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Indepth Arts News:
"Here I am - What We See and Think We Know"
2004-04-10 until 2004-06-27
Frye Art Museum
Seattle, WA,
USA
"A portrait is a likeness in which there is something
wrong about the mouth," John Singer Sargent once groused. Portraiture
defies description. We might think we know a portrait when we see one, yet
the difficulty of describing its detail leads many to exasperation. The
Frye Museum opens it Portraiture exhibit featuring renowned artists Gilbert
Stuart, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Nicolai Fechin, Franz von
Lenbach, Winold Reiss, John Singer Sargent, William Beckman, Alice Neel, and
Robert McCurdy on Saturday, April 10.
The Frye Art Museum's newest exhibition, Here I Am! Passages in Portraiture,
allows you to look at some old friends and new acquaintances to come to your
own definition. According to Debra Byrne, curator, "The magic of
portraiture can be pegged to that vital moment of expectation-a space of
desire, if you will-when the viewer pursues and the picture seemingly
promises a significant revelation about the person being portrayed. In the
course of looking, the imagination of the spectator confers a correspondence
between outer signs referenced in the image and the inner personality of the
sitter. In this manner the art of the portrait is transformed into a stage
for the revelation of human character."
Drawn from the Museum's collection of paintings and drawings that range from
the 19th century to the present, the exhibition features works of
portraiture with wide ranging style. Visitors are encouraged to use their
own creative talents to express their views through text or image on a
chalkboard that is included as part of the exhibit.
IMAGE
Leopold Schmutzler
(Austrian, 1864–1941)
Here I Am, oil on board,
40.5 x 29 in.
Charles and Emma Frye Collection
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