By Annabel Catherine Hannah Malone
Introduction
For this project I recreated famous portraits using a combination of styling and making skills. The first painting I chose was Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr Eloesser by Frida Kahlo. I admire Kahlo as an artist for her unashamedly raw and real depictions of life through her art. She captures her experience of being a Mexican woman with chronic illness, celebrating her culture and showing her pain through her art. The painting I chose was a gift to her doctor and close friend, it symbolises hope and healing. The second painting I recreated was the Portrait of Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein by Gustav Klimt – I knew I wanted to a Klimt painting because I adore his style, and this particular painting stood out to me from the others as it is somewhat out of his usual colour scheme. Nevertheless, it is still representative of his style, so I took great pleasure in painting some of the background of the image. My final painting was Portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent. This painting has always intrigued me because of my resemblance to her, and the scandal that it created. Audiences at the time received the portrait poorly due to her sickly pale complexion and the strap of her dress falling off her shoulder – which was later painted back onto her shoulder by Singer Sargent.
