Kate Middleton Portrait

  Why do we care about everyones personal taste?

 

Paul Emsley's royal offering of the latest portrait of Kate Middleton is apparently more political than David Cameron's talk of an EU referendum. There's the fans of the whimsical movement, others who find the airbrushed lighting distasteful, and others who'll go royal bashing at the drop of a hat- a full circle of jagged opinions.

 

Firstly, I'd like to say we can't deny that a royal portrait will always be a statement of current trends in British Art- it'll be listened to throughout the world. You can say you don't care about the royal portrait, but only if you're apathetic towards art. If you're interested in art it'll come down to the fact you're not a fan of the royals so suspend your knowledge of blue blood and focus on the style of the painting and the quality of the resemblance. Right, so this painting hanging in the National Portrait Gallery- does it deserve to be there? I've seen mock ups of Mr. Bean superimposed onto the woman's face, which really is harsh considering the portrait does resemble the Duchess - but it doesn't become the subject. It takes a beautiful woman and makes her vaguely average and possibly on the verge of tears with the taut mouth and misty eyes. Not to mention the soft lighting just reminds me too much of dodgy fan drawings that could be ten photographs in one.

 

However, all the soft pastel colours could be to blur the body and draw us to the defined and watchful eyes. The blue really does cut through the dusty atmosphere; maybe to let us in past the guarded existence but i'm just playing with concepts now. Portraiture tells a tale through style, for example Curious Duke Gallery's David Merta harnesses bright watercolours to swirl them into eachother and illustrate limericks- without the popping colours the image would become staid. Likewise the impact of Corinne Perry's vulnerable figures is to enchant us, we know the pain of the woman more so because she is allowed to express movement, whereas Kate is painfully rigid. Although Emsley has brilliantly divided us, the personality of Kate remains locked.

 

I should add, I couldn't paint a portrait, and Kate did choose Mr Emsley to capture her, so I'll just shut up and hope the world doesn't believe art is going all Angela Lansbury soft focused.

 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts - Sinéad x