Portraiture: A Philadelphia Tradition

Alexandra Tyng · 10-10-2007, 08:42 AM

I'm very excited to announce that the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA is hosting a group portrait show of art by area portrait painters. This is an idea that John Ennis, Garth Herrick and I have been tossing around for some time but we didn't have the time or resources to actually get it together. We have a lot of very talented portrait artists in our area, and portraiture has a long and respectable history, yet the client base is rather cautious and conservative. It is said that people in Philadelphia, as in New England, don't commision portraits, they have portraits. This is an exaggeraton, of course, but the idea of the show is to remind the public of this tradition and demonstrate that it continues today, and get them thinking about the possiblities!

The opening reception is Sunday, October 28, 3-5 p.m.

There will be a group portrait demo on Thursday, November 1, at 7:00 p.m.

There wil be an artists' gallery talk (informal) on Thursday, November 8, at 12:30 p.m.

The participting artists will be: Rachel Constantine, Addie Cooper, Ellen Cooper, John Ennis, Jennifer Frudais, Bill Hanson (sculptor), Glenn Harrington, Garth Herrick, Nancy Bea Miller, Ernie Norcia, Catherine Prescott, Jimm Scannell, and Alexandra Tyng.

If you happen to be in the Philadelphia area, please come and join in the festivities!

Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco · 10-10-2007, 08:59 AM

Congratulations and thanks for generally giving visibility to our trade!
Ilaria

Sharon Knettell · 10-10-2007, 11:03 AM

How wonderful Alex!

This is the kind of positive show the art world definitely needs.

Linda Brandon · 10-10-2007, 11:09 AM

DRAT - I was in Wayne, Pennsylvania on Monday.

Anyway Alex, this is a terrific idea! What a wonderful way for all of you to showcase your talents. I hope you take lots of photos of this event; I'm very excited for all of you.

Linda Brandon · 10-10-2007, 11:13 AM

Incidentally, it also seems to be a Philly tradition to not give the name of the portrait artist on the plaque underneath the portrait. I must have seen twenty portraits in your area over the past week in which the name of the subject is set forth but there is no clue as to who painted the portrait.

Thomasin Dewhurst · 10-10-2007, 12:05 PM

Another super idea, Alex. It should be a wonderful show and I wish I could come out and see it.

Allan Rahbek · 10-10-2007, 03:40 PM

Good luck to you all.
This group exhibition of portraits seems like a good idea because of the multitude of styles. I believe that I spot your portrait at the bottom left, Alex ?

Alexandra Tyng · 10-10-2007, 05:10 PM

Thank you all for your responses and encouragement! I can't tell you how much i appreciate the enthusiasm, professionalism, and general support of the forum "community." It does feel good to be doing something for portraiture--"giving visiblity to our trade" as you said, Ilaria. And, Sharon, I am glad you feel it is a positive step for the world of art. That's nice to hear.

Yeah, drat, Linda, how come you have such rotten timing?

Where were you looking at portraits without artists' names? I have noticed that problem, but mostly in hospitals, offices, universities, etc. They hire the artist and then once the job is done they forget there ever was an artist. But Philadelphia is so reserved about everything, it wouldn't surprise me even in a museum.

Thomasin, it's a funny thing how it happened. John Ennis and I tried to organize something local under the umbrella of the PSA but we couldn't get it off the ground. I asked Garth and he thought it was a good idea. We talked to someone at a local museum and they said we would have to make a formal proposal complete with budget! Not what we had in mind at all! In the end it was really not my idea, but the dea of the director of the Wayne Art Center. Maybe I had brought up something to her at one time, I don't remember, but apparently she decided it would be good thing to do, and asked me to help with a few things. It's funny how these things work out.

Hope that answers your question, Pam. I really didn't do any major organization, but I did put together a list of the portrait artists I knew, and did some e-mailing and that sort of thing. The art center added some other names of people they knew including faculty members. So I think the key is finding a director of an organization who is in the position of hosting an exhibition, and who likes the idea. With good work you can't go wrong even if the venue is modest, like a local art center with a good reputation.

Enzie, I'm really excited about the work, too. These artists are great.

Allan, yes, that is my portrait of Julian on the bottom left. There will be a lot of different styles represented, and I agree that will make it much more interesting.

Linda Brandon · 10-11-2007, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexandra Tyng

Where were you looking at portraits without artists' names? I have noticed that problem, but mostly in hospitals, offices, universities, etc. They hire the artist and then once the job is done they forget there ever was an artist. But Philadelphia is so reserved about everything, it wouldn't surprise me even in a museum.

Well, I was wandering around academic institutions and hotel lobbies, brooding about the invisibility of the many fine portrait painters I saw there. One of the differences between 'fine art' and 'work for hire' is that the artist gets to take the public credit (or the blame) for the resulting product. I suppose that in portraiture, there are two other strong competing claims for the visual rights to the product: the subject and the commissioning institution.

Furhtermore, if we were painting icons - devotional pieces which are themselves sacred and divine presences - artists would remain anonymous. Maybe we are painting icons.

Anyway, I suppose we could write it into our contracts that artists should be credited when a portrait is publicly displayed. I'm not sure how this would go over with clients, though; probably not very well.

The best thing to do is what you're doing with this show: reveal that portraits are painted by real artists.

Alexandra Tyng · 10-11-2007, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

I suppose we could write it into our contracts that artists should be credited when a portrait is publicly displayed. I'm not sure how this would go over with clients, though; probably not very well.

Actually I'd be willing to bet that, if we wrote that into our contracts, no one would bat an eyelash. We are too wimpy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

The best thing to do is what you're doing with this show: reveal that portraits are painted by real artists.

Thanks, Linda, I hadn't thought of that angle. It's so elementary, yet so important and shouldn't be glossed over.