Philip de Laszlo: Face and Hands

Philip de Laszlo continues to explain his process and thinking about painting a portrait in The Studio Publications of London article in their "How to Do It" series:

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.

 To be continued

(Excerpts from “The Palette of P.A. de László: Philip A. de László with Miss Gwen Ffrangcon Davies and his portrait of her,” in The Studio, vol. CVII, London, 1934, pp. 38-9, ill.

Philip de Laszlo: The Stance and the Mirror

Philip de Laszlo continues to explain his process and thinking about painting a portrait in The Studio Publications of London article in their "How to Do It" series:

11. Standing Back from the Canvas

"When I stand back I am recording mentally what I am
going to put on my canvas when I walk up to it (below)."

Q: There is one question I have been waiting to ask you—why do you take so much exercise while you are painting? Why do you move backwards and forwards so incessantly?

"Well, as you see, I set my canvas beside my sitter, but what I put on that canvas I judge from a certain distance. I must go fairly far off to see the general effect of my subject as a whole in all that rightness of relation upon which I insist so much. When I stand back I am recording mentally what I am going to put on my canvas when I walk up to it."

Q: Really, one might say that you paint your picture while you are away from your canvas.

"In my mind; yes, I do. What I put on with my brush is considered and settled before I touch the picture, so much so, indeed, that I do not look at my sitter when I am close enough to put that touch on the canvas. How do you think I could judge the texture of any material if I were near enough to it to put my hand upon it? I must be sufficiently far off to appreciate properly the characteristic tones and values by which varieties of texture are made apparent." 

12. The Value of a Mirror

The chief value of the hand mirror is that it gives a new point of view of both
sitter and portrait. It acts as a check on drawing and the relation of tones.

Q: Does that little mirror you keep looking into help you to decide what you are going to do?

"Yes, to some extent it does. But its chief value is that it gives me a new view of both picture and sitter and therefore enables me to discover any faults there may be in drawing, or in the relations of tones. It acts like the fresh eye which can often perceive defects that the painter, having got accustomed to them, has failed to detect. I take a look in the mirror from time to time as a sort of self-criticism. At any rate the mirror is an honest critic."

Q: Is it useful as a means of studying your sitter's expression?

"No, not particularly. But sometimes a mirror can be used in such a way that it helps to give the sitter the expression I want. When, for instance, he is getting tired or restless, or even, in some cases, when he is shy and I cannot, by talking, arouse in him the vivacity that he must have to make his portrait reasonably successful, I place a mirror in his line of vision so that he can watch in it the progress of the picture as I

The standing mirror entertains the sitter and helps to maintain the desired expression.

work. I like my sitters to see what I am doing to the portrait at every stage and I am sure that by letting them look on in this manner I not only induce in them the interested expression at which I aim, but also offer to some of them, who have, hitherto, not had an opportunity to see a picture in the making, an educational experience which they enjoy."

Oh, yes, people always do enjoy being taken behind the scenes and shown how things are worked.

13. Keeping the Sitter's Interest

"Then why not encourage them? I have often noticed that a sitter's interest in painting and even in art in general grows while he is in the studio and I do believe that as a result of his experience there he will always in the future approach art with much more interest than before."

Q: The only objection that occurs to me is that watching you at work might have a tendency to make him move about: don't you want him to keep still?"

"Naturally I do, but there is a great difference between being still and becoming set and lifeless. If the sitter's face is lacking in animation the risk that the portrait, no matter how hard one tries, will be a dull record is very great and I feel that such a risk ought to be avoided at all costs. My way of preventing it is to do all I can to keep his interest awake and to make him alert and lively. Still, I do not deny that it is difficult at times, as all people are not equally responsive. "

Q: I suppose sitters do vary greatly in their ways: you cannot deal with them all in the same manner."

"Very definitely not, and what is the right manner in which each one should be dealt with is the first thing a portrait painter has to find out; indeed, upon that will often depend the success or the failure of his picture. Before he can decide what kind of treatment he should adopt he has to give at least as much attention to his sitter's mental characteristics as to his physical appearance; a portrait is not a still-life study, therefore it must be a good deal more than a simple record of a face. It must be a psychological revelation as well."

To be continued

Philip de Laszlo: Developing a Likeness

Philip de Laszlo continues to explain his process and thinking about painting a portrait in The Studio Publications of London article in their "How to Do It" series:

9. Developing the Likeness

Developing
the likeness.

Q: During the rest would you explain what you meant when you said just now that a likeness was developed by establishing the correct relation of light and shade?

"I cannot think of a likeness as something apart from the general effect. There is definitely the beginning of the likeness when the right beginning of the general effect is made and the development of the likeness goes on steadily as the general effect is amplified and made more complete. At first, as I have already told you, I deal with the larger planes only, but as I proceed I occupy myself more and more with the smaller planes and with those lesser subtleties by which what I would call the intimacy of the likeness is attained. But, of course, throughout I aim at the correct relationship of values because without that a real likeness is impossible."

