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14. The Study of Psychology
Q: How can you manage that; is it all a matter of
facial expression?
"To a certain extent it is, but by no means entirely.
If you study people observantly and with understanding,
you will soon see that they have, each one of them,
individualities of movement and gesture, tricks and
mannerisms even, which are personal and characteristic,
and in these individualities you can often find a very
helpful clue to your sitter's temperament. They will
guide you in choosing for the portrait the movement
that is most natural and appropriate, and which agrees
best with the expression of the face. To make a portrait
convincing the right pose of the body is very important.
"
Q: Even so, I suppose the expression you get in
the face is the chief consideration.
"Well, that is what people are interested in mostly,
though it would be really amusing to paint a portrait
in which the face did not show at all. It might be quite
a good likeness if the general characteristics of the
sitter had been skillfully realized. But the more shrewd
the insight one can obtain into the sitter's personality,
the more revealing will be the expression of the face
and especially of the eyes. Who was it that called them
the' windows of the soul'? That just describes how they
appear to the portrait painter who is exploring the
sitter's mind. I concentrate on them from the first
and I study them with the closest possible attention
through every stage of the painting of the head so as
to make them as expressive as I possibly can.
The Portrait after Six Hours'
Work
The portrait after the second sitting of three hours,
that is after six hours' work.
15. The Treatment of Hands and
Body
 Work
on
hands and
arms.
Q: And when the head is finished what do you do
next?
"By the time the head is finished I have the body
and hands firmly sketched in and the background definitely
suggested because, as you have seen, my method is to
develop the general effect of the picture continuously.
So I proceed with the hands -- and the feet when the
opportunity is given me to paint them -- which I consider
quite as important for the revelation of character and
personality as the face itself and quite as enjoyable
to paint."
Q: Is it not supposed to he very difficult to paint
a hand properly?
"A hand is in some ways more difficult than a
head, for while the face has features which do not change
their relative positions and which remain immobile until
the whole head is moved, the whole appearance of the
hand can he altered by even a slight movement of one
of the fingers. I insist that the painter should take
a hand every hit as seriously as a face and recognize
how eloquent it is in its power to tell us what are
the intellectual and physical qualities, and even the
age, of the person to whom it belongs."
Next in importance to the face are the sitter's hands.
The painter is here bringing the hands up to the necessary
degree of finish.
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he
brilliant Hungarian artist, Philip Alexius de László,
1869-1937, was the successor (in 1907) to Sargent's portrait practice
in London. In 1933 de László demonstrated his dashing
technique in a series of photographs, while answering questions
posed by the writer A.L. Baldry. The photos and text were published
in 1934 by The Studio Publications of London, in volume six of their
"How to Do It" series.