Being Framed - Esther

Throughout art history, the cheapest way to obtain a model was always to have made a self-portrait. Perhaps the self was dressed up to depict an allegory or biblical scene, nevertheless the model was easily acquired & cost not a penny to hire. It must have been a similar situation with artists that have painted other artists. 

There you are with your arty pal, perhaps painting outdoors, sketching on holiday or preferably the pub & you have an easy subject just sitting alongside you. Alternatively, you admire the other artist & wish to convey your reverence in art. You might be able to persuade them to dress up or pose in an awkward position & derive a great deal of hilarity in doing so. If the model is your friend, there’s a chance however that you’ve fallen out over a bill, or a partner or even the difference between yellow ochre or cadmium yellow & the representation of your “friend” takes on a whole other mood.

Hopefully by the end of the sitting, in whatever form this might take, you remain friends & both you & the friend are happy with the result. History doesn’t always reveal the thoughts of the sitter regarding the work, but frequently we know something of the relationships between the artist working & the artist modelling. 

One such pairing that seems to have remained cordial was that of Sean Keating in his 1917 portrait of Harry Clarke (given to the sitter as a gift), Thinking Out Gobnet. Harry is shown in white, among the ruined churches, deep in thought & some consternation as he fathoms the problem of composition & construction of his beautiful Saint Gobnait window for the Honan Chapel in Cork. Clarke & Keating took themselves off to the Aran Island of Inis Oírr (Inisheer) in Galway Bay to sketch, rejuvenate & gather a wealth of inspiration. Clarke’s honeymoon was also taken on the island. Keating has included some talismanic symbols such as a font & a well, as if attempting to cure his friend of the dreaded TB that would eventually take Harry’s life. Some 101 years later, the painting was auctioned for €56,000. I’m rarely interested in the sums of money artworks make, but given the story behind it & my deep attachment to Clarke’s work, it seems to me to have been a bargain.

There seems to have been considerably less love between Vincent van Gogh & his portraitist Paul Gaugin. The Painter of Sunflowers (1888) is a wonderful portrait showing Vincent in all his wonky glory painting his famous florals. He is recognisably Vincent as we know him & he’s depicted doing what he does best, a true artist’s portrait. We see the warmth of the French countryside in Arles & the composition pulls us into what he’s doing as much as the sitter himself. It’s safe to say their friendship was tempestuous, however, culminating in Vincent chasing Gaugin through the night time streets with a razor blade.

Egon Schiele drew his friend & mentor Gustav Klimt on more than one occasion. Gustav Klimt im blauen Malerkittel (1913) shows the older artist in one of his artist’s smocks but in a highly stylised, highly Schiele-esque pose. Klimt bought & helped exhibit Schiele’s works, introduced him to people that might help further his career & generally encouraged him, perhaps leading the young artist to develop a style that was similar to Klimt’s. One of the most tragic artist-by-artists portraits is Egon Schiele’s drawing of Gustav Klimt post mortem. His friend & greatest influence had died from a stroke in February, brought on by the global flu epidemic of 1918, which killed Schiele himself in October that year. 

In his distinctive style, Andy Warhol’s 1974 acrylic & silkscreen canvas of Man Ray in itself tells us little about either artist. Worked up from Warhol’s famous polaroids, the scene was created with strict instructions from Warhol regarding how to sit & that he had to keep the cigar. Despite owning several of Man Ray’s photographic works & prints, perhaps there is so little emotion in the work because Warhol himself reportedly said of Man Ray, “his name was the best thing about him.”

Another photographic example is David Bailey’s 1983 black & white portrait of Francis Bacon. Well-known for capturing portraits of the famous & fascinating, Bailey’s creation here shows a weary & tired looking subject; yet again it’s an artist being an artist. Francis is shown in his infamously chaotic studio, pots of brushed lined up behind him, an arc of paint on the wall behind. He may be tired but he’s nevertheless alert & those all-seeing eyes still sparkle in his genius head. Warts & all the portrait may be, but every line, hair & freckle are so beautifully picked out by Bailey’s expert photography. & maybe the only aspect dating this work is Bacon’s perma-cigarette lodged between his fingers.

In fact, Bacon has inspired a number of artists to depict his likeness. Louis le Broquy’s Francis materialises out of a mist of white paint, abstracted to an almost inhuman degree, only the piercing eyes breaching the veil.

Maggi Hamblin, who describes Bacon as “a man of great humour & wit,” painted him in remarkably similar hues. Despite Bacon being almost universally thought of as a vibrant & energetic character, he is shown in these three works in a more subdued mood. To meet him was perhaps to encounter hidden depths & the tragedies in his life must only have deepened them.

It has taken all this time to reach the possibility of using an artistic family member as a model. Augustus John’s drawing of his sister, the artist Gwen John is less a representation of sibling affection & more of a study of convenience. Or of the fashion of the day. She was there, he was there, the light fell in a useful manner, with clear & obvious shadow & highlight. Their relationship sounds as if it was strained at times & this kind of thing mightn’t help. We can imagine him asking her to stay still & her inevitable sisterly scowl…