Group portraits- a primer

Mrs. Landau with her Flemming & Sydney

There are two kinds of portraits.

Individual. And group.

I'd like to talk about the latter. Having painted portraits now for almost twenty years, I know that artist Joanette Egeli was right when she taught me "A portrait of two people is many times more difficult than two individual portraits." What Joanette was teaching me was that the complexity of individual personalities is a complex thing. Successfully capturing one person on canvas is a feat in itself. Capturing multiple personalities on one canvas is, well, really difficult.

I believe a group portrait is about relationships. As such, group portraits are the cream of the crop, for I believe they truly tap into the essence of life: relationships. How we relate to one another, even how we relate to God, is what makes life sweet or sour, a pleasure or, well, a pain. A good group portrait captures the essence of a family's relationships. I'll be sharing a few examples over the next few blogs to show what I mean.

Today's portrait is one of my favorites. It started out as a commission to paint the older daughter, Flemming, but ended up as a beautiful statement of the love between the mother and her two daughters. This happened sort of by accident, but I love the result.

When I started the sitting with Flemming, I felt that I she wasn't quite relaxed, but stiff. We headed back to the house to discuss options, and sitting in the living room with Mrs. Landau when Flemming came and sat next to her. What was missing in the garden was very evident here. Next to her mother, Flemming was very relaxed, fluid. When her younger sister Sydney joined them on the sofa, also very much at home and secure next to their mother, I was inspired by what I saw. This is what I was after- the love and security that Mrs. Landau offered her children. I proposed we consider painting the three of them together, and I believe the result speaks for itself. I have to say, though, the image you see her doesn't even compare to the original work. It really is a beautiful portrait, and captures in a group portrait what never could have been achieved in an individual portrait, even three individual portraits.

Stay tuned for more on group portraits- from the artist's viewpoint.