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Old 03-26-2009, 06:33 PM   #7
Marvin Mattelson Marvin Mattelson is offline
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Joined: May 2002
Location: Great Neck, NY
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Here are some of William McGregor Paxton's portraits utilizing a variety of portrait lighting conditions.

The top, Girl With a Pink Rose, is side lit but looking into the lit side.

The next one, Portrait of Elizabeth Paxton, is 3/4 lit with a second rim light.

The third one, Girl at Table (Detail), is between 3/4 and side lit but you can still see the side plane of her skull (on the darker side) clearly delineated. That avoids the illusion of the narrowing of her facial structure. Compare the cast shadow by her nose with your photos.

The last, Portrait of Louise Converse, is also 3/4 lighting but slightly more frontal. (Side note: For anyone interested, this portrait is currently on view at the Hammer galleries on 57th Street in NYC.)

You can see that Paxton has managed to achieve a great degree of variety in his portraits. One of his axioms was to "always look for a new motif. He is the master!
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Marvin Mattelson
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