This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/mar/25/quentin-bryces-official-portrait-pedestrian-art-with-no-soul

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Quentin Bryce's official portrait: pedestrian art with no soul Quentin Bryce's official portrait: pedestrian art with no soul
(5 months later)
A new official portrait of the outgoing governor general Quentin Bryce was unveiled in Canberra on Tuesday evening. Painted by the celebrity portraitist Ralph Heimans, it is very large, measuring 1.9m by 1.36m. The painting, which depicts Bryce at the doorway of her former office, gazing out into a sunset, achieves everything a contemporary portrait appears supposed to: it is easily recognisable, and it looks like an illustration. It is also utterly redundant.A new official portrait of the outgoing governor general Quentin Bryce was unveiled in Canberra on Tuesday evening. Painted by the celebrity portraitist Ralph Heimans, it is very large, measuring 1.9m by 1.36m. The painting, which depicts Bryce at the doorway of her former office, gazing out into a sunset, achieves everything a contemporary portrait appears supposed to: it is easily recognisable, and it looks like an illustration. It is also utterly redundant.
Heimans’s portrait of Bryce will become part of the Historic Memorials Collection and will be hung at Members Hall, Parliament House, next to William Dargie’s 1953 portrait of the Queen. In that museum of the living dead, Heimans’s vision of Bryce as a kind of mystic seer will no doubt be popular; in contrast to Dargie’s ghastly fanboy pic of her maj in all-yellow, it will be seen as both modern and restrained.Heimans’s portrait of Bryce will become part of the Historic Memorials Collection and will be hung at Members Hall, Parliament House, next to William Dargie’s 1953 portrait of the Queen. In that museum of the living dead, Heimans’s vision of Bryce as a kind of mystic seer will no doubt be popular; in contrast to Dargie’s ghastly fanboy pic of her maj in all-yellow, it will be seen as both modern and restrained.
If the success of a portrait is measured by an artist’s ability to render a likeness, then this painting of Bryce earns an unqualified two thumbs up: this painting really does look like her. But if your measure of a successful portrait is some kind of insight into the painting’s subject, character and, dare I say it, very soul, then Heimans’s picture is a shambles of hokey symbolism and compositional trickiness. (Although it could have been a lot worse.) If the success of a portrait is measured by an artist’s ability to render a likeness, then this painting of Bryce earns an unqualified two thumbs up: this painting really does look like her. But if your measure of a successful portrait is some kind of insight into the painting’s subject, character and, dare I say it, very soul, then Heimans’s picture is a shambles of hokey symbolism and compositional trickiness. (Although it could have been a lot worse.)
According to the press release, there is hidden within the painting “numerous symbolic artefacts, each holding personal significance for the governor general and her connection to the Australian people”, including objects that testify to “her commitment to women’s groups and equal rights, respect for Indigenous culture and community, and gratitude and admiration for the armed forces”.According to the press release, there is hidden within the painting “numerous symbolic artefacts, each holding personal significance for the governor general and her connection to the Australian people”, including objects that testify to “her commitment to women’s groups and equal rights, respect for Indigenous culture and community, and gratitude and admiration for the armed forces”.
I’ll leave it to the viewer to determine whether it's the brooch on Bryce’s suit jacket or the pen in her hand that comments on her gratitude and admiration for the armed forces.I’ll leave it to the viewer to determine whether it's the brooch on Bryce’s suit jacket or the pen in her hand that comments on her gratitude and admiration for the armed forces.
Instead, I’d like to offer another interpretation. Bryce is looking out of her office, not into a sunset, but into the recent past: she’s wondering why, in the age of photography, status and importance are still enshrined in paint, and why such pedestrian art is celebrated as worthy. Bryce’s office represents the future – the modern world of media and reflection – while the outside represents the past, symbolised in the reflected landscape that looks like a background from a colonial-era painting by John Glover. Bryce isn’t going out the door, she’s closing it.Instead, I’d like to offer another interpretation. Bryce is looking out of her office, not into a sunset, but into the recent past: she’s wondering why, in the age of photography, status and importance are still enshrined in paint, and why such pedestrian art is celebrated as worthy. Bryce’s office represents the future – the modern world of media and reflection – while the outside represents the past, symbolised in the reflected landscape that looks like a background from a colonial-era painting by John Glover. Bryce isn’t going out the door, she’s closing it.