As publisher of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, one of my goals is to further interest in classical painting techniques that had been passed on for many generations, until the modern art movement of the last 80 years. These techniques almost vanished because few wanted to paint in a truly representational manner.
Instead of a photo to accompany my publisher's column, I decided to use a portrait for the magazine and change it frequently to highlight how different artists paint the same subject. To date, many accomplished artists have painted the portrait.
Once word of this project was revealed, we learned that it has more significance than we originally anticipated. It may, in fact, have some minor historical significance, because very few individuals have been painted by multiple painters of their era. The project will not only show the aging process of the sitter, it will also portray how the contemporary artists of our time interpreted the same individual.
Discussions have already taken place about the possibility of a show of the existing portraits at museums and art venues, but we have chosen to delay this until a more substantial body of work has been created.
We have created a web page that shows the portraits and, in some cases, photos of the artist painting or the progress of the work. To access these pages, simply click on the name of the artist.