Portrait Artist of the Year. Lenny Henry.

I’m an avid watcher ,but this year I have never agreed with the winners….am I looking for a likeness ? Yes. am Iooking for an overall good portrait? Yes..PAOY must be looking for something else….I’ll stick to my watercolour attempts, for my eyes only.😉

Like all her other work and she was a deserved winner Thought she would have made a better portrait of Lenny. Body good but face a bad resemblance, which was a shame

I’ve been really surprised by some of the ones the judges have chosen throughout this series.

Yes me too Maybe. I love this programme but I really disagreed with the judges on several occasions throughout this series. Still, they’re more experienced artists than I’ll ever so I suppose they know what they’re talking about. Not keen on the Lenny Henry portrait and what a shame as he’s such a fabulous subject

I don't expect portraits to look like photographs but do like to see some resemblance to the sitter - it looks nothing like Lenny Henry and you would never guess it was him.

I've only seen a few of these programmes, Elaine Page and Ellie Simmonds - in both cases the sitters chose the most flattering portrait, rather than the better piece of art, in my opinion!

LizzieDrip

^I’ve been really surprised by some of the ones the judges have chosen throughout this series.^

Yes me too Maybe. I love this programme but I really disagreed with the judges on several occasions throughout this series. Still, they’re more experienced artists than I’ll ever so I suppose they know what they’re talking about. Not keen on the Lenny Henry portrait and what a shame as he’s such a fabulous subject

I agree LizzieDrip, but I hesitate to be critical because I couldn’t even begin to paint anything for public viewing!
The pressure must be immense and I do think Morag was nervous.
I love watching the series and the Landscape Artist of the Yesr series too.

I missed this series so I Googled the portrait. I agree it isn't really a resemblance. This is an interesting take on it. Though it may have been cut to make an impression www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=tcvsCBtPGC0

I think she missed the likeness but then I don't like her style anyway, I don't think she was in any way the best of the bunch.

I've just looked at it online, it's just so dull. It doesn't represent the big, real person that he is at all.

The NPG put the portrait on Instragram. It’s a good painting but it’s not Lenny Henry. As others have said, the judges made some odd choices this year. They didn’t seem to care if the artist was able to capture a likeness. When the NPG reopens in the Spring I’ll go and have a look.

I agree with everything other have said: excellent rangy body but disastrous head (could be anyone).

I enjoy comments from the judges but do not always agree with them and am, as only an amateur artist, often puzzled by some of their remarks. I feel rather 'un-artisty' as I obviously do not comprehend what the judges are saying! They, in their superior (I am not being sarcastic) knowledge obviously see things which I do not.

I felt that the successful finalist had a particular rapport with the judges and perhaps this was why she was chosen as the finalist.

If I were Lenny Henry I would find someone else to 'go over' and tweak the head before the portrait is hung for public viewing!

I’ve just looked it up.
Here it is.

She’s called it ‘Len’ to reflect the person he is at home, not THE ‘Lenny Henry - Entertainer’.

I like it. She’s caught the essence of him superbly i think. 😊

So pleased to read the comments on here as I was beginning to think it was just me! I’m of the “I know what I like” brigade and have no artistic talent whatsoever but I do enjoy this programme. I really can’t understand the judges thinking as in some of the rounds they were heard to criticise the lack of a likeness in some of the works but to applaud it in the winning artists work! Much preferred last year’s portrait and yes I also loved the Graham Norton one!

I agree with Paddyanne. The only good commission was the one if Graham Norton. It transpired during the sittings that their families were connected in some way, it was a beautiful portrait.

Not like him, also the programme was tedious as she was so lacking in personality!

This is the Graham Norton portrait. I don’t care about the experts opinions, I want to see a good likenes and this is it.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202212/medium-89898-2020-12-curtisholderartistportraitcarlosacosta5mb.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202212/medium-822504-images.jpg

I love this portrait of Carlos Acosta (winner 2020?) but it won't be to everyone's taste. I've noticed that the judges are sometimes a bit sniffy about artists who have gone through the classical painting training that you get in Florence so I've posted the portrait that Tai Shan S did of the late queen with the Duke of E. I don't think it's a great likeness either!

What a fascinating thread! I love both the portrait and landscape paintings on Sky Arts and follow avidly. I also keep a note of artists I like and follow them on Instagram or in galleries.
Loved Morag’s lively drawing style with a scruffy old paintbrush….and how brave to go straight into it with no pencil sketching. Thought body of Lenny was superb but I agree she didn’t capture his face.
She managed it with Elizabeth Day and also her boyfriend.
I think the judges chose her because her approach was so original.

I'm afraid I didn't like it at all. There's no real resemblance, or essence even, of the man. The whole portrait looks like it lacks effort, compared to those produced by other artists throughout the series. Perhaps I'm just not arty enough to appreciate empty spaces, and outline mistakes left on the canvas apparently adding to the overall aesthetic? It sort of reminds me of the animation style in the old Rhubarb and Custard children's series. I had really enjoyed all the final commissions from previous series, especially the Graham Norton portrait. That was stunning.

Urmstongran

I’ve just looked it up.
Here it is.

She’s called it ‘Len’ to reflect the person he is at home, not THE ‘Lenny Henry - Entertainer’.

I like it. She’s caught the essence of him superbly i think. 😊

I really liked her self portrait and the portrait of her (now) husband but I don't think this final portrait lives up to that promise that she showed.. I agree she captures his essence in the posture but for me it still lacks real originality in the overall portrait..

I loved the Carlos Acosta one.

We really did not like it, surely a portrait should bear some recognisable facial features of the sitter, which this portrait definitely didn’t do. There have been some brilliant portraits throughout the whole series and we’re at a loss to see why this artist was chosen.
I agree that it needs a change of judges it’s becoming a bit ‘same old’ it needs a fresh new look.

Good lord penfold!!! Her majesty look like Chris Higgins in a horrid blue polyester frock?! Dreadful and not her beautiful petite self. Wasted opportunity and frankly an insult! Love the biro pic, well executed with very difficult medium

This is dreadful. Surely the most important aspect of a portrait is that the artist captures a likeness? Surely that's even more important when your work is going to hang in the National Portrait Gallery and depicts a well-known celebrity. Why oh why didn't somebody who cared about Morag tell her that her painting looked absolutely nothing at all like Lenny Henry? Why couldn't she see it herself? And what on earth is wrong with the judges? Their selections are bizarre, and framed by waffle that makes you realise they're just not in touch with the real world and the average viewer.
Poor Morag has been hung out to dry by not only people who love her and should've spoken up but also by the three judges, who should not have put her in a position where her lack of ability was so flagrantly exposed for everybody to see and potentially laugh at.

That sounds like the Emporer's New Clothes. Why bother to pose for an artist if it doesn't have to look like them. I think they need new judges. Worst decision they have made throughout all of the series.

I'm not very fond of portraits which don't show any background whatsoever, even a very minimum one. I have been looking and wondering why she didn't at least put in some evidence of a chair? And then I realised that had she done so the legs would look absolutely wrong. I also think it is more of a sketch than a portrait .