What is a Portrait?

Portrait is genre of art where a subject’s emotion, personality, trait, beauty, or appreciation is demonstrated through a physical image of the subject. Following this idea, selfies or photos of a certain body part could technically be considered portraits as long we they demonstrate the meaning behind it. Along side of this, portraits can be both single image or a sequel since neither ways of expression limits the presentation of the subject. However, whether if the subject has to be in the frame to be considered a portrait or not is quite a debatable topic.

With the subject being out of frame, it betrays the idea of showing the subject and its concept, but it is indeed true that even without the subject contents can still be present in many other forms. This also draws to the idea that there is no “wrong” in art, meaning that anything can technically be anything. Going down this idea, it is completely acceptable and okay to consider pieces without the actual subject “portraits”. Me personally however, do not really agree with this idea. Despite seeing all the possibilities, I still come down to the idea that art is only truly beautiful in its original form, and while moderations are completely acceptable and is creative, when it crosses a certain line the value of originality and similarity is lost. Therefore I do agree that pieces without the actual subject being involved should be considered portraits.

Some examples of different types of portraits: