Tonight’s portrait artist of the year…

I am a bit late with this one. I love this program but the judges are just getting worse. One week they had a lady paint on metal and it looked like they look so real but judges chose are really weird one. I won't forget a few years ago when it was Sir Lenny Henry and I was not keen on the that one. I think the judges ought to take a break and have some others.

Thing is a portrait is a likeness, and should also have elements of the models character. Did that one have it? No.
He was a handsome ,strong, graceful man. That portrait showed none of that. Quite the opposite. And the gaul to ask him to do another pose….just for her. You would never ever do that at an art school.

Luckygirl13 that is so true. They constantly comment about likeness whilst the artists are completing their pictures.

It is frustrating when in the course of the same programme the judges say that one of the pictures has failed to get a likeness and then chooses as the winner a painting that bears no resemblance at all to the sitter ... nor indeed any other human.
They should apply the likeness test to all the paintings, not just to some.

Sorry that was aimed at DRWATSON

Maybee70 What a load of twaddle.

I have watched this series right from the beginning.Ihave come to the conclusion that the best portraits rarely win. The judges need a shakeup,they consistently choose the weirdest likenesses.It must be so dispiriting for the really good artists who never even make it on the programme,when much worse artists always do.

I disliked the winning portrait, in fact I didn't much like any of the three chosen portraits. I went to the Picasso museum in Malaga recently and had my impression of Picasso confirmed. I hoped there would be more early works that showed his talent as an artist but no they were mostly vile misogynistic paintings of women reduced to teeth, breasts and a vagina or vacuous Madonna types. He clearly was obsessed with women but hated them. I like some modern art and I try to be open minded but he was a hideous man. I still enjoy PAOTY though, lots of talented artists and well worth watching even if the winning artist doesn't appeal.

I haven’t watched this, but this discussion has piqued my interest. I don’t watch this because I’m not really interested in portraiture (other than for it’s historical value) although I am interested in art generally.

It’s so subjective, isn’t it? I am a bit surprised that someone can dismiss Picasso as dreadful. I was looking at some etchings by him this week. He was a very accomplished print maker, and I find a lot of his work very powerful. I don’t need him to paint a person who looks exactly like a person. I know he can do this - it’s what he did do early on in his career.

But those pictures often lack emotion for me. I’m not very interested in pictures that are simply a good likeness - I like art that makes me feel something. It doesn’t have to be representational for me. But I understand that for others it does.

DrWatson Why all the SHOUTING in CAPITAL LETTERS? You can make a point without it, I'm sure we'll all understand!!

I've watched all the episodes so far, so I think I'm entitled to my OPINION. I'm not an artist but I appreciate a wide variety of art, particularly Van Gogh, Picasso and Lichtenstein, who all have their own individual styles.

I didn't like the portrait of the ballet dancer because I thought it was ugly. I'm not ANGRY about it, I just didn't think it was a worthy winner.

I love art but I'm a heathen really. I like art from lots of different genres -I love the impressionists and post-impressionists, I love 17th Century Flemish art, native Canadian art, some Kandinsky etc. etc. But I just like what I see. And I do like a portrait to look like the subject. The better the likeness, the more I like it. Capturing their "aura" or their "spirit" doesn't do it for me.

It's the utter pretentiousness of art snobs that I really don't like!

The winner this week reminds me of the bloke who sits by Brighton pier and does a caricature of you in 10 minutes.

The artist herself was completely shocked at her submission winning. I don't think that reaction was mere humility.

I too thought it was dreadful, but then I think Picasso was dreadful too. I sometimes think that artists are the like the emperor's new clothes, it just takes one idiot , sorry expert to say how wonderful it is and they all follow on like sheep.

Where did "portarint" come from?! Flippin eck, "portrait" (though with the woman's elbow, ear and nose in close proximity, maybe a new word is needed?!).

