The two defining movements in the history of portraiture that has shaped modern-day art were the 18th century Yesterday’s Photography and 20th Century Portraiture. The process of portrait painting has since been majorly about the artist and the model. The role of “agency” within the traditional sense of it and the intimacy between the two adds the finishing touch to the piece of art.
With the shift from the renaissance to realist there has been a visible change in the position of artist and model too. The first phase was artist-oriented with less of a model-approach. Artist, in a dominating position, created a portrait that was customized to fit into his idea of perfect while the model remained a passive agent.
This became an overwhelming issue for the models who had different expectations. Artists kept making portraits off their own bat and history kept showing us the artist’s perspective of royalty.
There may be thousands of debates on how “every portrait is a self-portrait” but the second phase commands crystal answers and not an artist’s self-portrait. The movement started post 21st century questioning the existence of traditional canvasses which did not respond clearly to the aim of portrait painting.
Modern portrait required a more methodological approach that converses directly to the demands of the art. A software program that digitally paints the model was created that almost dodged the idea of an artist. This software did the sorcery of producing unbiased portraits of the model, erasing the hierarchic and biased notion of an artist.
PortraitFlip, however, has shapedthe third wave of this art form. It has re-examined the first phase and altered the materials and methods of the second phase to fit into the digital yet artistic demands of the era.
The modern form of portraiture has shifted the dynamics of “agency” by giving a standard position to both artist and model, and making the art of portrait making “editor-dominated.”
The editor focuses on the contextual topography of the portrait by creating a more genuine representation of the model. The digitally edited portrait then is further sent to the artist who imitates the same on the canvas without any personal alterations.
The entire process produces a candid and honest portrayal of the model. The portrait preview and approval allow the model to make necessary alterations and initiate how she wants to be perceived through paints.
Interestingly, this entire process captures the raw data into digits to bring out an honest handmade portrait.
The modern anatomy utterly modified the role of “agency” by putting the editor at first, the model at the second, and the artist at the last.
It is standing loyal to the concepts of modern art and has been perfectly adapted and executed by PortraitFlip and few similar handmade portrait services.