The History of Portrait Photography in 100 portraits

It’s an ambitious project admittedly! Will I have the persistence to cross the finishing line? Who knows. Certainly not me! I guess the only way to find out is to read these occasional blogs and see if its a story with a happy ending! Thanks to Neil Magregor of The British Museum for the idea btw.

The photographic portrait serves many functions. Although the vast majority are created to capture family memories there are a plethora (great word!) of other reasons why we take pictures of the people around us. On the most literal level portraits convey likeness and identity. From a passport photograph to an editorial image that illustrates an individual's occupation and interests in context. Portraits are also commissioned by marketeers to communicate status, position, and occupation. These pictures are used in the corporate world on web sites and in brochures. As social animals we are instinctively interested in those around us and how in one way or another they might effect us either negatively or positively. From love to hate the bonds that bind us are always important. On a deeper level the portrait has been used artistically to express fundamental human truths, to capture personality and reveal psychological insights. This type of portrait can convey a narrative or concept and sometimes the universality of human concerns. The aging process and notions of the ideal (or it's opposite) plus a range of human emotions and existential themes can also be conveyed and communicated via portraits. Portraits are US!

100 Portraits. In the 100 portraits I have chosen there will be more to say about some photographers than others. This is partly because sometimes there is more documentary or biographical information available. It might also be that some photographers are more influential and consequently need more of an explanation about the style they have created than their followers who might or might not have produced even better work. The order in which the portraits appear is er.. vaguely chronological. It is impossible and unnecessary to use a stricter timetable as photographers lives overlap and some started their careers or did their best work earlier than others. It is also clearer to group some photographers together like the American commercial portraitists for instance.