It is difficult to imagine a civilization without images of people. We see ourselves through others and learn to decode both present and past. A portrait is a representation of a human being – a kind of evidence that the person in question has existed for a moment on earth. In the self-portrait, we can easily modify or even stage that representation. Sometimes a portrait feels distant and tied by old ideals, and other times we can get the feeling of direct contact with a person who lived long ago. A depiction reveals something about the one depicted, but also the one who depicts – the impressions pass through the artist’s hand and state of mind.
After the breakthrough of photography in the 19th century, the drawn and painted portrait has taken on a different meaning, often with more psychological and shape-related inputs. Particularly drawn portraits feels almost timeless. The fast-drawn line are too direct and stripped-down to be entirely bound by aesthetic trends. In other words, the presence of the moment becomes crucial.
In the exhibition you will see portraits by, among others, Axel Olson, Kajsa Strinning, Hanne Bögh-Andersen and the couple Viking och Signe Lanje.