Contemporary Portraiture: Royal Society of Portrait Painters

[Andrea Kantrowitz]

Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco posted a link to this website on another thread and I've found it tremendously inspiring. There's a great variety of contemporary approachs to portrait painting here, many which integrate wonderful technique with a contemporary vision. I'd be very interested in other members' responses to this resource.The Royal Society of Portrait Painters

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Hi Andrea, I am glad you enjoyed the works shown here.
In UK portraiture is a very lively form of art, often approached with a contemporary twist.
If you like to see more you can browse :
www.commissionaportrait.com
and
www.fineartcommissions.com

Ilaria

[Andrea Kantrowitz]

Thanks Ilaria! I find work at all of these websites truly inspiring. I don't quite understand the historical reasons for this difference between the US and UK professional portrait scenes.

I'm also very interested in the teaching of observational drawing. I teach in various venues, lately mostly to children. Again, doing internet research, I've found some of the most interesting work regarding the teaching of observational drawing is from the UK.

Is obsevational work is perhaps more valued and more integrated into the contemporary art world in the UK than in the US?

Maybe others on this forum will disagree, but it seems to me that the contemporary art world, as exemplified in NYC and LA, is very split off from the portrait world here, and that working from observation, in general, is less recognized as an aesthetically or intellectually significant activity within the mainstream art world.

Any thoughts?

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Art and painting are not synonyms here either, but a girl who paints flowers is among the finalists of the Turner Price (exhibition just opened) the most cutting edge art price in UK !

[Alexandra Tyng]

I agree with Andrea that the UK and the US have very different ways of integrating/not integrating the portrait world with the rest of the art world. I, too, find the Royal Society of Portrait Painters to be a very exciting organization. As I've mentioned to Ilaria on my recent WIP thread in this forum, the awards given at the RCPP have creative and thoughtful themes. I have an artist friend who often sends me links to check out on the RSPP website and I invariably end up browsing through the site and finding all sorts of exciting work. She and I talk about someday taking a trip to England just to enter, because you have to be there in person to deliver and pick up your work.

It's encouraging that portraiture is taking off here in the US, and that new, more stylistically inclusive competitions like the Outwin-Boochever are being created. I think this trend might gradually bring portraiture into the mainstream. But I think there is still a big split here and It puzzles me because I do landscapes, too, and I still don't understand why I have to work doubly hard to promote two different careers when they both belong to one artist!

[Linda Brandon]

It's also worth checking out the BP Portrait Award which awards prizes to portrait painters annually. Artists from around the world are invited to enter but there is an age restriction. I've managed to see this show a few times and I've seen some truly memorable paintings by some outstanding talents.

And Ilaria - I think it's time you entered something there by the way!

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Promised, Linda. This year I'll enter anywhere
I.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Definitely, Ilaria. And thanks for the BP link, Linda.