Raise your hand if you like art! Today, Team GCM member, Ashley, is giving an art history lesson on the genre of painting called portraiture.
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or some other artistic representation of a person. Portraits typically focus on a person’s face and often displays how the person looks, and/or their personality. Portraits are sometimes made of famous or important people, like Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of President Barack Obama. Sometimes, portraits are created of people the artist knows like family or friends, or someone they have seen before, like in Amy Sherald portrait, The Make Believer (Monet’s Garden).
Sometimes, portraits can be a bit silly, like this portrait of my friend. What do you notice about this portrait? Does it look like him? Well, it definitely looks like Oliver’s face but Oliver doesn’t wear clothes!
Now that you know a little bit about portraits, it’s time for you to create one! You can create a portrait of someone in your family, a friend, or a pet. Be sure to look closely at the person you’re drawing. What do their eyes look like? What color are they? What shape is their nose? What shape is their mouth? Do they have freckles or wear glasses?
Don’t forget to take a picture and with an adult’s permission to share your creation with us! Tag the Glazer Children’s Museum on social media and use #GCMatHome
Team GCM Creator: Ashley