Q: It still seems strange to me that you can get a likeness in a portrait without a preparatory drawing on the canvas, something plainly stated that you can build upon—most artists seem to regard a drawing as an indispensable foundation.

"I do not believe in doing a drawing first and then painting over it. That way there is a danger of losing one's freedom to take in the general effect and of becoming a slave to one's own doings. I consider that an artist should acquire such a thorough understanding of drawing that he can use it instinctively in his work without thinking of it as being separate from painting—but I see my sitter is ready again so I must get back to my picture."

10. Unity of Effect

Head and
accessories
receive almost
simultaneous
attention to achieve
unity of effect.

Q: Well, what is the next stage?

"Hitherto I have been concerned mainly with the head, as you have, I expect, noticed. Now, before I carry that further, I want to bring the rest of the picture to the same stage of harmonious unity throughout. This is necessary to enable me to judge how much more development the head will require to have the strength and significance of effect at which I am aiming. But remember this, that no two heads can be treated in exactly the same way and that in each one the character and type must to a great extent dictate the manner of dealing with it which should be adopted. A head with strongly marked features, for instance, does not demand such detailed treatment as one with less definite forms. It can be presented much more broadly and simply because its characteristics are more immediately apparent."

Q: For a while, then, you will leave the head as it is?"

"Yes, before I finish it I must attend to the surroundings and give them, or at all events the more important part of them, their full strength. I can tell then what degree of force should be added to the head to make it, as it should be, the dominant fact in the picture. Even when I am not actually working on the head, I am still thinking about it and the relation which must be established between it and the accessories among which it is set." 

To be continued

Philip de Laszlo: Achieving the General Effect

The brilliant Hungarian artist, Philip Alexius 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.

7. The General Effect

The gradual development of the main masses.

Q: Do you really mean that you begin straight away with the brush?

"Why, of course. With my brush I paint in a few lines to indicate the placing of the figure on the canvas. As a first step this is essential since the way in which the figure is placed in the space available is vitally important in the decorative arrangement of the picture. It is the foundation of the whole design."

Q: What next?

"I begin to deal with the head, seeking to express by means of light and shade the construction of the skull and defining accurately the larger planes. In this I aim always at as correct a realization as possible of the tones of nature which I see before me, and I strive constantly to establish the exact relation between the head and its surroundings. All this is a process of gradual building up, but, mind you, it must be done rapidly and directly."

8. The Evolution of Detail

Indicating the
general form
of the mouth.

Q: I take it that at this stage you are dealing only with the general effect; when do you begin to concern yourself with the details?

"How can you separate details from the general effect? The details are a part of the general effect and come gradually and naturally as I develop it."

Q: But surely you cannot get correctness in your forms without drawing them precisely?"

"Can't you see that I have been doing nothing else but drawing from the beginning? I draw by putting lights and shades in their right places, expressing the forms thereby."

Q: It seems to me that you have been painting all the time, not drawing.

"Certainly you have seen me painting all the time, but whatever I do in the way of putting down lights and shades in their correct relationship to one another develops naturally both likeness and character, and that is what I call drawing. Don't you realize that I draw with the brush and that all my painting is drawing?"

Q: I am sorry to have been so dense, but I think I grasp your meaning now. May I suggest, though, that while we have been talking, your sitter has got very tired and ought to have a rest.

"You are quite right, a rest is overdue. I do not usually go on long enough to bring my sitter so near to collapse and on this occasion I fear that I have been too exacting. But my excuse must be that I was especially anxious to secure a record of the fascinating movement and expression which Miss Ffrangcon-Davies is giving me before any change was made in the pose." 

To be continued

Philip de Laszlo: Starting a Portrait

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.

Q: Now tell me, how do you begin a portrait?

4. Posing the Sitter

"I find that people are often very shy and awkward when they come into a studio; they seem to look upon being painted as some thing of an ordeal which more or less alarms them. So, first of all, I like to have a little chat with my sitter, to make him feel at home. This gives me a chance to observe him quietly and to see what kind of pose and expression will suit him best and be most characteristic of his personality. As far as possible I try to get him to pose himself so that the suggested movement shall be easy and natural and free from self-consciousness."

Q: Yes, I can imagine that to be very important. What comes next?

The first sketch.

5. The First Sketch

"Then follows the consideration how to distribute the light and shade and last of all comes the decision on a suitable background in harmony with the intended color scheme of the picture. When these matters have been arranged to my satisfaction I do a rapid drawing of the subject in my sketchbook to make sure that the movement, light and shade and placing are as I wish them to be; in other words, to be certain that the decorative effect of the picture is complete. But in the case of a larger picture or a group I do a similar sketch, from nature, in color, to be able to judge the effect of the color scheme in which I want to keep the portrait."

Q: Do you transfer your drawing to the canvas?

"No, I do not use it again; it has served its purpose as a record of my intention, and it has helped me to decide how I should deal with my subject. But the picture is by now fully formed in my mind."

6. Starting on the Canvas

The first brush lines of the portrait.

Q: How, then, do you start on the canvas?

"My clean canvas is now on the easel before me, in its frame—"

Q: In its frame?

