Yes, I think a great portrait photo can do whatever the best portrait painting can do. Karsh did make the "new" portrait photo famous by exploiting the lighting to imitate the light dark sfumato of baroque painting (Caravaggio). His dramatic style became ubitquitous for statesmen, business executives and performing arts stars. In Karsh we project more into the photo than is actually presented. This is the old trick of portrait painting, too, to keep the features a bit vague to allow the viewer to see what is desired (good or bad).
I recently saw a huge show of Marilyn Monroe photos (of her). Each one seemed to be a different Marilyn; none was the exact idealized image we carry in our heads (for those of us who are 1950s folks) but each was certainly Marilyn. Each picture seemed to evoke a piece of the Marilyn fantasy and one was eager to see more and more pictures of her, recognizing how the subjective Marilyn is always greater than the imaged Marilyn. Perhaps something like that is true of the Karsh Churchill. We stare at the photo, filling its dark shadows with our subjective idealizations of the man nearly no one now alive ever met in person. WC --- On Mon, 12/8/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Photography and the artworld > To: [email protected] > Date: Monday, December 8, 2008, 10:50 AM > In a message dated 12/8/08 11:01:23 AM, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > This accumulation of discrete acts formed a more vivid > and "living" > > image than a mechanical transcription. > > > > It'd be interesting to hear the artists among us > comment on some portrait > photos they feel are great. Some of us remember certain > instantaneous images > -- > the mind's "still" photos -- that felt and > still feel vivid and "living". > Sometimes that image is from real life, an unforgettable > moment we > experienced; > and others are memories of photographs. The famous Karsh > photo of Churchill > deserves to be famous, I feel. We have a photo of my son > when he was one or so > -- > alert, bright, and beaming with joy. He was the happiest > child I've ever > known. Is it possible the photo caught and projects that as > well as any > painting > might? > > > > > ************** > Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and > favorite sites in one place. Try it now. > (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp& > icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000010)
