Ohio-based artist Paul Wyse recently completed a new commissioned portrait of Dennis LaBarre, chairman of the board of the Cleveland Orchestra. About being selected to paint LaBarre’s portrait, Wyse says, “Although I work now as a portrait painter, in my previous career I worked as a professional classical musician. I have several friends and colleagues who perform in the Cleveland Orchestra. Through them I was connected to the powers that be, and I was commissioned to paint the portrait.”
Wyse’s portrait of LaBarre will hang alongside portraits of past board presidents in Cleveland’s iconic Severance Hall that date back to the Orchestra’s founding in 1918. In the background of LaBarre’s portrait, Wyse wanted to include a nod to this great history. “I chose to place Dennis in the Rankin Board Room, where the portrait of one of the Orchestra’s founders, John L. Severance, hangs in the background,” he explains.
Paul Wyse, Dennis LaBarre, Immediate Past Chairman of the Board, The Cleveland Orchestra, oil on linen, 35 x 25"
On his process, Wyse says, “I love to paint from life, but when it comes to official portraits I rely on photographs for my inspiration. It is very hard to get a president or a CEO to spare a couple of hours to take photos, and it would be impossible to get them to sit for days for a portrait of this importance.” Like many artists, Wyse also understands that there’s more flexibility in using multiple photographs. “For example,” he says, “I can change or add things to the background. I can use the head from one shot combined with the body from another. Things like hands, jewelry, clothing and ties can all be interchanged to the betterment of the image. I then present my clients with a detailed mockup of what I think will look best, and that helps to give them the confidence that the outcome will be successful.”
And what does a successful outcome look like for Wyse? “Initially, I want people to perceive something interesting about the sitter. I like to develop a painting to a point where a viewer might feel like the sitter is actually there in the room, and that they might be about to speak or move. I always thought that painters like Velasquez and Sargent captured that effect particularly well, so I studied for years how they might have achieved such an illusion. If one has the chance to study these masters in person, it becomes obvious how they are manipulating things like edges, temperature, texture and brushwork.”
Wyse’s work is featured in public collections such as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. and the House of Commons of Canada. His notable clients include Billy Joel, Harry Connick, Jr., and Prime Minister Paul Martin, and he has received awards from the Portrait Society of America and the Portrait Society of Canada. Currently he is working on a number of new commissions, including a portrait of the Bishop of St. John the Divine, the president of the New York Athletic Club and the chancellor of the University of Toronto. In addition, he was commissioned to paint two large format “portraits” of the Canadian Pacific 2816, also known as the “Empress,” a restored antique steam locomotive that recently toured from Calgary, Alberta, to Mexico City.
Powered by Froala Editor
