CRITICAL STUDIES ESSAY - The Portrait

The portrait has existed as an art form almost as far back as human records go, evolving throughout periods of societal shifts and developing technologies. I want to look at the differences between classical and contemporary portraiture and their significance within the art world.

Early portraiture is often associated with aristocracy and the monarchy; high status individuals such as these would commission artists to paint them in a display of wealth and power. Imagery focused on the sitter’s riches, with lavish clothing, jewellery and other symbolic props overwhelmingly present in the frame. A famous example is the Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I from 1588, though the artist is unknown. The painting is completely packed with symbolism and displays of power, it would take hours to analyse each thing, so I will highlight the elements that stand out to me. The globe under her hand gives her a Godly sense of control over the world, and the ships in the background denote her armed/naval forces to reinforce this. Her attire is highly embellished with pearls, bows and detailed embroidery, while the different fabrics appear to include silk and lace - both very exclusive and luxurious materials, especially at the time. Fabric dyes were also major implications of wealth, here she is surrounded by an array of rich tones such as deep red and green. The iconic Royal crown is placed to her side, not that we needed reminding that she is the Queen, but it emphasises this nonetheless.

Elizabeth's collar gives her a predatory image, like an animal displaying dominance and guarding their territory, so it gives us an innate feeling that we must submit to her. Beauty standards have since drastically changed, but during this period, pale skin was a sought after look to imply status as shown in Elizabeth I's portrait where she looks ghostly pale. This is because tanned skin implied being a working class member of society, while Royals and aristocrats would be spending their time indoors, in their palaces and castles, therefore lacking exposure to sunlight.

Moving forward to the 19th century, photography had become an established medium, not necessarily in an artistic way, but more as an informative method of record making. The Royal portrait was still a cultural staple in England and remains so to this day. Queen Victoria helped popularise the format of photography during her reign and is thought to be the subject of over 500 portraits. Again, the portrait is a commissioned piece with power and status being the ultimate message that it communicates to the viewer - an elaborate show of jewels, lace and pearls. However, the lack of background separates this portrait from the painting of Queen Elizabeth I, in which much of the background has clearly been fabricated by the artist to create an overly opulent image. Though Queen Victoria’s portrait is also staged, props are very scarce and we are forced to place all of our focus on her Majesty, reiterating her importance in the viewers life as a citizen under her rule.

As cameras became more available to wider society, people began taking candid photographs capturing life's mundane moments and everyday scenes in a realistic way, unlike the performative nature of the high status portrait.This opened new doors for many artists who came to realise that anyone can be featured in a portrait regardless of their place in society, including themselves.

Famous pop artist Andy Warhol utilised photography as a basis in his creative process of screen printing, and was known for his prolific use of polaroid cameras throughout his life. These self portraits, featuring the artist in drag against a blank backdrop, are among thousands of Polaroid images in Warhol’s archives. They represent an exploration of the many facets of one's own personality, an expression of the self. Sean O’Hagan comments ‘Here, the persona of celebrity blankness he so carefully cultivated is refined to an almost self-parodic extent: a mask of a mask.’ and I agree fully with this idea. Wearing a ‘mask’ is our way of taking control over the world’s perception of our identity, and we have multiple of them according to who we are engaging with. This is one of the ways in which I think self-portraiture plays a part in the world of art, it is not only about self-realisation on the artists half, but also manipulation of an audience. When we see a face, our instinct is to begin forming opinions and assumptions about them and decide if they are a friend or foe. What I see in Warhol’s portraits is a vision of beauty, but in a very archetypal sense - or in O’Hagen’s words 'self-parodic’ - which is really what drag is all about, it embraces the extreme, it rejects gender norms and cannot be silenced. Creating a self-parody is a sign that someone doesn’t take themselves too seriously, and this is something that we would not see in a narcissistic artist, so I find Warhol’s Polaroids very endearing and intimate.

Comparing this with the first portrait I wrote about, the only real similarity I can identify is the controlled staging of the portrait in order to create a certain image of the person. Aside from that, there are massive changes in the way the portrait has been used since the 1588 Queen Elizabeth portrait, to Andy Warhol's 1981 photographs nearly 400 years later. Everything about Queen Elizabeth's portrait is an exterior. It is an extravagant display of material wealth and power in the world, with no actual depth beneath the surface. It is thought that artists often struggled to paint her due to the reality that she was always very ill and not considered at all beautiful, so there is an element of flattery in her paintings as well - a mask. Warhol's portraits have the humanity that Queen Elizabeth's lack. He looks powerful without needing to include any iconography of wealth, status or influence in the world, while also showing vulnerability and self-awareness. As a whole, I find this work incredibly inspiring because it encourages me as a viewer to reflect on and play with my own identity, to not be afraid of expressing it with an experimental use of costume and makeup like Warhol, and capture it with portraiture.