In general, I don't care for portraiture of any type in my home, but the examples from the Master Class were very well-done.

I love portraits and would really enjoy featuring them in my home had I the $$$ to spend on them.

I thought my husband would really go for this clumsy creepy clown portrait I found at a yard sale (he normally likes weird stuff). However his reaction was instant revulsion and hatred and it has been relegated to a back hallway. I think he genuinely had a few moments questioning the kind of person he married.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Mon, Dec 8, 14 at 15:40

Oh Robo, that clown is truly awful.

I would totally have an Old Master in my house.

Have you noticed some of the portraits, obviously recently commissioned and highly stylized, that are featured in articles about recent renovations (often, but not always, in the South) that are godawful and make the subjects (often young girls on swings) look creepy?

KSWL, that is one stunning kitchen. Coffee flew out my mouth and up my nose at the "Granny's keeping an eye on you when you go off recipe and f%#k up her biscuits!" comment.

I love portraiture. I was thinking of your love of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. Such a lovely portrait.

One of my favorite portraits is Klimt's Portrait of Helene Klimt, also his Girl with Hat and Cape.

My favorite of all time is one that my DM painted, she copied it from a calendar when she was at St. Joe's Academy. It is hanging in the bedroom hall.

This part of the clown's face is really unpleasant to me: I can't quite decide if it's "Bad drag queen" or "Chain-smoking cashier at lousy diner"

The redness of the eyes kills me! That person is not enjoying his life. And yes the delicate eyebrows add that other layer of creepiness.

I suggested we hang it in the guest bedroom....no one would overstay their welcome!! They might not even make it through one night!

This post was edited by robotropolis on Mon, Dec 8, 14 at 16:52

Robotrop, I do see why you bought that clown. I don't understand it, but I understand it.

Well, we do have a pastel of DH's grandfather in his Hussar's uniform over the mantel as he's the one who bought the property we live on...

I like the idea, especially if it's a family portrait or related to the house's history. You just don't see them used very often anymore. Maybe the digital camera has eradicated the artists. We always seem to be a disposable society when compared to our predecessors, not investing in history....

"I don't know that it's more palatable if they are not related, but in my opinion it's a bit more palatable if they are at least dead." Pal, that may be the most wonderful comment I have ever read here! I have an image of you in my head and I can just picture you with your elbow resting on a mantle, cigarette in hand ( this is the 30s afterall) and the other hand placed nonchalantly in your pocket as you say that. Rather like this:

OMG I am laughing out loud at these replies! Robo, my favorite crime novel author would call those eyes "rheumy." I can almost see your husband recoiling in horror! (I once selected a rather large fern wallpaper pattern that had the same effect on my DH.)

Pal, I vote for bad drag!

Holly-Kay, glad to have brought a little fun to your day, lol! I do love that Vermeer...and I had two Klimt prints hanging in my hallway for years, the Birch Wood and I forget the name of the other, a stately home. I love his style and color!

Annie, you've a great reason to display your relative. I happen to love pastels and our kids' portraits were done in that medium.

Mtn, poor girl---the daughter of the house relegated to the laundry! I agree it is surprising how much life those portraits of dead people bring to the rooms in that blog. Makes me realize that I don't necessarily dislike certain things, just have seen them in the context of bad design?

Selcier, I would love to see your dad's conquistador paintings on velvet. What a cool hobby!

Dee, I know what you mean about cringeworthy portraits of adults. One of my relatives who was kind of a big deal in his state had an institutional portrait painted at the end of the Ugly Sideburn era. About 15 years later his wife demanded that they be retouched / painted over and (no idea how she accomplished this) they were! He went from looking like a Burt Reynolds crony or porn star to perfectly respectable (and much younger)!

That clown is too much! Clowns don't typically bother me much, but I might have a hard time sleeping in a guest room with that on the wall.

That kitchen is lovely kswl and the portrait looks perfect.

My mother has a portrait of my great aunt that I hope to steal away from her one day soon. My great aunt was a beautiful woman, and was in fact known to be a (good) witch. Witch may be an exaggeration, but she had unique abilities, able to find water sources and other neat things that fascinated me as a child. She died when I was ten or so, but I have great memories of her. My now husband had her engagement ring re-set for me prior to our wedding, Her husband adored her and had her portrait commissioned by one of Quebec's well known artists at the time, in the 1940s I believe. I love it, although the eyes following me did bother me a bit as a child.

Does a portrait have to be of someone real? I have this one in my living room, I absolutely love her.

"Does a portrait have to be of someone real?"

That is a very good question, sochi, I never thought about it, but I guess not. After all, every portrait of an "unreal" person had to have been modeled on somebody, right? I really like your portrait, it's interesting and colorful and I kind of like eyes following me around :-)

Love this thread.

