National Portrait Gallery: Face to Face Blog
Capturing the Real Ted Turner*
December 2, 2014
How does a portrait painter successfully translate a likeness to canvas—especially when the sitter is someone larger than life, like media entrepreneur and environmentalist Ted Turner? Understanding the background and accomplishments of one’s subject is key, says Jon R. Friedman, whose painting of Turner is currently on view in the Portrait Gallery’s “Recent Acquisitions” exhibiton. And so is keeping an open mind. “Every portrait sitting is an adventure. Setting out to meet a client for the first time, I never really have any idea what to expect.”
High-profile clients like Turner cannot spare the time for numerous sittings, so Friedman bases his portraits on reference photographs of the sitter. Before the photo shoot he and the subject discuss the setting, wardrobe, dimensions, and orientation (horizontal or vertical) of the work. The unscripted photo session allows both artist and sitter to work out a pose that is both comfortable and conveys the sitter’s personality.
Ted Turner with horse-wrangler Greg Pole during the photo shoot at Red Rock Ranch. (photo: Jon R. Friedman)
Turner’s bison herd at Red Rock Ranch. Turner is the second-largest landowner in the U.S. (photo: Jon R. Friedman)
