My First Love

Portraits are my first love of what I endeavor to create. I get great inspiration from the great portraits of the ages, and I was almost tempted to start a new 'blog showcasing them. I got ahold of my senses, before I committed myself to yet another expenditure of time, and decided to post them here periodically, with a new category label, so they'll eventually gather together.

Many of what I'm calling 'portraits' may not have been intended as such. They are studied portrayals of people, for whatever reason—not necessarily to say, 'here is a likeness'. They are to show persons as a subject of interest, a study of whatever qualities that we recognize as meaningful. That's the kind of portrait I'm talking about. More thoughts about that later.

My favorite period of portraits, at this point, is the first half of the twentieth century, but there are favorites from all eras.

Blue Mandarin Coat—Frederick A. Bosley—1927