Louis I Kahn
 

This is a posthumous portrait of my father that I was asked to paint by the Union of Estonian Architects. My father was born in Estonia and spent the first five years of his life on the island of Saaremaa (then Oesel) in the Baltic off the mainland of Estonia. This year the UES decided to hold a three-day event to celebrate my father's connection to that country, and his life and work. I had about three months to complete the portrait, let it dry, and ship it out in time for them to have it framed. It was a tight schedule but everything turned out well, thank goodness!

Alex,

This must have sent you on a roller coaster ride, from many angles.

I'd call this a triumph of the mind and of the heart.

In the usual awe

Ilaria

Dear Alex,

Hurray!

I am sure I saw this on my last visit to your studio; it's a marvelous composition ad accomplishment! In light of the seminal international force your late father was in the scope of twentieth century architecture (an understatement), this portrait will be greatly cherished by Estonia (another understatement). How wonderful for you and your portrait to be at the center of this very meaningful and patriotic Estonian celebration! Alex, the true talent certainly runs in your family! Can we mention your brother's best selling documentary movie tribute to your father ("My Architect" certainly provides a rich contextual background for this portrait, which we all will appreciate (and rent))? Your late father appears so alive and immediate! Since your father is part of our international cultural literacy, your portrait conveys a story of a brilliant hero, which through sharing of this loving tribute of yours, we all can be enriched.

WELL DONE, my friend!

Garth

Mike, I'm awfully glad you think it was a triumph in any way. While I was painting him, I literally felt as though I were bringing him to life, but in the role of creator, which was strange, since he created me. There was a definite element of frustration that I could only go so far; i.e. I could only make him lifelike, not truly alive. Mike, I admit it's strange seeing our faces side-by-side!

Ilaria, the awe is mutual.

Garth,

Thank you so much! Actually my brother showed his film and talked about it at the conference, and my mother gave a talk, so the conference was a true family event.

Here are a few photos:

1) That's me with the Mayor of Kuressaare, presenting me with a gift, a beautiful drawing of the castle.

2) Yours truly with my daughter and mother at the unveiling.

3) At the castle entrance. Most of the receptions were held in the castle hall.

Fascinating triangles !
Congratulations, this is beautiful!

Thanks, Marina! Yes, there were a lot of triangles. I especially like the interplay between the ones made by his white shirt and the triangles in the upper windows on the left-hand side of the painting. It was fun playing with them.

Alexandra,

What a wonderful experience to be able to celebrate your father's life, both privately through painting him and on such an international scale. The painting is beautiful!

I found this remark rather interesting. Last year my father in law passed away and I did a portrait of him for my husband, while he went back home to be with his mom. Doing this posthumous painting was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I cried just about every 5 minutes into working on the painting. I felt like the more form he developed the more he seemed to come alive, which made it more difficult for me to deal with his loss. I applaud your courage and determination to get your dad's painting done in such a short time and with such great success.

You expressed it so well, Enzie--that's exactly how I felt.

The unsung legacies of portrait artists
 

Seeing this thread's contributions, the emotions that run through it especially from Enzie, got me thinking about my own portrait projects.
I don't know how many people think of us as "Legacy Whisperers" (permit me to coin the phrase from the TV show Ghost Whisperers")
I mean, people may take it for granted that portrait work for the living, is about its beauty and its uniqueness.

But it's the posthumous ones that remind us, each portrait carries an undying charisma and emotion that can help portrait commissioners, to deliver their message to their future generations, be it from their own family or from the community.

I believe we should be deeply proud that we're born to have this gift to do this for others. ;)

A great quote is born. ^^^^^^

Thanks Marcus! I should print and frame that.

Garth

hmm...maybe i should get Hallmark cards to print it for "Inspiring Sad Portrait Artists" series of cards...LOL!

Thanks, Marcus, that's really thought-provoking. Something for the would-be "commissioners" to contemplate. I think the intent is really the same, whether the person we are painting is alive or dead. We try to capture the movement and the expression and the spark of animation on the canvas so the portrait will carry on to give future generations a glimpse of the whole aura and feeling of this particular individual. It's a lot of extra work to create a posthumous portrait, and the references are usually bad and frustrating, but if we can pull it off, then it has this quality. I was SO nervous about people's reaction when it was unveiled. My own brother hadn't ever seen it, because he was away while I was painting it (actully I could have used him as a model). After it was unveiled, an architect came up to me and said that my father spoke to him as he was standing in front of it! I thought,
"Well, at least it spoke to one person. That's encouraging." You might say I was cautiously positive.

