However sophisticated or esoteric
the medium or approach might be,
portraiture is, generally speaking,
immensely popular, especially
when viewed in a large collection
representing a broad spectrum
of artists. The British National
Portrait Gallery and the U.S.
National Portrait Gallery, which
will be featured in a subsequent
FINIS, are both excellent places to
experience portraiture at its very
best and most challenging.
Salman Rushdie ('The Moor')
by Bhupen Khakhar, 1995
Enthusiasm,
erudition
and
wonderful back stories best
describe a private tour of the
National Portrait Gallery with
Sandy. He is kinetic: at once here,
then there at another portrait.
He would have been the perfect
subject for Francis Bacon with that
artist's multiplicity of perspectives.
He seemed a blur at various
moments as he passed by and
around us, not unlike Bacon's
matador, absent the violence. Each
fleeting moment of explanation
delved into the psyche of sitter and
artist, all the detritus and treasure
of remarkable lives. There was
HYLAND
