A2 Art

Draft 2

Art essay

For my personal study I have chosen to look at portraits.
I have a strong passion portraiture and looking at the human figure in different aspects of art, for example in different art movement s such as futurism a social art movement and fauvism a paint style will emphasised colour to simply describe the thought and the mood behind the sitter, this art movement also show some qualities shared/relation with impressionism, the thick brush strokes and attention to enhancing the movement and mood. Arts such as Lucian Freud, Matisse and Jenny Saville have a very distinctive technique, which I love. The depth of strokes these artists really does strengthen the state of mind.
During the middle of this year i visited a gallery in St Martin's London, called the ‘National portrait gallery’, funded by The Getty Foundation, The Leverhulme Trust and The Paul Mellon Centre and this British gallery displays Thousands of portraits from its opening in 1856. Founded by three people, Philip Henry Stanhope (he created the structure/ foundations of the gallery), Thomas Babington Macaulay and Thomas Carlyle. Stanhope first promoted this idea towards the House of Commons in 1846, with that attempt he failed not once but twice, but then eventually succeeded after his third attempt in 1856, following with the Queen Victoria's agreement a sum of £2000 was given towards the opening of the ‘British Historical Portrait Gallery’.
The National portrait gallery was officially opened 2nd December 1856 and wasn’t going to be about art its self, the quality of painting or the movement of art that is involved, it was supposed to be about history, the importance of the figure in the portrait (on how he’s specifically change something of time). The first piece was donated and exhibited, was called Chandos portrait of Shakespeare by John Taylor. A quote from Phillip Stanhope ‘No portrait of any person still living, or deceased less than 10 years’.
The Gallery's early years the collection had no specific place and for forty years the collection was moved around London to many different locations, e.g. 29 Great George Street, South Kensington and now St Martins. In the location of st Martins the building has three 2 floors, where all the paintings are be exhibited, within these two floors the building has be sectioned into order of age, (the century they were produced) and importance.
The collection held in St Matrins involves incredible work from different century’s most dedicated artists and photographers. E.g. Bill Brandt, a figurative lens man that uses a rolleiflex, he highly respected for his figurative/ landscape portraits.