I agree that the dead are more decorative. They are also less likely to spoil the effect by flopping on the couch in front of their stately portrait in their underpants.

My brother used to work with photographers. One offered to make him a giant portrait to hang in his business. He declined. But he did toy with the idea of sitting for it dressed in a huge Elizabethan ruff collar holding a turkey leg, and hanging it directly behind his desk labeled with a brass plaque that said, "Founder." Just to see people's expressions when they walked in the door.

Marcolo, that comment about the underpants made me howl! I can absolutely picture it.

I like antique portraits. Is it because the subject is dead? Maybe :-) I like to imagine their lives.

We have a good friend, from the South, who has a portrait of himself as a child hanging over his mantel. It is a well-done portrait, but still seems...odd.

My parents were avid collectors of art albums and took me to art galleries since I was 4 or 5 yrs old. They never had the money for high-ticket art, but they acquired a few interesting oil paintings and watercolors by minor artists.

I like portraits in which people seem to be alive. That clown portrait is intriguing. It reminds me of Toulouse-Lautrec's works. The clown's eyes look very realistic, which I like.

Right now we have my late MIL's portrait done in oil by an immigrant Bulgarian artist in the 60's. It's sort of impressionistic and a very decent likeness of her. Of course, it's no Renoir or Repin. My MIL kept it wrapped in paper in her garage, and I put it up in our living room. It looks good there, although I suspect my MIL probably found it a bit too close to reality. The portrait is definitely not glamorous. From what I know about DH's family situation at the time, her expression and overall look in the painting seem to reflect that well.

I had a reproduction of this portrait of Yvette Guilbert by Toulouse-Lautrec over my desk when I was in high school and college. It was on the wall directly above my desk lamp with a drum shade. When the lamp was turned on, the lady's face looked so alive. I loved the effect!

My father was a photographer in the Korean war and was stationed at the Pentagon before his discharge. When he and my mother married in Washington, D.C. one of his naval buddies who was also a photographer took the wedding pictures. He made a set of giant prints --- all black and white of course --- of a few of the formal shots and several of the candid ones. They were fantastic and life sized, and my mother never allowed them out of Dad's study. She was considered quite daring in the early 1950s, wearing a strapless gown that was covered by a lace juliet jacket (and matching cap instead of a veil!) for the church ceremony, taken off for the reception. She was a fashion model and professional dancer then and her pictures were something to see.

When they sold the family home and moved into a condominium my mother had the life sized photographs BURNED! I was heartbroken when I. found out.......she still has the spiral bound albumns but those big, fabulous pictures of my parents are gone forever. I had wanted to do something with them, perhaps a drunk room (what we called any small room in a house that had no discernable function, where you put your drunk guests to sober up and all it needed was some avant guarde wall decor and a chaise.)

I have pastel portraits of my children in the library and smaller photographs there and in the bedrooms, and a carousel of unframed photos downstairs, but no oil paintings of ancestors, real or imagined.*** I would dearly loved to have had my parents wedding pictures.

***reminds me of a line from one of Dominick Dunne's novels......a Las Vegas
showgirl marries a young scion of New York and furnishes her townhouse with very proper oil portraits of staid strangers that she deftly passes off as relatives. When a pre-Canna friend shows up to visit, she does her regular spiel on the tour of the house, passing one particularly severe portrait with the remark, "You remember Mother, don't you?"

The friend replies, "Of course I remember your mother, but who's the broad in the picture?"

Here's one of my favorite blogs, which unfortunately is no longer active. The blogger has created a great modern space with mostly thrifted items. I think her use of vintage portraits of pretty average looking people adds fun to her minimally styled spaces.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.the-brick-house.com/tour/

cyn427, is that Noel Coward as photographed by Cecil Beaton? I love it!

My SIL is descended from people of means. She inherited a beautiful, rather formal oil portrait of her mother as a young woman, painted in the early 40s, which now hangs in her living room. It looks terrific: graceful, personal, and adds a touch of history & meaning to my SIL's LR.

The "Geen Lady" lives above the fireplace in the summer months -- and above the bed during the cooler months ....

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This one is in the office ....

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These two gentlemen live in various locations in the house --

These photos live in the main bathroom ....

The Red Lady above the fireplace .... and she usually resides in the bedroom ...

This handsome fellow lives in the living room .....

Hallway portraits: Uncle Harry and Uncle George! LOL! :)

Teacats, I love your portraits, they fit so well in your lovely home.

My DH's sister recently had a portrait of her DD done by a relative with an amazing artistic ability. She has it hanging in her DR and it's lovely.

