Arresting. Enchanting. Delicate. Alluring. Transfixing. Beautiful. Vulnerable. A young woman seems to turn her head at the sound of a voice. A quick glance. A figure almost in action. Who is she? Why does she capture our imagination so?
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), Girl with a Pearl Earring, ca. 1665, oil on canvas, 17½ x 15" (44.5 x 39 cm). Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Girl with a Pearl Earring, a work by Johannes Vermeer, looks back at us from a canvas painted over 350 years ago and almost breathes in our very presence. What is her story? What clues do we find in the painting? Possibly the simplicity and absence of objects tell us a great deal. Believed to be in costume for her moment to be immortalized by the brilliance of a gifted artist’s brush, a simple figure comes to life on a canvas with little more than a certain expression and a delicious passage of blue.
A number of years ago a best-selling novel, written by Tracy Chevalier, focused on this single painting by Vermeer. Later a popular film of the same name drew in audiences as well. The imaginations of the author and screenwriter gleaned an enchanting story from this simple, engaging masterpiece.
Grace Devito, Every Monday, oil, 30 x 36" (76 x 91 cm)
Sometimes telling a story requires little description. In the case of this painting, light and mood is all it takes to capture our imagination as it has now for centuries. At other times, great artists like Vermeer use many devices to spin their tales—a room full of interesting elements: a piano, a book, a map, a series of windows, a rug, a musical instrument, multiple figures, light and shadow and more support the thesis. We travel around the picture, our eyes darting from one point on the canvas to another, in and out, up and down. We begin to formulate our own version of events from the construct, which may or may not be what the artist had in mind.
Therein lies the beauty of storytelling through composing interesting pictures. Whether complex or simple, an artist works hard to support an idea through compositions that are endless in their variations. Often, we view a work and we arrive at similar conclusions. Often, we do not. Neither defines its ultimate success. The point is, the artist is reaching in to reach out to us, the audience, to tell a story; to bring the work to life and engage us.
Quang Ho, The Farmhand (Noelle), oil, 36 x 24" (91 x 60 cm)
Artists today continue this tradition of carefully composing their pictures to tell a story. Whether by elaborate and detailed means or by stunningly simple compositions, we the viewers are all poised to bring our own imaginations into play. We are ready to become part of the narrative and leave with an impression that is as powerful as any avenue for communication to the minds and souls of humanity. All this, from a variety of mediums and styles of art.
Those of us who crave the distraction are the luckiest of all as we travel in and out of carefully orchestrated worlds of the past, present and future.
Michael Shane Neal
Chairman
The Art of the Portrait
Need to work on your drawing skills? How about learning how to create strong compositions, discovering the fundamentals of successfully composing a portrait, learning practical methods to building personal expression on a solid foundation, or how about watching Rose Frantzen and Jeff Hein demonstrate together on stage? This is just a small taste of our program being offered on May 11 to 14, 2023, in Washington, DC, at the Hyatt Regency Reston providing the largest event in America today featured solely on portraiture and figurative work. Whether you’re a full-time professional artist or looking to take your art to the next level, we have a program to benefit every artist.
Twenty-eight internationally known faculty artists demonstrating, and teaching include: Scott Burdick, Suchitra Bhosle, Jared Brady, Louis Carr, Rick Casali, Rose Frantzen, Jennifer Gennari, Max Ginsburg, Thomas Caleb Goggans, James Gurney, Jeff Hein, Ron Hicks, Quang Ho, Daniel Keys, Celia Liberace, Robert Liberace, Susan Lyon, Kyle Ma, Kevin Macpherson, Dominique Medici, Michael Shane Neal, Mary Qian, Anthony Ryder, Burton Silverman, Adrienne Stein, Stephanie Thomson, Dawn Whitelaw and Mary Whyte. For more information, visit www.portraitsociety.org.