Portraiture:- Introduction + Diane Arbus & Tony Vaccaro (unfinished)

What is Portraiture
Portraiture is simply portraits with photography, while that sounds simple enough there are several different rules to portraits and portraiture then most people think. Like when the photo can be taken? who can have there photo taken? how-where-why, finally who was in charge of the final product and how was it supposed to be viewed?

Before Photography the rules of portraiture was very bare-bones. Portraits  where always painted of important people and most still are (with cameras instead). Whether its the queen a well-known celebrity or just a wealthy person, they had portraits done by artist for a price. The Artist would have no control and it would have been of them at there best in a location of there choice plus the model would then choose what would have happened to it.

Taking Control - Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was one of the few famous photographers that challenged these rules and revolutionised our interest in them. She took pictures of what she wanted to see. This seemed a good idea and some of most famous pictures was because of this (Matthaei Family) this is a good example because of its history and what  she noticed about the clients behind it.  however her view of the world was quite dark and it never changed.


Decisive Moment - Tony Vacarro
Tony Vaccaro was another photographer who revolutionised portraiture but in a different way. After the war (see war photography) Tony took photographs of celebrities who where quite vague and appeared so, this was changed however and Tony's appointment with Picasso is a good example. On the day that he was going to take his picture Picasso showed a various style of poses. Tony saw an opportunity with this and lied to Picasso saying that the camera had broke. Once Picasso dropped his guard and revealed a different side of him Tony Vacarro used the decisive moment and took his picture.

Diane vs Tony
Diane's and Tony's style of portraiture was quite similar, they both wanted to change the way portraiture was treated. but Diane was a more interested in her own vision more then Tony. he was more interested in revealing what the model was hiding.  Even then it sound quite similar, I guess there main difference was there purpose for taking them. Diane's reason was to reveal hidden mysteries, and tony did it for his career.

Final verdict

Portraiture has been revolutionised by photography, It still has meant similarities but the important questions (who controls the final product?) have been changed forever Now you know why.



 
Photo Examples