University President

Alexandra Tyng · 04-10-2007, 09:20 AM

Here's one of my recent commissions, a portrait of Dr. Constantine Papadakis, President of Drexel University. Oil on linen, 54" x 40".

The official unveiling will be in late May, but I'm posting this now because I heard the good news yesterday that this portrait will receive a Certificate of Merit in the 2007 PSoA Competition!

It was a pleasure to work with Dr. Papadakis. We easily agreed on the pose and setting, and he posed for a head-and-shoulders oil study, which helped tremendously in the process of getting lifelike, accurate color and understanding his head in three-dimensions. A lot of busy clients are reluctant to pose and do not understand how important this can be to the artist. But Dr. Papadakis was very appreciative of the process and the result. I felt very good about working with him when he came to my studio to view the completed work and said, "This is not just a copy of a photo, it's a real painting!" Many people would not care, but he did and that made a huge difference.

Garth Herrick · 04-10-2007, 12:38 PM

Congratulations on your deserved recognition! This is a marvelous, penetrating, and true portrait. I have been witness to its development in your studio, and I think you did everything right, here. I can vouch this is absolutely no copy of a photo; not at all. You carefully designed the whole space, not as a camera recorded it, but in your mind's ideal. It too has your distinctive characteristic of cascading depths of space, perfectly staged to best support your subject's importance. And he is so alive and vital! Very, very well done!

Garth

Sharon Knettell · 04-10-2007, 02:43 PM

Alex,

This is wonderful! You have gone through a great deal of trouble to make what could be a stock university president portrait into a beautiful painting in itself. No mean feat! The composition and integration of the marble elements is just great. This deserves the award it got and more.

I was visiting one of the hospitals in Boston last Monday, a saw some paintings of the big wheels of this major hospital, behind some servings of crumpets. They should have called you.

Alexandra Tyng · 04-10-2007, 04:41 PM

Garth, thank you for your glowing assessment now and for your encouragement while it was on the easel. As for your claim that I did "everything right," I not so sure, but I did put a lot of effort into making all the elements work together. He has a very vital personality so I think it was a relatively straightforward likeness.

Sharon, thanks! I'm allergic to stock portraits of any kind. Unfortunately they abound in this area, too. Jefferson University Hospital just unloaded Eakins' Gross Clinic ,unfortunately--at least it's in the art museum now. But Drexel University, where this is going, has a really excellent collection of portraits and landscapes, which we should see if you come this way.

Heidi Maiers · 04-10-2007, 11:32 PM

What could possibly have topped this? Doesn't get much better. I especially like that painting of the bust, wouldn't ya know. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful painting Alex!

Chris Saper · 04-11-2007, 09:34 AM

Oh, Alex, it is just fabulous!

The composition is spectacular and I feel that he is a charismatic man I'd love to meet.

Well-earned congratulations!

Allan Rahbek · 04-14-2007, 05:54 PM

Congratulations Alex,
I agree with everyone else that this portrait shows your mastery of juggling the many elements of a complex motif into a balanced composition.
The model looks very much alive because of the subtle temperature shifts in the complexion. I was surprised by the yellow- greenish shadow in his face, but it works very well.

Alexandra Tyng · 04-15-2007, 11:54 AM

Thanks, Allan, I appreciate what you say. It was quite an experience painting the face because, for some reason, the color in the life study differed radically from the color in the digital photos. Usually I find that the digital photos record the color, but do not (at least in the prints) show brilliance of illumination or color accents. That I have to supply myself, and if I have done a color study from life I have a record of how the light and color appeared to me. but in this case the color was actually different. The cool greenish light on the shadow side of his face was coming from a skylight in the center of the building. It was quite strong in reality, but it hardly appeared at all in the photos. I first painted it in as it was in the life study, but Dr. Papadakis felt it was too strong, so I toned it down, striking a compromise between the life study and the photos.