What is a portrait?

What is a portrait? Choose three portraits, paste them into your post (include the artists’ names) and describe how the artist uses color, composition, and subject matter (objects, setting, clothing, etc.) to communicate something about the person whose portrait they’ve made OTHER than what the person looks like.How do the artists you’ve chosen address the concept of portrait? How do they work within the tradition of portrait-making OR how do they reinvent the concept of a portrait?

portrait 
–noun
2) a likeness of a person, esp. of the face, as a painting, drawing, or photograph: a gallery of family portraits. 2) A verbal picture or description, usually of a person


Georgia O'Keefe by Alfred Stieglitz
This picture doesnt have a background so the person in the painting is the only part that one can see. She is wearing a black turtle neck shirt. The colors in the painting are black, white, and a median color. This adds a mysterious touch to it. The shadows in the picture make the mood thoughtful, but not creepy. This 'portrait' is literally a picture of a person that captures the subjects essence. When I think of the word portrait I think of a picture of a person, and that is what this picture is of.

Shiva At Whistle Creek by Sally Mann
This portrait is more creative than the first. It has a background, which adds a very creative touch to it. The background is blurry though, so the person in the picture is still the main subject. The subject in the portrait is also not looking directly at the camera, so that is also different than most portraits. The contrast between the skin of the subject and the background is HUGE. so this causes the attention to be directed towards the person rather than the background. yet the background has a really cool look to it. The blurred water adds a contrast of it's own, as well. The moving water is white and black. The mood that this picture creates is calm and also thoughtful.

Self portrait by Chuck Close
When I look at this picture it falls under the category of traditional portraits. Though the picture is creative in the sense that it is made in a medium other than paints or sketching, the subject itself is looking straightforward and there is no real background. There are a few different colors with in the portrait: black, grey, blue, green, white, light brown, red, and skin tones which add to the picture.