Alex what can I say except a job well done. Still, I'm sure it was not "just" a commission. We see our parents as eternal and true enough they are always with us. When they pass and sleep, until that day of resurrection, we see them in our character, our brothers character our sisters character. Sometimes in a building or two. A glimpse a moment that reminds us of that special or sometimes not so special moment. We see them in our mind's eye for he/she made a impression on us.

I hope that this painting of your late father brought fond memories. Keep on painting Alex for each one of us, I am sure, appreciates who you are and who you are is a part of your father. Thank you for sharing him with us.

All the best to you

Wow, wow, and wow! That's all I can really say!

:thumbsup: :D

Thanks, Mischa! As you pointed out, this was more than "Just a commission;" it was an experience. I did remember him, but it was more a general sense of the way he was in life, rather than any specific memories of events.

As for keeping on painting, I really appreciate your encouragement, Mischa! I don't think I could stop!

Lacey, you and I have been down similar paths in many ways. Thank you. :thumbsup: to you, too.

Alex,

Beautiful job and what a fantastic tribute that you and your family were able to enjoy. I can't imagine a more fulfilling experience.

I am curious, however. When I had the opportunity to paint my father's posthumous portrait there was a point were the painting took over what I painted. I had wonderful photo references but as I painted his face, and especially his eyes, I began to paint from emotion and abandoned the photos. The result was that it doesn't look like the photo reference but rather more like the look that I recognized from my father. People who didn't know my father immediately see the difference (when they see the referece material) but all of my brothers ans sisters (6) see our dad.

Did you experience anything like this in your painting of your father?

Sort of--though I didn't exactly abandon the photo references, the painting started looking different from them in a way I couldn't identify at the time, but looking back I guess I must have been putting my memories of my father into the face, and he seemed to be becoming more and more himself.

Thanks for sharing that, John, and thanks for your kind words of appreciation. It really was a great experience, especially since I haven't been out of the U.S. since I was 18 (I'm not sure how that happened)!

What a fantastic project, and a great result!

I agree with all of the sentiments expressed here. It's wonderful that so many threads and locales in your collective lives came together in the one event. I'm over the moon for you all!

What a great confluence of talent and circumstance that allows you to have captured your gifted parents--your mother while she's living, and your father posthumously--for succeeding generations, including those in your immediate family.

I'd try and wax philosophic here, but Marcus got it all down for us better than I could.

Many, many congratulations!

Wow, Tom, I'd say that was pretty philosophic--and very nice, too. Yes, it really was a combination of forces that came together to make this event happen. It actually started out with the Estonian architects asking my brother to come over and show his film in conjunction with a modest event they were planning on our father. When they came to Philadelphia to discuss it, we got more and more ideas, and the whole idea grew into what it eventually turned out to be. So in a way we helped make it happen, or at least steered it slightly!

In relation to what you were saying about the portraits of my parents, I really do believe there is a power in portraiture that goes beyond just commissioned work. We artists can probably find lots of ways to use the power of our art over and beyond satisfying our clients. But it's really up to us.

Dear Alexandra,

I don't know how to say anything more than the wonderful responses you have already received. I can only say that I am moved to my core.

Every one of your portraits is drenched in content, and that is a goal toward which I strive. Thanks for the inspiration.

Chris, thank you so much! I am constantly inspired by your work and the work of others on this forum, so believe me, it is mutual. :sunnysmil

You're too kind Tom! I'm really moved by what's happening in this thread, and all the threads i've been reading since i joined the Forum. What i said basically is the accumulation of lingua from all the sentiments gathered since then; Alex's work here kicked off that avalanche in me.

What a powerful labor of love. It motivates me to take some better reference photos of my parents when I see them again this Christmas, for some future potential portraits....

Your painting expresses a feeling of delight -- he must have been an interesting person to know -- and his building seems to express that same delight and sense of fun, too.

