EPISODE · Jun 23, 2020 · 19 MIN
Getting Real with Robert McCurdy
from PORTRAITS · host National Portrait Gallery
As a portrait artist, Robert McCurdy has painted some of the most famous and visionary people of our time-- the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Toni Morrison. But first he tells them, "It's not about you." The goal, he says, is to create a photorealistic image with no expression and no implied past or future, so the viewer and the subject can simply encounter one another. The true subject, he says, is the gaze. See the portraits we discuss on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/robert-mccurdy-portraits
What this episode covers
As a portrait artist, Robert McCurdy has painted some of the most famous and visionary people of our time-- the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Toni Morrison. But first he tells them, "It's not about you." The goal, he says, is to create a photorealistic image with no expression and no implied past or future, so the viewer and the subject can simply encounter one another. The true subject, he says, is the gaze. See the portraits we discuss on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/robert-mccurdy-portraits
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Getting Real with Robert McCurdy
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