Oh, and the submission by the artist, to get on the show, is a demo of the style she clearly likes, so the cartoon/caricature that won wasn't such a surprise?

DrWatson

For most of those commenting, please, GET REAL, and watch some more episodes!

It is NOT a photography contest!! LISTEN to what is said as the judges walk round -- you'll hear that artists who paint 'from life' are that rare that the process draws a comment!! Almost everyone paints from an image on a gadget, has done for some years now.

The judges are clearly looking for that elusive quality that catches some aspect of the sitter that maybe isn't that obvious from what a simple snap would show? (dozens of shows . . .masses of comments . . .).

The ballet dancer was NOT forced at gunpoint to stand for 4 hours, was he?! And at the end, he said the only strain he felt was actually in his arm, from that pose (as in the ballet he was dressed to play in).

Do I like all the finished pics? Certainly NOT! Is it worth getting upset about? Well, this last week we saw pics by the likes of Holbein, Brusghel, and Picasso (etc). Doubtless the portarint by Picasso (of his then lover) is worth squillions, but it looked like a 5-y-o could have done it. Did I throw things at it -- no . . . .move on!

Well, that’s us told….

For most of those commenting, please, GET REAL, and watch some more episodes!

It is NOT a photography contest!! LISTEN to what is said as the judges walk round -- you'll hear that artists who paint 'from life' are that rare that the process draws a comment!! Almost everyone paints from an image on a gadget, has done for some years now.

The judges are clearly looking for that elusive quality that catches some aspect of the sitter that maybe isn't that obvious from what a simple snap would show? (dozens of shows . . .masses of comments . . .).

The ballet dancer was NOT forced at gunpoint to stand for 4 hours, was he?! And at the end, he said the only strain he felt was actually in his arm, from that pose (as in the ballet he was dressed to play in).

Do I like all the finished pics? Certainly NOT! Is it worth getting upset about? Well, this last week we saw pics by the likes of Holbein, Brusghel, and Picasso (etc). Doubtless the portarint by Picasso (of his then lover) is worth squillions, but it looked like a 5-y-o could have done it. Did I throw things at it -- no . . . .move on!

I was gobsmacked! How insulting. I really hope she doesn’t win & paint professor Hannah Fry.

I thought it was just me, so relieved to read this thread, I never saw one I would take home

I wasn't going to watch this but after all the comments, I felt I had to. What a bizarre portrait of a striking, handsome dancer. I certainly wouldn't go to her if I wanted a portrait painting. I sometimes wonder what the judges are thinking when they make their choices.

I read somewhere that the artists take photos as they are a long way back from the sitter and the film crew are constantly in the way.

Oh Deedaa Having been to art school myself , I couldn’t agree with you more. What, for goodness sake, is the point of having a model, if you just use a photograph. I think the people in charge of PAOTY should ban iPads, cameras, rulers, grids etc. See where that gets them.

Agree. Had a strong feeling they were looking for something different. Therefore, we were ready with cries of horror. Why oh! Why. Surely they have a thought about the final sitter. Hannah Fry is a beautiful woman! So surely in the end the £10,000 should be well spent. I thought the judges were improving after the outcry that Lenny Henry ‘s portrait caused. Hope the final result is well thought out and Hannah Fry has an artist who can catch something of her quick silver mind and character as well as her good looks.

I'm never keen on the ones who take photographs and work from them. When I was at art school we were always taught that photographs flatten your subject and make it difficult to really see the structure.

The winning portrait was a striking painting, but it looked nothing like him, and why play around with a photograph when you've got an actual model in front of you.

Just watched it, he is stood for four hours, he's so elegant and beautiful and the artist turned him into something grotesque. Unbelievable.

I have just watched this to see what you are all talking about and I think that the chosen portrait is appalling. Poor Reece. The artist called all the shots and then painted a grotesque. I do hope that the judges drop their controversial stance and don't choose her as the winner . Last year's choice was bad enough.