Finding Likeness in Watford

Finding Likeness in Watford reveals the experience of being a portrait artist in response to subjects’ expectations of portraiture, including that it captures their likeness.

What does ‘finding the likeness’ mean? What constitutes a likeness? Why is it important - or isn’t it?  Who determines that there’s a likeness? What more is there to portraiture than portraying a likeness? What is a portrait, a self-portrait? Who is it important to please – the artist, the subject or the viewer?

Wendy Sherwood shares the dilemmas, pains and thrills in pursuit of finding and portraying the likeness of subjects, sharing photographs of the processes involved in creating what might be considered a ‘good painting’. In response to each subject and her own needs as an artist, the exhibition presents different approaches to portraiture. These insights may be of particular interest to fellow and aspiring portrait artists.  

Visitors are invited to first consider their own responses to each portrait before reading accompanying information which reveals what subjects wanted from the portrait, and what finding a likeness has meant to the artist. 

A note: Wanting to paint people of Watford, I put out a social media post which included the ‘Yellow Inspiration’ portrait. All respondents are people of colour. It became evident how unusual it is to see people of colour in the mainstream arts in Watford. In this respect, finding likeness may have greater depth of meaning than commonly referenced in portraiture.