What a treasure you have made, both for your family and for the recipients!

Thank you, Michele!

"Delight" is a good word to use in relation to my father. He had a playful sense of humor and a delight in each new project, in discovering the true form of each building and then building his design around that. He was the opposite of slick.

When we were in Estonia we saw many people with similar eyes and facial structure, which was interesting.

That's a great idea about getting reference photos of your parents. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to paint a loved one who has passed away and trying to work from lousy references. Better yet, we could paint our parents while they are still alive--but if there isn't enough time, at least we have the references.

Alex,
I like the way you painted your father's head. You stayed away from all the edginess that is so easy to slip into when everything is defined in a photo.
By the way, I grew up in a town where we were fortunate to have one of your father's buildings, the Kimble Art Museum. (Some of the people who attended the last Portrait Society conference in Dallas might have also taken the bus over to Fort Worth to see the portraits at the Kimble Art Museum.) The museum has a nice collection of art, but for me one of the best pieces there is the building itself. With all the restrictions placed upon an architect, its really quite an accomplishment to have the end product feel like a classic, like a part of antiquity and yet at the same time feel so thoroughly modern, even these 35 years since its completion. Its a masterpiece and he should be an inspiration for all of us.

Thanks, Steve! I saw the Kimbell Museum once in 1980, but didn't get a chance to go back during the PSA Conference in May. I was trying to pack up my painting and hightail it out of there to catch a flight. It would have been nice to see it again. I remember it very much as you described; it had a big impact on me, too. I think I probably got to know my father through his buildings as much as I did through him personally!

Alexandra, what a moving and interesting story this is, and such a painting! So strongly realized and full of life. My heartfelt congratulations!

Thank you, Linda!

I wrote a reply to you earlier but it vanished. Probably due to my pushing the wrong button.

When this painting was about 3/4 of the way along, Linda critiqued it and spotted lots of things I never would have noticed. So, thanks to her, I avoided some wierd tangent things and other undesirables. The "leave no line unbroken" law will get full attention in the portrait I'm working on now.

So thanks again, Linda, for your expert eye.

Alex,

I recently came across this and think it is a wonderful piece. I really think that great portraits seem to successfully combine form with content. What struck me about the painting was the way that you had used angles to give some very nice perceptual interplays. This manipulation of space is a very "architectural" concept and so appropriate for representing you father.

Alex,

Beautiful job. And what a great experience for you - travelling to Estonia for the presentation.

That face is so ALIVE!

David

Speaking of this---

Clive, I am very flattered that you see this in my work because I think you are a master of these things (see my blurb on your portrait).

Thank you!

David, thank you, I really appreciate your comment about the face. It was a challenge getting it to come alive. I think having a very detailed reference material and supplementing it with actual living models who are relatives helped a lot!

The trip was amazing! Here we are standing on the edge of the Baltic Sea in the sleet.

Alex,
how fortunate you are having such an inspiring family, and you being able to create the beautiful portraits, to save the remembrance of your parents, makes it just perfect.
And again, I like the areal perspective. :thumbsup:

Allan, thank you for your nice comments on the portrait--and also for your positive (aerial?) perspective on my family, which I will keep in mind.

When we were driving through the Estonian countryside and also down to Riga along the coast, I was reminded of your photos of the view from your house, especially the angle of the light, and the landscape of fields, woods, and water. Is there really a similarity, or is it my imagination?

Alex,
the similarity to the Danish countryside might well be close. I have never been in Estonia but know that thatching reeds are cut there and imported to Denmark. We also got our flag from Estonia.
The Danish king, Valdemar Sejr led a campaign in Estonia in 1219, and in a battle, when he was in trouble, the flag fell from the sky and the danish won - at least the flag, "Dannebrog".

Oh, that's an interesting bit of history. I was reading the history in the guidebooks so I would know something when I was visiting these places, and I remember reading something about the Danes in Tallinn. There were so many different people fighting over Estonia, I found it very hard to keep track of the different invasions.

Alex--

I'm late to the party, been so busy lately... but still wanted to congratulate you on this portrait which captures so much personality, joy and humor. Clearly a labor of love.

Thank you, Terri! :D