Community Chat

[Somertime]

@golding76 Thanks so much!  I missed reading the Baltimore Sun, today, so I appreciate the article.

A book was published in 1992 of the same name which I have and the exhibit is based upon,  very interesting!  I love her work!  I have several of her works in poster form which I have framed.

Thanks, again!

[golding76]

The article was not in today's Baltimore Sun. It was published on January 31, 1993.  Somehow I did not capture the date when I copied and pasted.  Apologies!

This discussion has prompted a thought, though.  I began thinking that we no longer have great portrait photographers (by that, I mean right now).  Do we?

There seemed to be many (not all famous, of course) from the 1920s to the mid-1970s.  My maternal grandmother's sister was married to one and lived in New York City with him.  He was born in Russia.  My Uncle Leo.

He had my mother sit for him quite a few times, and he took such beautiful portraits of her.  These days, even mediocre photographers have disappeared because of those dang phones that snap ugly photos. 

[Somertime]

Goldie, you are correct!  Portrait photography has gone out of style as art.  Beaton is gone, so is Lord Snowden, Mario Testino is another one that comes to mind.

The fashion photographers are the closest, now.  But sadly, they are up in age and I cannot think of a new name.  Avedon, Scuvillo, Irving Penn, Annie L (who did a number of portraits for Vogue.....Whoppi being my favorite), Bruce Weber, etc.

Different time!

[golding76]

Oddly enough, the fashion photogs were the only ones I could think of.  And their heyday has long passed.

[Oznell]

@Somertime  and @golding76 ,  I always think of the brilliant Canadian portraitist, Yousuf Karsh.  So many of the greats made the trek to his studio.  Of course, this one of Churchill was justly famous:

But I also love the submerged qualities he brought out in others.  Here's Jessye Norman:

The very famous one he did of Hemingway is haunting and disturbing, pointing to the depression that dogged his later years.

And I've never quite seen "Ike" like this, with that level, almost steely, but also very revealing, gaze.  Love! 

[Somertime]

@Oznell These portraits are spectacular!  I have seen them over the years but was not aware of the photographer.  They are so much more than a photograph!  What did they say when the camera was first invented...........it steals your soul.  Which is in these...........

They truly were artists!

[Oznell]

Well said, @Somertime .