape from the world but to transform his mind so he could serve more effectively in future lifetimes." Check out Phil Borges' Tibetan photos.
posted on Jun 17, 2005 - View this thread

Alan Greenspan Takes A Bath : a profile of Greenspan
posted on Mar 29, 2005 - View this thread

The Musical Giants page, which contains portraits of recording artists from various genres, is my favorite section of Wayno's on-line portfolio. In this interview, Wayno discusses his influences, work routine and collaboration with fellow Pittsburghers The Karl Hendricks Trio.
posted on Mar 7, 2005 - View this thread

Simon Hoegsberg's latest project involved stopping passersby and asking what they were thinking at exactly that moment. These are their thoughts and portraits.
posted on Jan 21, 2005 - View this thread

1001 Self Portraits reaches 40.
posted on Nov 24, 2004 - View this thread

20th-century American artist, Alice Neele , "The Auntie Hero": "While Uptowners were making their way downtown to have their portraits painted by Warhol, Downtowners were going up to 107th Street to sit for this bohemian, auntie-like artist." Check out seven decades of raw, sometimes amazing, but always deeply humane portraits of the often larger-than-life figures who peopled the New York art/lit scene and Neel's personal landscape, including such iconic irrepressibles as Joe Gould, Andy Warhol, Annie Sprinkle, and Bella Abzug. (NSFW)
posted on Sep 16, 2004 - View this thread

I've been having a great time exploring the maze that is Musarium, wandering about and peeking into into various nooks and crannies to find such exotica as the wonderfully bizarre birdhand book, and absorbing cultural artifacts and musings, including the poetic Visions and Icons (I really love the way the text works with the images on this), the atmospheric Familiar Ghosts (the texts will cue you on clicking through this somewhat dream-like landscape), the time-capsule imagery of Balkan Portraits (1906-1910), the breathtaking portraits of photographer Steve McCurry (famous for his National Geographic portait of the Afghani girl), the subterranean monologue of Grand Central: the View Down Under, and the shocking and heartbreaking Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America. There's a lot more, so take your time. You can use this page to access archived material.
posted on Aug 8, 2004 - View this thread

Browsing at my local library, I just came across a display of the winners of this year's Canadian Awards for Excellence in Book Design. I was blown away by the design and content of The Gryphons of Paris, a limited edition collection of black-and-white photos of surpassing beauty. This led me to the web page of the photographer, Ronald Hurwitz, his city vignettes and remarkable portraits. A good reminder that not everything of value can be found on the internet.
posted on Aug 3, 2004 - View this thread

Camera Obscura trolls the attics and abandoned dressers of the world, finding the great lost portraits of the past, then burying them and posting these laughable ones instead. Develop Dutchophobia and learn to fear the Irma!
posted on Mar 29, 2004 - View this thread

Bug Portraits by Frank Phillips. ". . .I always keep in mind the goal of capturing the bug from an angle that we humans don't normally see...and I believe that it shows in my work."
posted on Mar 9, 2004 - View this thread

Beyond Compare: Women Photographers On Beauty "An international photography exhibit from Dove that aims to inspire dialogue, move beyond stereotypes and challenge women to question their definition of beauty."
(Flash, mostly safe for work)
posted on Mar 1, 2004 - View this thread

Age Maps - photographer Bobby Neele Adams fuses two photos of the same person from different points in their life, with an unsettling effect. He uses the same technique for couples, a unique portrait idea for you all you coupled Mefites. (nsfw, bare breasts) His Broken Wings series is also worth noting.
posted on Feb 2, 2004 - View this thread

David LaChapelle : New York magazine calls him "the Fellini of photography". Most others just remember the wacky picture of Lil Kim literally covered in Louis Vutton, Britney's coming out party or for that slimy (in a good way!) Christina Aguilera video.
posted on Jan 12, 2004 - View this thread

Public Faces In Private Places may not be as wise or nice as private faces in public faces but, in the case of Jane Bown's portraits, I'm sure even W.H. Auden would have gladly opened an exception. It's an outstanding collection and it's fun to identify the faces, as their names only appear when you click to enlarge them. (It's a pity the photographs in the first link are so tiny, but blowing them up only makes it worse. )
posted on Oct 20, 2003 - View this thread

I'll take the Ronald Reagan and JonBenet Ramsey velvet paintings please. Do you accept John Wayne Gacy Discover Cards?
posted on Jul 13, 2003 - View this thread

Piven World - a fun flash portfolio of celebrity caricatures and portraits. I like his witty technique of incorporating "defining" objects. (via oink!)
posted on Jul 2, 2003 - View this thread