[via Duddlebug on CA.]
I’ve often complained that our presidential portraits, since John F. Kennedy, are totally lame. Go, UK! They got Phil Hale for their official former Mr. Prime Minister.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Phil Hale: From Halo to Prime Minister
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12 comments:
No stiff, wooden manikin here! Love the intensity of his gaze....the emotion portrayed in his expression. Wonderful portrait, Mr. Hale.
what a strange angle for a portrait of a leader.
Plus, he looks a bit like Michael Bloomberg.
This morning's Seattle paper had a paragraph about the portrait - it described Blair as looking "confrontational" & "isolated."
Exceptional, and truly captures a somewhat sullen about-to-be-ex-leader. It's what happens when someone, despite being their own world leader, had been lead down the path by Dubya for too many years, which sadly, he had. Hale captured this extemely well..like a fleeting moment. Which is when it works best.
Wow.... woooooooooooooow. Seriously, i'm speachless. wow.
I must admit, I didn't recognize Mr. Blair "straightaway". His evasive smile comes most readily to mind. But this portrait will stand the test of time for going beyond expectations. What more can an artist hope to achieve?
Fitting that someone with the title of the "Tory Chairman Of The Advising Committee On Works Of Art" has said the PM's head appears "too big"
Sargent said "a portrait is a painting with a little something wrong with the mouth" ... of course, there's always a critic.
I love the portrait and I'm amazed that as the leader of the conservative party, politics didn't appear to play a role in the decision to give Phil Hale the gig.
I'm not normally a fan of Tony Blair, but for once, I'm impressed! The mood in this portrait is very nice, good find Irene!
This is a superb portrait, Irene-- thanks for sharing it? Phil Hale is one of the best around.
Isn't it great to see what can be achieved when everyone does what they're supposed to? Rather than pick a bland, safe choice for an official portrait, they took a risk and selected someone with some real verve. For his part, Hale exercised enough self-restraint so he didn't paint Blair with funny hair kicking the head off some robot. The result: a sharp, distinctive, innovative portrait. Bravo!
Hehe, does anybody else now really want to see a pic of Blair with funny hair kicking the head off some robot? :)
Thanks for sharing this Irene. I'm really glad to see Hale stick to his guns and paint this the right way. He captured a likeness of course but the emotions he captured are astonishing.
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