The pieces “Every Portrait Tells a Lie”, and “How John Singer Sargent Made a Scene” seem to contradict each other in many ways. In Debra Brehmer’s “Every Portrait Tells a Lie”, she tells us just that, that portraits are always a false representation of a scene. In Sarah Churchwell’s “How John Singer Sargent made a scene”, Churchwell makes it seem that Sargent’s prized portraits were one hundred accurate, and even that Sargent as well as other artists struggle to make their portraits accurately represent the people involved. I believe both have a valid side to the argument. What I took from these two pieces is that painted portraits more accurately represent a scene then a photograph. When you take a photograph it can take less than a minute to set up and take the photo, whereas a painted portrait can take hours or days on end to create. Because of the very small amount of time required to take a photograph, someone or the group of people that want it can change their apparent mood so that it is pleasant to look at in the future. In the time it takes for an artist to paint a p
ortrait, he/she is desperately trying to make the piece accurate and represent the subject’s actual emotions. I also believe that this is a generational difference, we see hundreds of selfies posted all over social media with fake smiles now. The overwhelming majority of the youngest generation has no interest in sitting for hours for a painting that will just hang on a wall and never get looked at. The self portrait has become a method of communication in the past few years. People use selfies to convey emotion that may be accurate or not, it has become so easy to fake a smile for a picture that it is now out of the ordinary to not put aside one’s feelings of sadness in order to have a nice picture. We have seen this for a few decades now with, as Brehmer tells us, the family portrait. I can guarantee you that if you have a sibling, that at one time or another you have also experienced her example with a family portrait of your own. You and your sibling might be at each others throats and ready to kill one another, but then out of the blue, mom wants a nice picture, so you are forced to put your quarrels to rest and pretend like you are the best of friends, and that portrait is definitely a lie.
Brandon I felt that your take on both articles was very striking and fascinating. Indeed, portraits were a masterpiece that the artist spent a gargantuan span of time on and defined the person with more realism by capturing the moment. Unfortunately in the social media era, a selfie is a fake representation of oneself. You can change your mood or expression anytime you like because of the freedom there is. However, since portraits were a “one time thing” back then, the client tried to best assert their personality to future viewers.
I agree with your argument that in the modern world with all this technology, it is much easier for photographer to set up a scene. However, I also think that the camera is today was equivalent to what a portrait painting was back then. But then again I think getting a portrait in the modern time is more valuable than the modern day photo cause because it’s more rare for people to sit down for a hand-drawn or painted portrait. I can also relate to the “sibling trying yo kill each other right before a photo” thing because I hate taking pictures and I have a younger sibling.
Brandon I enjoyed your point that a painted scene is often times more accurate of describing a person than a picture. Since a portrait is painted often times painted over many days, it becomes an average of that persons traits. If a photographer takes a photo of someone when that person is angry, a viewer might assume that that person is just a very angry person, however with a portrait they will not make that mistake as the expression the painter chooses will most likely be the subjects most natural demeanor.
If Churchill was trying to convince me that Sargent’s portraits were 100% accurate, I would not buy it. It would take massive amounts of historical evidence to persuade me that Sargent didn’t at one point or another fabricate the reality of some of his models.
I liked your analogy of the selfie. Of course we smile to make ourselves look as pleasant as possible, but I feel it is more to capture the moment than to actually convey emotion.