[Brenda Ellis]

I'm glad this poll got bumped back up.
I like this painting, liked it when I first saw it. Liked it more when I found out how small it was.

I was surprised by the reactions of folks on this forum. I am a big fan of Egon Schiele, but don't like Picasso. I love Manet but don't care for Monet. I guess I don't think beauty is a requirement of art. And by logical extension, if portraiture is art, beauty is not a requirement of portraiture.

I don't think this is a beautiful portrait. I do think it is a powerful portrait. I do think it shows signs of being done by someone who put a great deal of thought and talent and intuition into it.

Even if this were a commission, I'd like it.
I think art is an exercise in telling truth through visual means. And we know from studies of religion, politics and economics, truth is not an absolute. (If truth is beauty, and beauty truth, and if that other saying about beauty is accurate, then truth is in the eye of the beholder.)

And I would hope that the portraiture I am trying to practice is more about telling some sort of truth than simply being empty flattery. My ultimate goal is to be able to tell the truth in portraiture and still get paid for it! Is this a good likeness of the queen? I recognized her. Is this what I see when I look at the queen? No! That's what makes Freud's art unique and if art isn't unique expression, then it's not art.

I don't care to sit and watch a male lion maul and kill a female lion's cubs, but I have to admit that it is a fact of life. Should we pretend it doesn't happen? Should we not photograph or film it? Not paint it? If someone didn't record it and tell the story, we might not know that this is a fact of life for lions. Our knowledge of the world would be that much poorer and smaller.

I grew up with provincialism, and I rebelled against it. Guess I'm still rebelling.
Also, my opinion is probably being colored by the play I saw last night about Janis Joplin (many folks hated her voice, but she is one of the great blues singers of the 20th century.)

I say, to artists of talent, bring it on!