Portraiture - Artist Research

Portraiture - Artist Research

The two following artists are rather similar in many ways. For example, they both capture portraits, mainly featuring celebrities. However, they do this in different ways. Lachapelle captures the images in a rather eccentric and striking manner which is shown through his use of bold colour schemes and compositions, as well as the elaborate make up which he uses on his subjects. However, Leibovitz captures her images in a much more subtle way and often portrays her subjects as thoughtful, or suggests hidden and deeper meanings of the individuals identities within her portraits. In my opinion, I think that Lachapelle's portraits are more interesting as they attract your attention due to the bold and eye-catching colours and compositions used. 

David Lachapelle

Lachapelle was born in 1963 and is an American commercial photographer, fine art photographer, music video director and artist. He is best known for his photography which often references art history and sometimes presents social messages. He also photographs many celebrities. Lachapelle's career began in the 1980's when he began to show his images in New York Art Galleries. His work caught the eye of Andy Warhol who offered him a job at Interview Magazine. Below shows some portraits that he has captured of celebrities. I really like how he uses setting, makeup and clothing and expressions to give the audience an idea as to the personalities of the individuals.

This photograph of Madonna is very interesting as he has used light trails to create a crown above her head. This crown could be considered to be symbolic or may not be. I like the way that in the image, she appears very natural and relaxed. I also like the dark purple backdrop as I feel that this makes the image feel more permanent and calm.

I like this image as I think that the photographer is trying to portray the individual as being fun and energetic. He portrays these feelings by using the pink background and having the subjects expressions and hair and make up in such a way that suggests youth and energy. 

The way that this image is presented suggests a more dark and solemn feel to the way that the individual is presented. The dark eyes and the abundance of red in the image suggests sadness and gives a slightly gothic feel to the overall image. I also think that the blood on one of the fingers could possibly have a symbolic meaning and could suggest something about the individuals personality. The way that the subject is posing suggests that she is deep in thought and also supports the previous assumptions about what the photographer is trying to portray.

This image is very interesting as it shows an original way of presenting a portrait. I like the element of surrealism in the image and it makes the audience feel as though the subject is most likely to be a fun and interesting person.

Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz was born in 1949 and is an American portrait photographer. During her career, she has worked for the Rolling Stone Magazine, Vanity Fair and has also worked with a number of high profile advertising campaigns. In recent years, Leibovitz has focused her work on capturing a range of interesting images of celebrities and has worked with many very famous celebrities including John Lennon.

This image features the singer Adele. From the image, Leibovitz portrays her as a glamorous and slightly mysterious figure. She conveys the idea of mystery by positioning the subject to the right hand side of the frame and using her hair to show movement although her face and facial expressions appear to be calm and stationary. This therefore portrays an element of mystery within the image. I also like how the image uses a black and white filter as this helps the audience to focus on the actual face rather than looking at the colours that are in the photograph.

This image depicts Angelina Jolie. In my opinion, it presents her as being calm and thoughtful. The subject appears calm as there appears to be very little movement in the image and the facial expressions seem to show that she is calm and relaxed and the hand on the face could be thought to depict thoughtfulness. Again, I feel that the black and white filter helps the audience to focus more on the actual face presented rather than the colours.

This image shows Meryl Streep in a more unconventional form. I think that the image could be trying to present the many characters that she has acted as due to the idea of the mask within the image. This makes the audience think about the subject more deeply than just their mood in the image as it encourages the audience to think about the individuals life and achievements as well as how they are being portrayed in the photograph.