Three Hundred Ways to Make a Portrait

Over three hundred works from the collection of the Center Pompidou in Paris and created from 1895 to today, highlight the many facets of the art of portraiture. Before portraits revealed the names of the artists who created them, they primarily served to identify the person they represented. Since 19th century, however, the artistic value of the portrait has not been judged on the basis of likeness or technical skill. In the photographic portraits of the German photographer August Sander, only the artists, opinion leaders and prominent personalities have kept their names. But everyone, unknown or celebrity, could be entitled to a portrait. Photography has provided the masses with what had previously been the privilege of a few. And more than ever, all the portraits were portraits of the society. The exhibition at West Bund Museum Mirrors of the Portrait unfolds in a thematic path divided into three sections: In color, Disfigure, Hats Off!.