Here are three of my favorite portrait paintings by famous portrait artists hanging at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. I visited the National Portrait Gallery in mid October this year around a mid-Atlantic trip for a wedding. A few weeks ago I posted some of my mentor Everett Raymond Kinstler’s portraits at the NPG and in a few weeks I’ll write about some other portrait paintings that caught my eye.
The Classic portrait tradition is shown in three famous portrait artists: John Christen Johansen John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn. Starting with Johansen’s portrait of Woodrow Wilson—this is a vignette style oil portrait sketch (the image floats on a large canvas) which was a study that was made by Johansen during negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles. Ray Kinstler studied with Johansen and tells of Johansen’s imploring him to achieve simplicity in his portraits. You can see what he was talking about in this portrait sketch, which I first saw about 8 years ago and was dumbstruck, as it had a familiarity of ERK’s style, yet a quieter touch to it. I love the enduring strength of this portrait. Johansen quickly blocks in the planes of Wilson’s face in the exactly correct value and color: color values as I learned from Ray Kinstler. The intelligence and attentiveness in the portrait are very powerful in this portrait painting.
The next one is Elizabeth Winthrop Chandler by John Singer Sargent. This portrait is very compelling with Ms. Chandler’s very direct gaze and clasped hands, which show a strength and fortitude JSS was looking to evoke. EWC was only 26 years old when this oil portrait was painted, but had already endured the loss of her mother and needed to care for her seven younger siblings. The composition is simple as it’s straight on, yet there is not a feeling of simplicity. The back wall hangings show paintings/sketches of the Madonna and Child and an elderly woman. EWC is caught in between these stages of life and does look a bit sad in the portrait. She is in a black gown—still in mourning and perhaps forever in mourning, but her fortitude is noteworthy and there is a feeling of great respect in the way she was painted and portrayed.
The last portrait is by Anders Zorn of his presidential portrait of Grover Cleveland. This portrait painting evokes the warmth of a fireside chat. The special feeling is that Cleveland is reflecting and getting ready to tell his visitor about some special memory. The reds in the portrait have a glow to them and the portrait subject is conveyed in a very pleasing, open way. The personal connection between the sitter and portrait painter is what makes this portrait a very special portrait painting.