Despite our daily lives being awash with photographs, the painted portrait still has a vital role to play in telling stories of human experience and character, and creating intimate connections between people.
The Lester Prize, one of Australia’s richest prizes for portraiture, received 720 entries from across the country, depicting Australians in myriad ways from the abstract to the realistic.
Previously known as the Black Swan Prize, the Lester Prize invites Australian artists to paint any Australian sitters.
The 40 finalists are shown at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and compete for a prize pool of $105,000, including the $50,000 Richard Lester prize as well as other awards chosen by the public and other artists.
Judging between 40 paintings that vary so widely in size, technique and approach is always "a really interesting experience", said Penny Grist, judge and exhibition curator at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
But, in spite of the differences between the paintings, she said there were certain qualities to look for in a portrait.
"One of the most fascinating things about portraiture in general is that human-to-human feeling that you get," she said.
"And the experience that a viewer would have with a portrait is just the same as what a judge has with a portrait.
"You get that sense of someone's presence, someone's energy and spirit from that portrait. You get a sense of how the whole work comes together to tell that story about that individual."
While to the outsider it might seem impossible to compare a painting that barely depicts a face with a detailed piece of photorealism, Ms Grist said it was the stories that counted.
"The judges walk around, and then your minds meet, and you have this beautiful conversation about humanity and art and experience and stories," she said.
"I absolutely love judging prizes because of that experience."
Not just about a literal likeness
In the pre-photography age, portraiture was very much about developing a likeness and towards creating an image that talked not just about what someone looked like, but something of their character and personal experience.
"Often what you're reacting to as a human being is not necessarily the likeness, but all the other information you get about a human body," Ms Grist said.
"[Information] like the pose, the sense of that person's energy and character and where they are and how they're interacting with their environment and how they've been portrayed through the techniques that the artist has used.
"All of that doesn't necessarily relate to a picture of a face, it relates to a whole lot of other things that make us human."
Judges also have to look at an artist’s technique. But rather than simply judging a painter’s skills, they are assessing how well the technique is used to tell the story of their sitter.
"The technique could be expressionistic, it could be realistic, it could be a mixture of those, but if it's beautifully consistent with what they're trying to say about that person, or how they've seen the truth of that person, or the particular story they're trying to tell, that's where technique becomes important," she said.
"It needs to fit the story."
What's noticeable this year about the finalists is the number of portraits that contain references to the COVID-19 pandemic, either directly by painting their subjects wearing masks, or through artist’s statements describing the circumstances in which the painting was made.
"It is interesting, and one of the lovely things about portraiture is it's so alive, and it's so 'of the moment', because all of these people have been embedded in their time.
"All hugely diverse experiences represented in this year's prize are truly enlivening and I think that's one of the really important things portraiture can bring."
'Deep personal inquiry' that a camera doesn’t capture
Despite living in a world awash with phone selfies, portraiture is more relevant than ever, according to Emily Eastgate Brink, associate professor of art history at the University of Western Australia.
"Even though we're probably more inundated with portraits than we ever have been in human history, we need these slower, more deliberate constructions of identity and people," Dr Brink said.
"If it's a self-portrait, it's about time spent in deep personal inquiry.
"If it's a commissioned portrait with an artist engaged with a person, there is a duration and a time spent with that person, that I think translates to the way that that life is captured.
"That does resonate differently than an iPhone."
Like Ms Grist, Dr Brink said that in an era awash with screens, modern life has meant the human connection forged by personal portraits were more important than ever.
"We talk a lot about how social media and different technological innovations allow us to be connected, but increasingly, and COVID has reinforced, we are more and more disconnected from one another," she said.
"Part of what portraiture does is it reinforces our humanity; it allows us to spend time with somebody.
"I think in that respect we need portraiture now more than ever."
Portraits have universal appeal
This year’s entries have been whittled down to 40 finalists that go on show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from October 1.
The winner of the $50,000 Richard Lester prize will be announced on September 30 and the public will have the chance to see the exhibition and to vote for the $15,000 Baldock Family People’s Choice Prize until November 20.
Lester Prize executive director Annie Silberstein said the portraiture exhibition, now in its 17th year, had universal appeal.
"It's an accessible art form," she said.