When my dad married his second wife (they were both around 65 at the time), one of the things she packed up and brought to his/their home was an awful pastel portrait of... Herself. It was probably done when she was about 35 years old. Why, I will never know. I think it was about 20" x 30" and they hung it in the dining room. It was just awful. She died about 6 years ago but I am sure it's still there.

Unless I "inherit" that masterpiece one day, I don't/won't have any portraits on my walls. There's so much other art that I prefer. However, teacats, I adore your home. I especially love the portrait with the boombox under it -- great juxtaposition!

One of the potential problems with portraits is that the sitter or client usually wants something pretty flattering: a woman my parents knew wanted herself portrayed less heavy and younger facially and then was disappointed that her portrait didn't quite capture her personality the way her husband's portrait did. (His was an "official" portrait hers was done as a companion painting.

I tried very hard to get a photograph or likeness of the people who built & first lived in my house.. There are descendants living around me but none have any photos :-(

I think I might put an add in the shopper......Someone somewhere must have a photo. I don't even care if it was taken during the years they lived here or at some other time.

holly-kay: Many thanks for the kind thoughts! :)

sueb: Always looks like our gentlemen-in-the-home-office is trying VERY hard to ignore the loud music from the boombox !!! :) LOL! Always puts me in mind of the portraits in Hogwarts! :)

Pal: Yes indeed -- I've often wondered if the REAL people in our portraits were quite so "handsome" -- BUT the old saying goes: "Handsome Is As Handsome Does ...." :)

A different friend of my parents had a very--dramatic--painting of herself that hung in her dining room for decades.

Dramatic in the sense that her back was partly to the viewer and she gazed sharply off to the side. Her shoulders were bare and she had an opera-gloved hand at her throat.

I've seen similar photos of the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.

When I was young enough to be unembarrassed by asking probing questions about it she told me that she actually hated it, but the artist displayed it prominently in his front window until she took it home. Her husband hung it over the dining room mantle as kind of a joke--he wanted to get his money's worth--and there it stayed as a conversation piece. In this case I think it was the woman's utter Lack of vanity that allowed its prominent location.

I love this thread! Several years ago while in England my husbandâÂÂs family all met up at the Cricketers Club for lunch. I canâÂÂt remember if my husband or I took the photo of my father in-law studying the menu and enjoying a beer but I felt inspired to do a painting of him from the photo. For several years it lived on the kitchen wall in the old house. It now lives on the kitchen wall in the new house. He has since passed but no matter where we live he will always be in the kitchen. When he stayed with us he always insisted on loading the dishwasher as he was very fussy about everything being lined up properly with all the tea cup handles angled exactly the same.
OLD HOUSE
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Very handsome ole man! I will probably never add the color layers because this so captures him.
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NEW HOUSE
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I was thinking of doing some caricatures of family members for media wall using the background colors and styles of 1950âÂÂs portraiture. Sort of like this Frank Johnson style that has French school influence except I want to do mine with the humor of caricature.
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I live in the south, so portraits, especially of children, are common. I have oil portraits of my boys (barefoot and in party clothes!). I love them! I also have a very large oil portrait of my mother that hangs in the guest room. It just seems to be *too much* to have it hanging in a public space. My great grandmother's portrait hangs in the living room. I think Pal is correct that they are more palatable when the subject is dead, although I don't think this is true for children's portraits.

My portrait and my brother's are at my father's house. I suppose mine will come to me eventually. We recently inherited copies of portraits of DH's ancestors that were probably done in the 1800s/turn of the 20th century (the copies, not the originals). They're pretty small and much easier to work into my decor than the larger portraits we already have.

That clown is super creepy, and I'm not even one of those people who is freaked out by clowns!

I've painted portraits for friends interested in history. Portraits of the friends done as if they lived back then. It's fun and everybody loves it. What is nice is a landscape with smaller figures ( the owners of the home) The smaller faces don't follow you around the room like the big portraits do. I love the Gainsborough and Sargeant ladies although I wish both artists would have put as much effort into finishing the backgrounds as the ladies. My favorite is Gainsborough's nephew. His uncle called him a blockhead for being such a dandy. I love his devil may care look and have his portrait study up in my closet. A portrait of Beethoven in a great gold frame is in the living room. Sometimes he seems to look sad, sometimes stern and sometimes just lost in thought. Usually I feel like he's trying to say 'I overcame great difficulties to make my art, what's your excuse?' He's my coach. I think a great portrait can express many moods. I love having Beethoven there every day. Sometimes, I look over and just having the portrait in my peripheral vision will be enough to start some music in my mind.

