Howard Lyon, After the Dance, 2017, oil on panel, 12 x 16 in. Springville Museum of Art Permanent Collection.

“With the ease and accessibility of high-quality photos that document all aspects of our everyday lives on our phones, we wanted to explore why artists continue to paint portraits…[and] the value of having a skilled artist create your portrait or capture another individual,” explains Allison Pinegar, the museum’s head of exhibitions and programs. “The artworks in this exhibition reveal the many reasons someone might commission a portrait—to publicly honor an important figure, commemorate or celebrate loved ones, memorialize a certain stage of life, explore cultural identity…We wanted to bring together many different types of portraits…to examine how artistic choices help define the character and identity of the subject.”

Santiago Michalek, It’s Time - 10 Years Gone, 2023, oil on linen, 48 x 48 in. Springville Museum of Art Permanent Collection.

Portrait and figurative artist Casey Childs never tires of painting people. “I find it fascinating that we all have the same features but every one of us are uniquely different,” he says. “Portraiture is so difficult because those small and subtle differences that make every one of us unique have to be captured so perfectly for a successful portrait…I think portraiture endures because it’s a visual experience of one soul capturing the likeness of another soul, something a photo can’t do. It’s that connection of how the artist interprets a living and breathing thing that makes it special…Portraiture can connect us in a way that no other type of art can.”

Colby Sanford, Ocean Heart, 2021, acrylic on panel, 36 x 48 in. Springville Museum of Art Purchase with Funds Donated by Carl and Heather Clyde.

An example of a less formal portrait in the exhibition, is Colby Sanford’s depiction of his young daughter standing on a rock watching the surf roll in. “When I look at my 10 year old, I often see a young Alicia, my wife, in her,” he says. “I love the playfulness, the adventurousness and the freedom she has when she is lost in her own world. And then it becomes hard to separate what I’m seeing—am I looking at my daughter, or my wife? I’m not entirely sure. And I think that is the point.”

Casey Childs, Portrait of Phyllis VanderNaald, 2016, oil on linen, 20 x 16 in.

Santiago Michalek used to restore Volkswagens full time, a trade he enjoyed and exceled at, but art was his first true love. It’s Time - 10 Years Gone is a self-portrait that captures the moment when Michalek was torn between continuing his restoration work and devoting himself fully to his art. “My brother took a photo of me one day sitting in a shop chair and I could see it in my face, the struggle,” he says. “It also just so happened that my posture resembled one of my favorite paintings Breaking Home Ties by Norman Rockwell. The act of painting myself, pondering this difficult question, turned out to be the answer I was looking for. By the time I was finished with the painting there was no longer a struggle and it seemed like there never had been.”

Mary Sauer, Sara, 2014, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in. Springville Museum of Art Permanent Collection.

In the realm of portraiture, Randall Lake’s early heroes in art were Velázquez, Manet and Sargent. “They had the skills and composition that made a portrait a feast to look at,” he says. Lake painted Lady with a Hawk as part of an art trade with painter and University of Utah professor, Alvin Gittins (1922-1981). The sitter, a strong advocate and supporter of rehabilitating birds of prey, is pictured with a bird she was rehabilitating at that time. “I wanted to capture her elegance, while at the same time showing her strength and fearlessness of holding this raptor,” explains Lake, adding that he had borrowed the fur coat and, because he was painting from life, was terrified the bird would poop on the coat during their sessions!

Randall Lake, Lady and the Hawk, 1985, oil on canvas, 73¼ x 37 in. Springville Museum of Art Permanent Collection.

Pinegar reflects, “What I’ve learned by spending time with these artworks and exploring the approach of the artists in the exhibition is that portraiture is about relationships. Not only between the sitter and the artist…but also between the viewer and the subject. Portraits connect us to people we don’t know in public spheres, and can help us feel closer to people we do know in private spheres. We can find meaning in the act of being seen in more than a quick snapshot.”