Portraiture is one of the most iconic and consistently revisited subjects in art. Since the beginning of civilization, artists have been consumed with the desire to capture the likeness of their fellow human as well as their own. From da Vinci, to Kahlo, to Picasso, to Kehinde Wiley to name just a few of the many famous artists for whom portraiture was a staple in their practice, portraits are not only a way of recording the features and personalities of a subject, they are also a look into the greater collective cultural paradigm. 

Portraits can convey much about a society’s, the artist’s, and the subject’s values and beliefs. Throughout art history, portraits have been realistic and accurate recreations of their subject, or unrecognizably abstract, but still the genre of portraiture captures the minds of artists and viewers alike.