Constituent Parts: Recent Portraiture in Canadian Military Art

Not common within the art historical record of the Canadian Military, the work of a number of visual artists participating in the Canadian Forces Artists Program demonstrates a keen and growing interest in portraiture. In this article, the work of Gertrude Kearns, Mary Kavanagh, and Erin Riley will be highlighted to illustrate the recent trend. Their work is contrasted with one another as well as with portraiture created by Canada’s war artists in the First and Second World Wars to bring to light the tensions of representation inherent in military portraiture. It will be shown that shifting perceptions found in the wider employment of portraiture and freedom given to participants in the Canadian Forces most recent official art program have encouraged depictions of members at all levels of the Canadian Forces

Portraiture : finding the valid fragment

The paper deals with the concepts of fragmentation and reconstruction in the field of portraiture. Taking a portrait as a large fragment of information, we look into ways in which it can be optimised and reduced such that it remains valid but becomes more efficient. The paper commences by exploring the concept of the fragment from various facets, including historically, especially from the modernist point of view, and goes forth to investigate various techniques from practices both adjunct and outside of the field of art in order to inform the portraiture process itself on how information can be collected, optimised and presented to the viewer.peer-reviewe

Portraits of the Landscape

Portraits are defined in part by their aim to reveal and represent the inner ‘character’ of a person. Because landscapes are typically viewed as lacking such an ‘inner life,’ one might assume that landscapes cannot be the subject of portraiture. However, the notion of landscape character plays an important role in landscape aesthetics and preservation. In this essay, I argue that landscape artworks can thus share in portraiture’s goal of capturing character, and in doing so present us with essential tools for revealing the often ineffable character of place. I explain the implications of this view for debates about scientific cognitivism in environmental aesthetics, representing the narrative dimension of landscape character and integrity, and appeals to the character of place in historic and environmental preservation

Levels of reality: portraiture in African art

African Studies Center Working Paper No. 3

Visual witness: a critical rereading of Graciela Iturbide’s photography

This article underlines the importance of Latin American photography at a time when the visual turn of Hispanism is increasingly evident. At the time of writing, Graciela Iturbide is one of the foremost living photographers in Latin America. This article reengages with Iturbide’s work using notions of photography as witness and drawing on photography scholar Ariella Azoulay’s structure of the civil contract of photography—in addition to concepts from other visual experts—to identify and underline the several fundamental elements to which Iturbide’s photography testifies. To achieve this result, this article studies her first solo visual narrative, Los que viven en la arena

What is 'Jewish' about Jewish art? Art and identity on late ancient sarcophagi from Rome

A paper delivered at in the 2017 Colloquia of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Considers how a group of sarcophagi from the Jewish catacombs of Rome reflect on the subject of Jewish art and Jewish patrons in Late Antiquity

Portraits of Philosophers

This paper presents a close analysis of Steve Pyke’s famous series of portraits of philosophers. By comparing his photographs to other well-known series of portraits and to other portraits of philosophers we will seek a better understanding of the distinctiveness and fittingness of Pyke’s project. With brief nods to Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, G.W.F. Hegel, and Arthur Schopenhauer and an extensive critical investigation of Cynthia Freeland’s ideas on portraiture in general and her reading of Steve Pyke’s portraits in particular, this paper will also aim to make a contribution to the philosophical debate on portraiture

Contemporary Portraiture in Australia: 1990s to 2010s

Contemporary portraiture in Australia is undergoing a revolutionary change in response to the growth of new media, digital imaging and the proliferation of selfies in the networked-digital age. While the effects of new technologies on portraiture are undeniable, this thesis argues contemporary portraiture from the 1990s to 2010s is a synthesis of both traditional modes of representation and new art forms that is expanding our understanding of what is a portrait. Some contemporary portraits have vestiges of Western historic portraiture conventions—mimesis, physiognomy and authenticity—while in others the links have become fragile and contestable. This thesis analyses how contemporary portraiture extends beyond established portraiture traditions to create alternate forms of representation in new and unexpected ways. The study shows contemporary portraiture is becoming increasingly ambiguous and fragmented in form, style, and subject matter. Particular attention is paid to how the desire for social connectedness, that is, being linked up to social media and linked in to internet sites, and the need to take selfies on hand-held devices is redefining portraiture. Furthermore, it examines how the contemporary portrait contributes to changing perceptions of Australian society, national and cultural identity, and ideas of selfhood. It also analyses how new media is disrupting conventional ways of curating and presenting portraits in the gallery setting offering unparalleled opportunities for visitor engagement by presenting portraits on and off the walls. An important distinction made in this thesis, is the significance of portraits of country that gives rise to an alternative concept of subjectivity as a visual and spiritual marker of Indigenous cultural identity. When considered in this way, Indigenous portraits of country go beyond the Western concept of individual difference that allows for a more expansive meaning of portraiture. The outcome of this research study is a body of knowledge and scholarly discourse on recent developments in contemporary portraiture and visual culture brought about by a significant gap in knowledge of the subject

A First-Person Theory of Documentation

Purpose To first articulate and then illustrate a descriptive theoretical model of documentation (i.e., document creation) suitable for analysis of the experiential, first-person perspective. Design/methodology/approach Three models of documentation in the literature are presented and synthesized into a new model. This model is then used to understand the findings from a phenomenology-of-practice study of the work of seven visual artists as they each created a self-portrait, understood here as a form of documentation. Findings A number of themes are found to express the first-person experience of art-making in these examples, including communicating, memories, reference materials, taking breaks and stepping back. The themes are discussed with an eye toward articulating what is shared and unique in these experiences. Finally, the themes are mapped successfully to the theoretical model. Research limitations/implications The study involved artists creating self-portraits, and further research will be required to determine if the thematic findings are unique to self-portraiture or apply as well to art-making, to documentation generally, etc. Still, the theoretical model developed here seems useful for analyzing documentation experiences. Practical implications As many activities and tasks in contemporary life can be conceptualized as documentation, this model provides a valuable analytical tool for better understanding those experiences. This can ground education and management decisions for those involved. Originality/value This paper makes conceptual and empirical contributions to document theory and the study of the information behavior of artists, particularly furthering discussions of information and document experience