What is a portrait? This is what I was asking myself as I looked at all the entries for the latest entries for the National Photographic Portrait Prize. Should it be constrained to the classical definition or is there latitude to express oneself outside this box. I needed to consult the Oxford Dictionary.
Portrait
noun 1 an artistic representation of a person, especially one
depicting only the face or head and shoulders. 2 a written or
filmed description. 3 a format of printed matter which is
higher than it is wide.
OK, here is our requirement, it has to be artistic, which means aesthetically pleasing and showing some creative skill. It should only show the face or the head and shoulders and it would also require that it's dimensions be in a portrait format. Fair enough I guess, although it does rule out some 'portraits' that I do like and again makes me wonder if our old definition of what a portrait is needs to be redefined or have we already done that and are just waiting for our dictionaries to catch up with our contemporary definition. One other point is this, if the academic English definition does change to accommodate our contemporary view, how will this affect our understanding of what is known as a landscape or portrait format.
Taking all this into consideration I have decided to stick with the traditional definition in order to select what I like and dislike based on the classical principles of portraiture.
Like
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu by Adam Knott 2008
http://www.portrait.gov.au/site/NPPP2009_9.php
Even without considering the rules of portraiture I found I was drawn to this. The lighting is flattering and reveals the form of the subject, although maybe a little too bright on his left temple. Geoffrey's head is turned slightly away from dead centre which is more appealing than full frontal or profile. By looking up at Geoffrey we perceive him to be a great man, a man of pride. The graduated red background works very well with this subject.
Dislike
Portrait of mother (after Mirka)
by Nat Thomas & Concettina Inserra 2008
http://www.portrait.gov.au/site/NPPP2009_9.php
Crikey, what's going on here then. Firstly it is shot in landscape format. The off-white corrugated iron as a backdrop is too bright and distracting. The lighting is too flat. The subject is facing the camera dead on but their eyes are looking off into the distance. I'm surprised that the photographer(s) (did it really take two photographers to pull off this monstrosity?) didn't completely destroy this by placing the subject dead centre, they actually managed to place her just off centre, but I don't think they gave it much thought anyway. I can perceive no emotion from the subject, which is not uncommon in a portrait, but when the subject looks like this it gives the impression that they're unstable. Overall I find this portrait has no redeemable qualities.
http://www.askoxford.com:80/concise_oed/portrait?view=uk
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