"Yes, certainly. I believe that the frame is an integral part of the picture and must be there from the beginning. If it is added at the last moment after the picture is finished there is always the risk that it may not agree with the character of the work."

Q: Well, you have the canvas and the frame, what about the picture? What do you do to set that going?

"You seem to think that my practice is full of dark secrets. I assure you, my dear friend, that I have no tricks to reveal; I have no enlarged photographs up my sleeve and no other mechanical devices which I can produce for your benefit. I just put my canvas beside my sitter and begin to paint."

 

Philip de Laszlo: Painting a Portrait, Palette & Brushes

"In a book Philip de Lazlo wrote in conjunction with Mr. A. L. Baldry, he explained his methods while at work on a portrait of Miss Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies. The book was illustrated with a series of photographs of the portrait in its successive stages, and was published in 1934 by The Studio Publications of London, in volume six of their 'How to Do It' series. John Howard Sanden posted excerpts from the article on his website: http://www.worldofportraitpainting.com/instruction-delaszlo/laszlo1.htm which I will copy here:

1. The Artist's Palette

The best way to make people understand properly the methods which de László employs in his work is to follow him through the evolution of a portrait, explaining stage by stage how he arrives at his results. Let us, by putting questions to him, get this explanation from him in his own words and induce him to tell us what he is aiming at as he builds up his pictures and what is the purpose of the various technical processes he employs.

First of all, it would be well to know something about the materials he uses, so the most appropriate question to begin with would be:

Q: What is your palette? May I have a list of the colors on which you mainly depend ?

"It is not a very long list. Here they are, in the order in which I put them on my palette-ultramarine, madder, rose madder, zinc white, light cadmium, dark cadmium, yellow ochre, burnt sienna. These are the chief colors I use and ordinarily they are sufficient for any work, but sometimes, when there is a particular reason, I add to them ivory black, Veronese green, lac garance and orange cadmium."

Q: I notice you choose zinc white. Why is that ?

"Because it is more brilliant than flake white and is not supposed to darken. I may say, too, that I have it specially prepared for me with poppy oil; I like it thin as it would not work freely if it were too stiff."

2. The Medium

Q. What is your reason for having it prepared with poppy oil?

"Poppy oil is a slow drier and that is the reason why I prefer it. I like my painting to keep wet as long as possible so that I can finish straight away the part of the picture I am working on before the paint dries; the slow drying is helpful, it enables me to finish more deliberately and it makes the consistency of the paint more pleasant to handle. Work finished while the paint is still wet always looks fresher and more direct."

Brushes used by de László. The artist allowed himself a
wide range so that a clean brush is always at hand.

3. Brushes

Q: You have there a remarkable sheaf of brushes; do you really use them all?

"I do use most of them because I am very anxious to keep my color always clean, and for a clean touch a clean brush is necessary. I have my sheaf beside me and I can pick a fresh brush from it whenever I want one. By the way, too, I would like to mention that for the sake of purity of color I avoid, as far as possible, mixing more than two colors together at any time." 

To be continued

 

Philip de Laszlo: Thoughts on Portrait Painting

"Francis Adam" by Philip de Laszlo

"Has any one painter ever before painted so many interesting and historical personages?' wrote Lord Selborne to Philip de Laszlo in 1927. It would be difficult to think of one. During the course of his career de Laszlo, according to his own computation, painted over 2,700 portraits. In an output so great as his, it was inevitable that there should be failures, but a man is entitled to be judged by his best work rather than by his worst.

In a paper he read before the Royal Society of Arts a year before he died, he told his audience what, in his opinion, made a great portrait. 'It is not,' he declared, 'the merely exact reproduction of the sitter's face as it is seen by the artist in his studio - that is the kind of superficial likeness that a camera would give. It is a representation on canvas of the features of the sitter, but through the knowledge and intuition of the artist there must be revealed in those features the sitter's soul and all his potentialities of character and temperament. The picture must show us the spirit by which the human form is vitalized; and besides, it must provide the sitter with the surroundings and atmosphere which are suitable to his personality and consistent with his state of life.'

'But, as it is only what the artist can see in his sitter that will appear in the portrait, the extent of this revelation will depend upon the degree of sensitiveness in perception which the artist possesses. Nothing will serve so well to give him the necessary insight as confidence and sympathy between him and his sitter. The truly great portrait is the one in which this contact has been so close that it has spurred the artist to his highest achievement and to which, by a tacit collaboration, the sitter and the artist have both contributed something vital.'

'In the give and take of unguarded conversation the inner ego reveals itself in the sudden flash of the eyes, in the droop of the eyebrows, in the charm of the smile, the pose of the body, or even in the gesture of the hands. It is the office of the portrait painter to be quick to recognize and to retain this momentary revelation of the inner self, to bring it into harmony and into unison with the surface personality.'

He also maintained that the artist must have so sure a command over the mechanism of painting that he had no need to struggle with his materials. His hand must be trained to respond immediately to his intentions, so that he could be free to concentrate on expressing those subtleties of character by which the personality of a sitter is defined."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Portrait of a Painter" by Owen Rutter.)