Poor clown, he's having a tough day. Put him somewhere to remind you that life is good. Like the Dutch put up fading flowers to remind them that life was short. Put something in the guest room that is restful like the young knitter asleep by Greuze.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:2140863}}

I have The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals on the wall going upstairs. Not the real one :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: The Laughing Cavalier

This post was edited by LucyStar1 on Tue, Dec 9, 14 at 22:12

I really like old portraits. I like modern portraits too, but not romanticized images; I like everyday people. The portrait in the photo WMA89 posted would be right up my alley.

This is hanging above the fireplace at my house. In my city, we have a a lot of homeless teenagers. There's a very cool program that provides many services to them, one of those being artistic outlets. They partner with local artists for gallery shows and sometimes the artist is a local portrait painter. He does portraits of some of the kids with the idea that it's a chance for them to view themselves in a new way. This is Wyndham.

Jterrilynn - you are very talented! What a lovely reminder of your father-in-law.

Thank you Gail! I loved that man and when I wasnâÂÂt exasperating him he loved me to. He was a good loyal husband and father with high standards and set such a good example for his boys. He and his wife raised some exceptional sons. So, we proudly display him.

What a wonderful tribute to your DFIL Jterri. You are very talented.

Portraits are just pictures. If they are good pictures, use them. If they are portraits of family, and you like them, just put them in an appropriate place. Over the fireplace is not always (not usually, actually) the best spot. My father was in the Seabees in WWII and another sailor did portraits in chalk of the enlisted men. Framed in bamboo, reflecting its South Pacific provenance, it is hanging on a first floor hallway wall and has meaning for all of us. My mother's high school graduation photo, in sepia tones and really a wonderful picture, hangs opposite him. I happen to like corridors with photos of family--they give me pleasure every time I walk through.

teacats, I used to have a portrait like your Elizabethan fellow. Maybe even the same. Always loved that age.

I am in the South, and have large oil portraits of my children that were painted when each were 4. Dd's is over the fireplace, and ds's is in the dining room. I adore them, and don't care at all if some think they may not be appropriate. Just like a PP, my children are barefoot in theirs...and wearing party clothes! They are 12 and 15 now...and I think they deep down think it is cool that I have portraits of them in very prominent areas of the house. :)

Teacats, I love your style.

Jterri, wow, you did that? im so jealous. How sweet to have that.

I didn't think I had any portraits but I do.

This one I bought when I was in college, ive always liked it:
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These two are from the same Brazilian painter, bought at a Soho gallery.

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This was done by one of my girls in preK; it is supposed to be her dancing with her sister.

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Two girls dancing the hula! With pigtails, in grass skirts wearing leis!

Aside from what looks to be a faint five o'clock shadow on one of the girls, I'd say that is a clear, expository picture of someone's vacation, probably Hawaii? Cute!!

I'm enjoying everyone's portraits and stories. I have always preferred landscapes, but some of the rooms I've seen here with portraiture are thrilling!

LOL, KSWL. I always liked the way it conveyed movement, . Ironically, we have never been to Hawaii (going this March!)... must have seen a Malibu Barbie or something.

The white cabinets in the kitchen along with the olive green marble floor make it a happening kitchen. Moreover, the most interesting thing that I can figure out is the sunlight surrounding the space. When it comes to portraits I prefer having vintage monochromes as they are so real and unpretentious.

Vedazu, we have a similar portrait of my FIL done in WWII German prison camp in pencil. It's in a simple lucite standing frame in DH's study, but I'm going to frame it for his Bday. I never thought of doing that before! The first time I saw it I asked my DH who had done HIS portrait, they look so much alike.

We have a great full-length portrait of my great-grandfather that hung in Grandparents' library for 50 years, then in Dad's library for 30, today it's being crated up and heading to my cousin. It's a really wonderful portrait (can't show a picture because it's at the restorer) and will be perfect in his house. (Yes, he does want it)

mtn, the way I was reading your post, it looked at first like you were saying your DD made the portrait of the nude woman, LOL.

I love framing kids' art.

Well yes, of course, Sue, all of my children are terribly precocious and started doing classical oils in pre-k ; didn't yours?!

I just had to post this incredible Christmas gift we just received in the mail today from my SIL, who is an artist.

It is a portrait of my three children, on vacation 2 years ago on a boat down the Mekong delta in Vietnam. I just love it. She got a photo from our photobucket album we had shared. She does not usually do portraits, and I would call these stylized. It's almost the opposite of a caricature; they are simplified, but she captured their expression and a certain essence. I just love it.

Had to share given this post!

Wow that's fantastic! Are you going to hang in the lake house?

I think I am going to hang it in my office!

Thanks, Jterri

While I don't have any of his art in my house, I love how my cousin takes portraits of real people and bends them into something surreal. This one called Miracle of the Pines.
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