Books Quote by Irving Penn

The idea of the portrait itself is my great love. The questions and answers in it can go on forever and ever. It is…

— Tina Barney

What could be more simple and more complex, more obvious and more profound than a portrait.

— Charles Baudelaire

“I think that a good portrait reveals a suggestion of the subject’s mind, and not just a representation of how they look. It’s by…

— Elizabeth Ross

Great art is not a matter of presenting one side or another, but presenting a picture so full of the contradictions, tragedies, [and] insights…

— Pauli Murray

A remarkably revealing portrait.

— Byron York

A good portrait is incredibly hard to create, there is too much temptation to pander to the individual rather than portray them as they…

— Philippe Halsman

The best portraits are perhaps those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature; and we are not certain that the best histories…

— Thomas B. Macaulay

“A profound theme is of trifling importance if the characters knocked around by it are uninteresting, and brilliant technique is a nuisance if it…

— John Gardner

For me, a good portrait shows the fragility and humility of the person, and at the same time a strength, a resting in themselves.

— Wolfgang Tillmans

The artist who imagines that he puts his best into a portrait in order to produce something good, which will be a pleasure to…

— Jacob Epstein

When you do not like human beings, you cannot make good portraits.

— Gisele Freund

The portrait is one of the most curious art forms. It demands special qualities in the artist, and an almost total kinship with the…

— Henri Matisse