Pictus Porrectus: Re-considering the Full-Length Portrait
Isaac Bell House, Newport, RI

For centuries, the pictorial genre of the full length, life sized portrait was bound up with its elitist origins. This form of portraiture was originally devised as a means to convey ostentatious display of power and wealth as well as a means to reinforce social aristocratic and ecclesiastical hierarchies. Working as an artist in the court of the Saxon kings, it is conjectured that Lucas Cranach the Elder pioneered this mode of representation in creating a pair of full-length canvases portraying Henry IV of Saxony and Catherine of Mecklenburg in 1514 (now part of the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden).

From the early Renaissance, Kings, nobles, popes, members of the royal court and clergy were the unique subjects of full length portraits. After the

American and French Revolutions, secular members of ‘high society’ and elected leaders were also given this treatment reflecting the shifting values of the Enlightenment era—thus somewhat expanding the genre. In the 19th century, as artists’ statuses changed in society, they too began to deploy this format to create memorable self portraits, with the American Charles Willson Peale’s astonishing full length trompe l’oeil depiction of himself (conserved at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and reprised by Sophie Matisse in 2000) being a prime example of the full length self-portrait as artistic calling card.

After more than a century of falling out of fashion, the full length portrait has undergone a radical paradigm shift in recent decades. Contemporary artists have breathed new life into this old fashioned genre by reinvigorating it with new subjects who fall outside of the passé Anglo-European hierarchies. As practiced by a new generation of contemporary artists, full length portraiture has become a powerful vehicle for dismantling the elitism associated with the genre—radically insisting upon a diverse array of subjects coming from a multitude of identities, classes and communities. These artists have revised the trajectory of the full length portrait, reshaping it into a vital and inclusive genre of portraiture.

Art & Newport will stage its revisionist look at this genre, entitled Pictus Porrectus, in the atmospheric rooms of the Isaac Bell House (1881–83), one of the architectural gems of Newport’s storied historic mansions. With the groundbreaking modern design of McKim, Mead & White as a backdrop, the exhibition plays upon the historical tradition of full-length portraiture as practiced during the Gilded Age in Newport by artists such as Giovanni Baldini, Howard Cushing, Eugene Oudinant and John Singer Sargent. But in lieu of exclusively portraying the upper classes and newly minted American industrialists that summered in Newport, a new generation of artists featured in Pictus Porrectus have reinvested in the practice of full length portraiture by depicting a more diverse subjects, distancing themselves from the genre’s classist history and the passé Anglo-European hierarchies it supported.

After more than a century of falling out of fashion, full length portraiture has undergone radical art historical revision while simultaneously becoming a vehicle for empowered representations of subjects hailing from ethnic groups, socio-economic classes and communities that have been traditionally ignored by the establishment. Pictus Porrectus includes works that allude to a number of art historical sub-genres including new riffs on self-portraiture (Sally J. Han, Celia Paul), the nude (Jenna Gribbon, Albert York), child portraiture (Andrew LaMar Hopkins), grisaille painting (John Currin), Orientalism (Piotr Uklanski) and history painting (Umar Rachid) to name a few examples. A number of artists have painted portraits of their peers—such as Henry Taylor’s depiction of Chase Hall and Jenna Gribbon’s The Artist Eroticized (Salman Toor)—further layering the dialogue between works and the artists. The paintings have been installed in the various rooms on two floors of the Isaac Bell House in such a way as to create aesthetic conversations with the unique interiors and their pastiche of various styles as well as playing upon the memory of the usage of particular rooms of the house.

In addition to the twenty-three works displayed at the Isaac Bell House, there will be a specially commissioned portrait of Hope “Happy” Hill van Beuren by Sam McKinniss installed in the Salon at Rosecliff—another magnificent house museum of the Newport Preservation Society. McKinniss’ full-length depiction of Happy van Beuren will be shown alongside two other full-length portraits of van Beuren’s father Nathaniel Peter Hill and grandmother Mrs. Crawford P. Hill, painted by Mary Leon Waller in 1905 and Louis Mark in 1910. Over the decades, Happy and her beloved husband “Archie” have championed the well-being of Newport County and its residents, as well as the island’s history, outstanding architecture, stunning gardens and open spaces. Happy’s irrepressible enthusiasm is manifest in ways large and small. A longtime patron of the arts and supporter of the Preservation Society, this contemporary depiction of van Beuren brings to life the artistic revision of the genre as enacted by McKinniss. Far from the grandes dames of the Gilded Age, and decidedly less formal—both in the subject’s attire and pose—the off-the-cuff depiction by McKinniss catches Happy’s authenticity in casual dress and in a relaxed stance, in a style that both captures her warm demeanor and her everywoman status as an active member of the Newport community.

Pictus Porrectus has been organized by Dodie Kazanjian and Alison M. Gingeras in close collaboration with the staff of the Newport Preservation Society.

Exhibited artists

John Currin, Jenna Gribbon, Chase Hall, Sally J. Han, Andrew LaMar Hopkins, Dennis Kardon, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Deana Lawson, Sophie Matisse, Sam McKinniss, Ruby Neri, Aliza Nisenbaum, Nicolas Party, Celia Paul, Elizabeth Peyton, Umar Rachid, Malick Sidibé, Henry Taylor, Salmon Toor, Piotr Uklanski, Aleksandra Waliszewska, Albert York

Images courtesy Fredericks & Freiser Gallery Archives.