Portraiture

Art Subject: Portraits. A major subject for artists is people.  When the artist renders a particular person whether it looks exactly like them or not, it is called a portrait. Portraits do more than reflect the features of a person. They try to show what the person is like.  In order to do this, the artist chooses poses, clothing, or props that he or she feels gives a portrait of the person. Portraits do not always make the person look good. When a person does a portrait of himself or herself, it is called a self-portrait. 

Before photography, artists were the picture takers. Artists were hired to paint portraits of people, their families and sometimes their pets. This was the only way for people to record what someone looked like, through art. And each artist would do it a little differently.   

Teaching Notes: Pick a few students and ask the class (and them) what colors they would want in their portraits, what kind of people they are, what they would be doing in a portrait, etc.  Show the portraits below and ask simple questions like, “Would you like to meet them?”  “Do you think the artist liked them?” “Do they look important?”  “What do you think is important to this person?” 

Sample Projects: