About 'Portraits & Identity'
This resource explores portraiture and art works that represent ‘identity’. It contains starting points for portraiture and identity projects in the classroom, including teacher’s notes about selected works from the Ben Uri collection and suggestions and lesson plans for 2D and 3D activities in the classroom. The activities are suitable for young people of all ages, as they can be delivered at the level appropriate for your students. We suggest that the activities are suitable for Key Stages 2-4.
What is a portrait?
A portrait is an image of a person, a group of people, or even animals. A portrait can be made from any material. It could be a 3D sculpture, or it could be a 2D drawing, painting, photograph, collage or print. Traditionally before the days of photography, portraits were paintings or drawings of one person, often the head and shoulders only. In more recent times a portrait can even be represented by objects, such as a diary, or a collection of personal things that have a personal meaning to the artist. Art work that reveals information about the personal life of the artist is often called autobiographical art.
What is self-portraiture?
A self-portrait is a piece of work in which the artist depicts him or herself. This may include a traditional portrait, in which the artist represents him/herself naturalistically (as close to reality as possible), or it could include abstract portraiture, in which certain markings, shapes and ideas represent elements of the artist. Self-portraiture may involve concentrating entirely on representing personality and inner emotions as opposed to an exact depiction of physical appearance. Artists have even used objects such as clothes or furniture to represent themselves.
What is a subject?
The person in the picture is called the subject. A portrait is usually made to record the identity of the person. However, identity does not just mean the appearance of a person (what they look like) but also the character and personality of the person as well. Portraits can be very different from each other. In a portrait we might see somebody’s whole body, perhaps standing up or lying down. We might see only the persons head and shoulders. We might see the person doing something, like reading a newspaper, eating an ice cream or riding a bicycle. The person may be far away from us in the picture. We may even be able to see only a small part of the person, such as their hands or their eyes.
Portraiture Q&A
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We can learn lots about the person by looking carefully at the way in which the person/persons have been portrayed. What expression do they have on their face? Are they happy, sad, angry? Are they looking at anything are they drawing our attention to something? How old is the person? What are they wearing? Can we learn anything about the person from their clothing, perhaps where they live or what job they have? Is the subject holding anything?
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We might be able to guess the age, gender, height, race, religion, profession, and personality of the person in the portrait. Artists may also produce self-portraits which not only represent themselves, but also comment on other ideas or societal events that have influenced the artist’s life.
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Remember, we cannot always take what we see in a portrait to be the truth! Artists sometimes make their subjects look very different to the way that they actually do in real life. Sometimes artists might flatter a person by making them look more important or more beautiful than they really are (this happened often when artists were painting royalty such Kings and Queens) Sometimes an artist might make a negative representation of a person, by making them look mean. Sometimes subjects might dress up in costumes in their paintings or hide behind objects.
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We can also learn lots about the subject by looking at what surrounds the portrait. We might be able to tell where the subject is, by looking at the scenery or place shown. We can learn about the person by looking at the relationship between the person and their surroundings, are they very small in the picture- do they dominate the picture? Are they indoors or out? What is the weather like? Are they comfortable/happy in their surroundings? Is the person in a real place, or an imaginary place? Is the person surrounded by objects? Do the objects tell us something about the person? Would you like to be there?
Portraits - Study Questions
- Who or what is the subject?
- What expression do they have on their face? Are they happy, sad, angry?
- Are they looking at anything or drawing our attention to something?
- How old is the person? What are they wearing? Can we learn anything about the person from their clothing, perhaps where they live or what job they have?
- Is the person holding anything? Do the objects tell us anything about the person?
- Can we tell what the person is thinking?
- Where is the person? Are they indoors or outside?
- What is the weather like? What does this make us feel like?
- Is the person comfortable/happy in their surroundings?
- Is the person in a real place, or an imaginary place?
- Are there objects in the picture? What do the objects tell us about the person? Perhaps they are symbols to help us learn more about the person?
- Would you like to be here? Why?
- Can we see the person clearly? What stands out more the place or the person?
- How is the picture made? Is it a photograph, or a print, a painting or drawing?
- Why did they choose to make the picture in this way?
- How old is the picture?
- What are the main colours in the picture? Why has the artist chosen to use these colours?
- What would you like to ask the person?
- Is the subject in the artwork even represented by a figurative image, perhaps they have chosen to represent themselves by using an object. Why is this?
