Stockland Martel Blog

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The Culture section of yesterday’s Guardian featured an interesting story by Blake Morrison on political portraiture.

“Political leaders have always understood the power of portraiture,” writes Morrison. “Holbein’s 1537 Whitehall mural of Henry VIII – richly dressed, broad-shouldered, legs spread wide – exudes authority and virility (even if the king no longer possessed them by then). And Ingres’s 1806 painting of Napoleon, sceptre in hand on the throne, makes the newly crowned emperor look invincible.”

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As he goes on to note, photography is now the medium of choice for political portraiture, and he cites a number of top-shelf photographers who have produced work in the genre, including Platon, Lee Miller, and Nadav Kander. “It’s a three-way collaboration,” Kander told Morrison, “between photographer, sitter and viewer. You want the person to become themselves, heroic in their individuality. But you also want to cause a reaction in the viewer. It’s not about some ultimate capturing of the soul. You just have a gut feeling about how this person could look interesting and you work from that.”

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You’ll find the full text of the Guardian article here.

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