Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-08
HUMAN ELEMENT
|SPORTRA|T BASIS
Artist Holds Best Likeness of
Royal Subject Gained by
Preserving Personality.

The secret of painting the portraits
of kings and queens is to remember
that they are Misunderstanding in mind
also that the object of painting Is to
preserve the human personality rather
than to make Photographic repro.
duction Of physical details.
Thus Bernhard Osterman, painter of
European royalty. some of whose
paintings will be on exhibit at the
National Art Gallery for two weeks
starting Tuesday, explains his sue
cess in placing upon canvas SO many
OF the prominent personalities OF Eu
rope, including the King and Queen of
Sweden. the Queen of Spain. and the
Grand Duchess Marie Pavlowna of
Russia. Mr.. Osterman now is n
guest at the Swedish legation here
and is engaged upon a portrait of Min
lister Bostrom. an old friend. During
his present visit to the United States
he plans to fill several American com.
missions and is making a close study
of what might be termed the Amer
Jean personality as il can be observed
through the features.
Preserves Living Presence.
The ideal portrait. he said. pre-
serves the living presence of the sub
5ect. 1t must be faithful to the actual
features in so far as they are repro
duced, but the art is largely one of
selection and emphasis so that the
final result will arouse personal mem
ories of the individual.
Let several portrait painters paint
the same person. Mr.. Osterman said.
Then take photographs of the indivi.
dual with several cameras. A compar.
ason of the results viii show the essen.
tial difference between the two arts.
The photographs all will be the same,
except that the better the camera the
more details will be reproduced. The
portraits all will be different. with
different details selected and brought
out. Yet each portrait will suggest
the man or woman as they appeared
TO their friends. The personality of
the painter has entered the work."
Il never want my subjects to keep
still. even the royal personages," he
continued. II want them to keep
talking and moving naturally while /
work 50 that / can catch the person
ality. just as it would be to their in
innate acquaintances."
i Swedish King Is Good Sitter.
King William of Sweden, Mr.. Oster.
man said, Is one of the most desira-
bic OF sitters for the portrait painter
because of his outstanding democracy
and his easy manner. The Queen of
Spain also he found easy to paint. The
painter. he said. must study types of
character and cannot confine his work
to persons able to pay large sums for
their portraits. He Is continually in
search of types in Paris where his
studio Is located.
Nationality frequently expresses II.
self in types. he believes. There is a
marked difference, for instance. be.
tween the French and Swedish types
which transcends the individual
types" he said. Even during the
short time ! have been in the United
States ! think I have been able to
note certain characteristics which
difficult TO put into words just what
these are. Among the women espe.
ctaliv there h something distinct, even
In the lowest classes
The American girl bears certain
ciose resembiances to the English girl
who dresses like a French girl. You
wuold not mistake her for either one
or the other. Out of the combination
energies something which is neither
Latin nor Anglo-SaxOn. nor yet a
European mixture OF the two, but
which liz distinctive In ITSELF
Hits Photograph Painting.
Painting from a photograph, Mr..
Osterman said. defeats the purpose of
q portrait. He has recently completed
a portrait OF the mother OF Mrs. Bos-
from, wife Of the Swedish Minister.
who has been dead for several years.
Much OF the personality was repro.
duced from memory. but Mrs. gos-
from herself sat for him in order TO
: enable him TO catch certain manner
tsms Of the older lady to whom she
bore fundamental resemblance. al
though IL might not have been appar-
ent 10 the superficial observer
Il have been surprised TO find" he
said. the distinction achieved by
Americans In the art Of portrait paint.
ing. This country holds an enviable
place among the older nations I'm this
art with such men as Gilbert Stuart.
Copiey and Whistler. Washington
has very notable art treasure which
would be envied by many European
caties-particrlariy in the fine c0llec-
tons Of the seventeenth century Eng
lish artists I'm the National Gallery.