Description
The creator’s argument on behalf of portraiture (and he draws on examples by such artists as Botticelli, Rembrandt, Matisse, Warhol and Hockney) does not comprise a mere survey of the genre, nor is it a straightforward history of its reception. As a substitute, Brilliant presents a thematic and cogent analysis of the connections between the subject-matter of portraits and the beholder’s response – the response she or he makes to the image itself and to the individual it represents. Portraiture’s unusual longevity and resilience as a genre is a testament to the power of this imaginative transaction between the subject, the artist and the beholder.