defining essence
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Rembrandt and Bernini had lasting impressions on the transformation of portraiture in western art. They transformed the purpose of portraiture from capturing the subjects likeness of to capturing their life-likeness. This meant that portraiture was interested in finding the essence of its subject and their position in society. These two were often linked, but not always. In order to achieve the life like-ness of a subject, their features were manipulated and stylized in order to communicate their real life virtues and characteristics. In many ways the artists' interpretation of the subject was most important in constructing a portrait.
Goya also developed the capabilities of portraiture in the western canon in several ways. His most relevant development is his attention to the clothing of the subject. He demonstrated that the clothing of a subject does not necessarily determine their place in society. This translates to the importance of capturing the true essence of the subject without depending on the person’s objects or wealth. The stripped body stripped may prove to be more of a window into that person’s soul. The importance of the artist’s vision can be nuanced by the use of photography as a medium. In composing a photograph, photographers and their subjects must work together to create positions that convey certain messages. This means that photographers can either be capturing the subject naturally as is, but they may also be working with the subject to create a combined idea. |
Man by woman
In the portrait of David Streeter, Davis uses the juxtaposition of the chaos of nature and David’s stance to capture peace. His body is completely enveloped by the stone and water around him making him seem as though he is part of nature. This is particularly exemplified by the shading caused by his body hair and the shapes and shades his muscles make onto his body itself. The upper third of the portrait contains only David’s head with an open sky behind him. This is an attempt to show man as a balanced part of nature yet somehow in control of it. Logan is Davis’ attempt to draw the viewer to an essence of man that is not based on gender. The smoothness of his body, lack of muscle, light amount of make-up around his eyes, and open body position are in contrast to established and constrictive images of masculinity. Androgyny is an attempt to re-conciliate the divides in a binary gender system. |
Litschauer’s goal is to balance detail with limits. Her close framed view of the subject gives the audience an incredible amount of detail down to the placement of his hair follicles. However, his closed eyes seem to keep the viewer from ever seeing his emotion. There is a limit to how deep the viewer can get into the subjects soul. This is an argument for the limitless essence of a human. Even in close detail, it is still not possible to capture everything. This motif of closed eyes will be further discussed on this page. This suggests the beginnings of collaborative relationships between the photographer and her subject allowing the subject more autonomy. In this case though the Litschauer is in control of capturing her subject. This is made evident by the downward angle of her camera. The fact that the subjects face leans upwards shows him resigning to her view. This angle portrays an essence of man that is both resilient yet vulnerable. |
Hernandez Correa further nuances the role of the artist in capturing portraits by attempting to make the viewer feel like the photographer is non-existent. She does this by snapping the photograph while the actor is in movement. She captures non-particular moments which result in photographs that have movement. This leads to an exploration of potential rather than essence. We can see the bodies past, present, and future. This also presents a technique in photography that we will discuss later.
Portrait by Mapplethorpe
The fact that almost all of Mapplethorpe's photos were portraits suggest that he was attempting to find the life-likeness of an entire identity group. In the foreword to "Black Book" Ntozake Shange poetically explains that she searched for ex-lovers among the portraits in the book and found many but yet no one in particular at all. She suggests is that she recognized their essence captured in many portraits although the subjects were men she had never met before.
There is an inherent problem with the idea of a white man attempting to portray the essence of black males particularly in the United States because of it's history of racial oppression. Mapplethorpe is constantly aware of this tension, attempting to nuance his portraits to respect his distance from ever being able fully capture all of the expressions of black masculinity as well as his prejudices from being in a position of power. In order to respect this distance between the photographer and the subject, Mapplethorpe pushes the envelope of the portrait genre by obscuring the audiences view of his subjects faces and by proclaiming that even a photograph of a body part can be a portrait.
There is an inherent problem with the idea of a white man attempting to portray the essence of black males particularly in the United States because of it's history of racial oppression. Mapplethorpe is constantly aware of this tension, attempting to nuance his portraits to respect his distance from ever being able fully capture all of the expressions of black masculinity as well as his prejudices from being in a position of power. In order to respect this distance between the photographer and the subject, Mapplethorpe pushes the envelope of the portrait genre by obscuring the audiences view of his subjects faces and by proclaiming that even a photograph of a body part can be a portrait.
George Bussey is given agency because he is actively hiding his faces or the images are. The obstruction of the view of not only the audience but the photographer as well, can be read as a comment on George's compliance in being seen by the white male gaze. The wrapping of his arms resemble the entangling serpentine figures in a Michelangelo painting. This allusion would suggest that he is in a balance between being trapped and being in control.
In Cedric, Mapplethorpe reuses a similar device employed in Manfred by allowing a wide empty space at the top of frame. The space is a question as to what might have filled it had the frame captured the whole person. It is also an invitation for creativity. This portrait could be misconstrued as a birds eye view angle instead of Cedric bowing his head. His bowed head seems like a silent and peaceful rejection to being photographed..
In Cedric, Mapplethorpe reuses a similar device employed in Manfred by allowing a wide empty space at the top of frame. The space is a question as to what might have filled it had the frame captured the whole person. It is also an invitation for creativity. This portrait could be misconstrued as a birds eye view angle instead of Cedric bowing his head. His bowed head seems like a silent and peaceful rejection to being photographed..
In both of the portraits below, although the entire face of the subjects are captured, the viewers access is controlled by the subject himself. In Donald Cann’s portrait this is made clear by the fact that his hands frame his face. This is a reflexive comment reminding us of the framing of photography in general. Although he is within Mapplethorpe’s frame, Cann further restricts the framing of his face. Moody’s closed eyes have a different meaning than Litschauer's portrait. Here, detail is less important because of the fact that Moody's body is hairless. His closed eyes make his skin look like a bust, one continuous object. His open position, compared to the previous portraits, lets the viewer and photographer capture his body but not his spirit. This is a revolutionary theme in African American history. The soul is one of the only things that cannot be objectified.
These portraits are an example of Mapplethorpe’s comment on sculpture but is also on the essence of his subjects. He forces us to view these sculpture like body parts as belonging to living humans. The assertion that a limb may contain essence is a cry for the appreciation of the beauty of the human body as a whole. A radical socio-historical reading of the naming of black body parts as portrait is that it is an attempt to reclaim the body after being objectified as a tool. Although Mapplethorpe may not be concerned with this, it is a revolutionary experience for the subject as well as for the black viewer.
Colliding portrait with elements of sculpture is a decision Mapplethorpe makes because of his use of photography as an art medium. This foreshadows to the next section relating to defining what this art form means. |