FACES: Photography and the Art of Portraiture

PORTRAITS FROM THE PAST

PORTRAITS FROM THE PAST

 

Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.

—ARNOLD NEWMAN

 

INTRODUCTION

This section presents a collection of portraits from the past. They are a very mixed, diverse bunch. Some of these images come from the 1840s—the earliest days of photography. Others were shot as recently as the 1970s.

Acknowledged masters made some of these portraits. Others are the work of obscure photographers whose names are now lost to us forever. Some show persons familiar to us all. Others present the likenesses of those whose identities and accomplishments are long forgotten. Some are amusing; others speak to us of horror and tragedy. ...