An investigation by practice into the psychological potential of the portrait

The research investigated how do portraits offer insights into the human situation of the sitter and the artists?

How does introspection and memory influence and reflect on the artist’s work?

The work considers my own history and subjective states, who and what am I through the form of portraiture?

The literature used has shown historical examples of portraiture from the cannon of art investigated can reveal psychological understanding of the human condition and how artists explore unconscious drives and impulses through their art.

The research methods have been through discourse, observational drawing, photography, etching and prints.

Materials used in the print making process and relevant to my practice are indicated in the researcher’s Journal.

In conjunction with the research I have interviewed four professional artists and investigated how and why they work in a particular way opening out the interviews onto the broadest questions about their practice.

The four artists’ interviewed and the researcher’s own history have been examined with the implication of the research being; that artists having a dialogue, relationship and a sense of connection with the sitter enhanced their work; this had been by offering insights and truths into the situation of the sitters’ and the artists’, the artists’ employing a form of communication about themselves and about their relationships when working.

The artists’ expressed thoughts, feelings, tensions and injustice in their work which they had spoken about, the work transformed through the artists’ recollections and emotional states both past and present which they conveyed via pencil, charcoal, brush and paint.
Although the samples in the research had been small this research
illuminates and advances our understanding of how artists work relaying truths as they see it onto the work and subsequently onto the finished portrait giving us knowledge in a unique and specific way.