Professor Thompson taught painting and printmaking while I was at Willamette University.  Even when I was in school, I focused on portraiture, and I remember Thompson talking to me about this on one occasion.  He told me that I didn’t need to worry so much about capturing an exact likeness of my model.  The sitter could serve more as a departure point for my painting instead of as the whole reason for the piece.

I did not agree with Thompson then and I do not agree with him now, but, in 2002, I had no idea where my professor was coming from.  Now, I do. 

Portraiture is a sub-genre of figurative art.  In figurative art—work which depicts the human form—the composition is paramount and the likeness is sacrificed for the painting’s good if necessary (or, as is often the case, if the artist is lazy about likeness).  In portraiture, the composition is, of course, important, but the goal of the painting is the likeness of an individual.

It is this exacting quality of portraiture which earns it craft status as opposed to fine art status.  The question of portraiture’s status is one that forever fascinates me.