Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Philip de László paints a portrait


(Video link) In this archival video, Philip de László (Hungarian 1869-1937) paints a quick portrait of a model in oil. He establishes the shapes and refines the tones with the brush, comparing frequently to the model. The canvas is placed right alongside the model in the "sight-size" method, with the artist frequently backing up to check the likeness against the model.

In the voiceover, his son recalls how walking back and forth to the canvas wore out the floor and aggravated the varicose veins in the artist's legs.

One of de László's portraits, "Vita Sackville-West, 1910" is currently being featured at the "Edwardian Opulence" exhibition in New Haven, Connecticut.

The video was posted by Darren Rousar, and there are many descriptions on the web of the sight-size method.
Note that "mannequin" is a term from the fashion industry for a live clothes model.
Previously on GJ is another archival video: Philip de László Paints Venice

5 comments:

mp said...

That was great and it was already framed!

Roberto said...

That was very nice! Somehow, when I first clicked on the video… this Vimeo came up instead. I know you will really dig this.
The artist is David A. Smith, a traditional sign-writer/designerspecializing in high-quality ornamental hand-crafted reverse glass signs and decorative silvered and gilded mirrors. David recently produced a wonderful turn-of-the-century, trade-card styled album cover for popular American singer/songwriter John Mayer.
This is really good! Masterful! Check it out. -RQ

http://vimeo.com/60647216

Roberto said...

Ooops! I just looked at yesterdays post! Sorry about that, but I knew you would like it! <:p -RQ

Anonymous said...

I'm a big fan of de Laszlo. I just finished creating a PDF of Painting a Portrait by de Laszlo because I read it so frequently I was afraid my own copy would be ruined. I also posted it so people can download it if they like.

Beth B said...

I thought that was funny too!Was probably for filming purposes but,so very apropos-his work is genius! Thank you James for the great article!