Mind boggling proposal

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Marvin, I often receive similar letters, typically from China. I erased one just this morning or I'd go back and refresh my memory regarding exactly what they thought they were offering me. Normally I just read far enough to see what I've gotten and then hit the "bounce" or "delete" button. I imagine that any artist with a website gets these things, and occasionally someone must respond, one supposes, or else why would they send them out at all?

Having an apprentice in your workshop who helped with the cleaning of brushes and the preparation of canvases and eventually, most wonderful of days, the painting of the occasional backdrops during the period when this was common is very different from allowing some foreign entity to paint most of your picture for you off-site. Apprenticeships were once the only way a young and aspiring painter (like Van Dyke!) could learn the craft, so there was some justification for the practice. However, I wonder whether some (but obviously not all) of the great masters would be amused at our discussion, because they tended to view their work as a product which would put food on their table and silks on their backs, rather than as high expressions of art which merited their best efforts and reflected on their integrity. How much do we know of the psychology of those times?

I like the inclusion of that sentence in your contract and will probably add it to my own.

Leslie

[John Reidy]

Unfortunately I have heard of a gallery in NC that utilizes the China sweatshops for portraits. The difference is that the gallery is up front about it. The price is very low compared to our market.

I have only seen reproductions of their work and have no idea if the customers are satisfied. Its been almost 2 years since I learned of this and can not say if it is still a going commodity.

I theorize that at least it is promoting portraiture, just not fine art. And the market they are reaching is different than ours.

The idea of providing a portrait under the false pretenses is most disturbing and may be considered fraud depending on how the portrait is sold.

Any artist going down this path will lose in the long run. Contracting with a portrait artist, or any artist is a matter of trust.

[Alexandra Tyng]

[QUOTE=John Reidy]Unfortunately I have heard of a gallery in NC that utilizes the China sweatshops for portraits. The difference is that the gallery is up front about it. The price is very low compared to our market. . . . I theorize that at least it is promoting portraiture, just not fine art./QUOTE]

Frankly I'm horrified to hear that any art gallery, whether or not it is up-front about it, is doing this kind of thing. When I was in my early 20s, portraiture was still considered commercial art. After putting 30+ years into trying to change that perception, it offends me to think that a gallery that sells fine art would want to downgrade it when there are so many artists who can paint a person and, in the process, create a work of art. So what if it costs more money? It's worth it. What if this gallery offered copies of the art they sold for much less money? Even if no one bought it, it would be an insult to the artists they represent.