Composition - examples of note

[SB Wang]

My friend Mike:
You are in Florida! How nice you posted my picture twice! Much obliged! That girl was in Kissimmee, FL. Cynthia likes it, too. I wonder if she looked like that way when in that age. I got this commission from Cynthia Culpeper of Orlando, deceased 5 years ago. I painted a portrait of her husband for a gift.
I suffered political persecution in China. Thank you for your caring.

[Mike McCarty]

Thanks SB, and thanks too for quickly sending the fifty bucks. If you want another posted just use that same PayPal number BR549.

*****

You say there

[Mike McCarty]

It seems that no one liked this two person composition of R. L. Stevenson and his wife by J S Sargent, as noted below:

The first [portrait of Stevenson], an endeavor of 1884, now missing and most likely destroyed by Stevenson

[Mike McCarty]

And another amazing watercolor by JSS.

Here it seems that Sargent worked his composition through the use of il-defined shapes of shadow and light. It's amazing how much we are able read, not so much by an images literal depiction, but in the context in which we find it.

[Mike McCarty]

The thread reads - "Examples of note." I suppose they would be more "of note" to the person who posts them, rather than any definitive measure of greatness. Composition, style, and manner of placement being a subjective matter.

These three (all by Philip Alexius de Laszlo, I've got to get over him and move on) are surely "of note" to me. However, I can see how the very stylistic execution of the first two: Lady and Lord Mountbatten 1924 and 25, might not appeal to everyone. As to the last example: La Contessa Annade Noailles, I cannot imagine how anyone could find criticism with this work of art. It seems perfectly done, the way the eyes and hair burn themselves into the paper keeps me coming back again and again.

[Mike McCarty]

This design stuff is difficult to talk about. It

[Mike McCarty]

With the following paintings I feel barely competent to remark on their size: This guy could get an awful lot done in a small space.

Each by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema:

1 The promise of Spring 15x9
2 Vain Courtship 30x16
3 Unconscious Rivals 18x25 w/detail

PS: Don't try this at home, this is the work of a highly trained professional - work big!

[Mike McCarty]

Ant,

I think I can see your Vermeer point. Can there really be anything new under the sun?

But if you ask me what a portrait painter should portray in order to achieve success in his works, I'd say he must make a mix of the three main ingredients: the way he sees his subject, the way his subject wants to be seen, and the very truth. No photo, no camera, no lens but only an artist can show that.

From this that I wrote above, we seem to be in close agreement here:

I do think the really great artists are / were able to pull off both simultaneously: telling the individuals story while expressing their own vision at the same time. No small matter.

Regarding "the very truth" ... for me truth is seldom an absolute value. I think that there are some truths that can be told absolutely, but these are rare indeed. I will allow you your truth if you will allow me mine.

The last thing I would hope for in this discussion on composition would be to bring in people's opinions on photography.

And speaking of Johannes Vermeer ...

[Jeanine Jackson]

Thank you for this thread, Mike and contributors... No amount of care and intelligent thought were wasted on the samples provided and comments made.
Grateful and inspired,
Jeanine Jackson

[Linda Brandon]

[QUOTE=Mike McCarty]This guy surely holds the record for number of paintings of whacked off heads. Oh well, since he