Mind boggling proposal

[Marvin Mattelson]

The following is an email I recently received. It makes me sick to my stomach to entertain the idea that that this stuff actually goes on. However, I have to believe that since I get these kind of solicitations on a daily basis, there have to be some artists out there who are utilizing these services. I know there is a historic precedence for artists using assistants to do the grunge work, but this proposal still seems totally immoral and unethical to me.

Respected Sir

I was browsing through your site. Your portraits are excellent and very impressive. I appreciate the process that you follow to paint these portraits.

We are a group of artists who would like to get an opportunity to work with you. I have a proposal that might benefit both of us. You could send us the images for the portrait and we could paint the same for you and send it across. We may not be as good an artist as you are, but can provide you with a good painting and your finishing touch would give the life to the portrait. This way you would be able to complete more portraits.

Our charges for painting the portrait would be very economical. We do have a process in place that would help you validate if we are progressing the portrait painting in the right direction. We can assure that the quality of our painting is very good and we keep our promises of delivery dates.

Please do let me know if you would be interested in the above proposal, in which case we can send you our price list and work out the logistics. If required we can send you a sample portrait painting, based on the images sent by you, to help you judge the quality of work.

Look forward to your response and an opportunity to work with you.
Regards
Nirmala

[Michele Rushworth]

Mind boggling is right. You get emails like that daily?

I feel exactly the way you do and I wonder how many of the artists whose work we think we know are indulging in the use of this sort of service -- hopefully none!

I'm not sure why I don't have this same negative feeling about artists of the past who had studios full of apprentices to execute their ideas, or with modern day glass artist Dale Chihuly who has teams of people doing the actual work and hasn't blown glass himself in decades. Maybe because they're not my competitiors......

[Amanda Grosjean]

Marvin,

That is unbelievable. Is there any indication as to where the email originated from? A university or another country, perhaps? I have seen other portrait artist websites based on a what appears to be a China sweatshop. But there is something so underhanded about this.

There is something about the phasing of the letter that sounds like this would be an act of fraud on the artist's part. They are not students or understudies. You are shipping it to them, they do all the work without any real knowledge of your technique, and then the original artist signs it. To a client who is paying large sums of money for your skill, that is more than just immoral, it sounds illegal. Especially if you were to work with a contract as I assume most people do.

[Patricia Joyce]

I don't know where I read this but there are Chinese artists soliciting to do just this kind of work. Quite frightening if you ask me.

I have a nephew who worked as an assistant to a landscape artists, he laid out the artist's palette and then painted all the skies for the landscapes. I felt it was immoral what he was doing, but he did learn allot from the artist. Is this wrong? Where do you draw the line?

[Marvin Mattelson]

The above email originated in India. However, the bulk of the solicitations I receive come from China. I get these every single day. For what it's worth, in my contract I state that the painting is done entirely by me.

I think that portrait artists have to decide to what degree their work is to function as a commodity and to what degree it represents their soul. Unfortunately, when I see the bulk of what passes for "fine art" portraiture today, it's obvious that most choose the former. I see very little heart and soul, mostly superficial paint manipulation driven by a money-hungry ethic.

Maybe I'm too much the cynic, but I find a genuine lack of integrity in both the way business is conducted and paintings are made. Obviously this kind of environment creates a perfect breeding ground for all sorts of duplicitous behavior, like the email I originally cited above. It's recently been called to my attention that there is an artist out there using images of my work and claiming them as their own.

I had this sentiment recently echoed by a student in my, just completed, NYC painting workshop. She has been successfully painting for 25 years, has had numerous gallery shows, as well as a master's from Yale. She took my workshop to fill in many blanks. She said she looked at the websites of numerous portrait artists and found the work to be superficial and lacking in substance. She said she chose to study with me because she felt my work had authenticity.

[Allan Rahbek]

Marvin,
Rubens, and others, employed assistants, but they were controlled by Rubens, not the other way around as I suspect your contacting people have in mind.

You have an ability that they don't have, why give it away?

I am sure that many "artists" out there are willing to sell out the little they have for nothing, so what.

It's easy to paint, but hard to make art.

[Patricia Joyce]

I agree wholeheartedly with you Marvin. An artist in the truest sense puts her/his whole self into each piece of art. I have been working hard on a portrait of two kids. Their faces are coming along well, but from the get go I began to feel uncomfortable with the background choice and the composition. Finally decided to get out another canvas and begin again. My husband thought I was out of my mind, and truth be told I was very down about starting again.

But I rememberd what you say, Marvin, that one cannot get so attached to a beaufifully painted nose, or mouth, or shirt, that you cannot or will not recognize errors that hurt the overall painting. No ego, set it aside and begin again. Cuz it's not about ego as much as creating something you KNOW is your personal best. Amongst so many lessons I learned from you, this one is a biggie, Marvin! Given this philosophy is does seem sacrilegious to let another touch your canvas with paint unless you want two names on the canvas

[Marvin Mattelson]

Originally Posted by Allan Rahbek

Marvin,
Rubens, and others, employed assistants, but they were controlled by Rubens, not the other way around as I suspect your contacting people have in mind.

Alan,
I think the paintings that Rubens did on his own are far superior to the ones done by his studio and worth far more. Perhaps the only exception were the one's painted by his little known apprentice named Anthony Van Dyke! ;-)

Patty,
I think it all comes down to purpose. For too many, IMO, art is about making money when it should be about making a difference.

I too started a painting over, with similar a reaction from my wife as you had from your husband. In my case, I trashed it after working on it for three months. I was very upset to have to begin anew but I really had no choice. The truth is, I should have started over two months earlier but I wasted all that time trying to convince myself I could "save it." You can see how it came out here: http://www.fineartportrait.com/sylvia_painting.html
In the end I definitely think it was worth it.

[Patricia Joyce]

Marvin,
It helps a great deal to read that story and I LOVE Sylvia, it is one of my favorite paintings of yours. I have also listened to your sound advice and tell my clients that the portrait will be completed when it is completed. I am always suprised that they accept that so easily, at least so far in my short career!!!

[Richard Bingham]

These solicitations speak directly to the notion of paintings as a manufactured commodity that might be mass-produced for a wider market. Since practically all manufacture of consumer items has moved to the Far East, you can't fault those folks for soliciting prospects to keep their "factories" busy, I guess.

The problem (and this really is one) is in the perceptions and the lack of knowledge and taste among people of reasonable affluence who should be avid "consumers" of original artwork, but instead buy prints or knockoffs when they buy at all.

I find it very difficult to believe the output of these sweatshops is in actual competition with professional portrait painters any more than a Chevy Geo could compete with a Lamborghini or a Ferrari in that market niche.

No one who wants an original Mattleson would settle for an oriental "ripoff", and your integrity in stating that you do, indeed, do all of your own work should go without saying as part and parcel of your professional reputation - but with these proposals becoming so prevalent, no doubt it's a good idea to say so!

(I think I'll add that line to my contract.)