A New Look at PORTRAITURE by Robert Weingarten

I visited the Ripley Center in Washington, DC and viewed portraits by Robert Weingarten. His innovative approach to portraiture inspired me as an AP Art History teacher. His idea that a portrait can be composed of images that are personal to the person being depicted rather than just showing his or her FACE is simple, clear, logical, and revolutionary! After all, aren't we all a sum of our experiences ... not just our physical appearance. Don't we each want to be known for more than our appearance? Aren't we striving as a people to recognize one another for who they are and not a race, gender, or member of a specific religious group. Those components make up a portion of us, they are not 100% who we are. This portrait style, layering digital photographs of images the "sitter" deems important is KEY to truly understanding the person, rather than RECOGNIZING the person in a crowd.

Look at his work and see for yourself. If you cannot make it to DC before the exhibition closes October 14th, follow the link above. Included here is one image from the collection online (and at the Ripley Center)

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