[John Reidy]

". . . an arrangement of visual elements."

M-m-m-m-m-m. Maybe I am simple minded but isn't this precisely what composition is?

As I appreciate and understand composition, especially in portraiture, there is a volume of information of smart and artistic composition styles. Sometimes the portrait can tell a story, which could be a theme of sorts but to make a distinction between compositional choices as to themed or unthemed and to relegate one to art and the other to something less is more of a view of the critic and not the art.

Thanks, Mike for your look back and for the cleverness that you always seem to be able to wrangle. Leave it to an Okie to tell it like Will Rogers.